STEP files from SW to Pro-E
STEP files from SW to Pro-E
(OP)
I have been trying to send a customer STEP files of parts and assemblies that were created in SolidWorks. My customer is opening the STEP files in Pro-E. They are not opening up perfectly, however. He is running log files when importing and a lot of errors are showing up. Sometimes the parts look stable on screen, but the log files are telling us they are not stable.
Can anyone help with this issue? I am not sure if the files need to be rebuilt, or if our attempt at getting perfect STEP file conversion is futile.
I have uploaded one of the STEP files I've delivered to my customer along with the log file to yousendit.com. You can download them by clicking on the following link:
https://r cpt.yousen dit.com/73 0533675/91 ac36d69616 6eaddf6cad 96292bea39
Thank you to anyone who could help!
-Chris
Can anyone help with this issue? I am not sure if the files need to be rebuilt, or if our attempt at getting perfect STEP file conversion is futile.
I have uploaded one of the STEP files I've delivered to my customer along with the log file to yousendit.com. You can download them by clicking on the following link:
https://r
Thank you to anyone who could help!
-Chris






RE: STEP files from SW to Pro-E
I've not used Pro/E, but I know a lot of STEP files I import into Solidworks I end up running a surface check and maybe 30% of the time I have to manually fix faces so the geometry is correct/error free. The only perfect import is going to be directly into the native format, but that's not going to happen.
Is the problem that the end user isn't proficient enough to correct any surfacing errors?
James Spisich
Design Engineer, CSWP
RE: STEP files from SW to Pro-E
I don't know that the end user is not proficient in ProE. I think he is expecting perfectly stable files with no post import work needed. I am beginning to think it's a pipe dream cause I've been trying to fix this issue for a week now. I was hoping there was a definitive answer to my problem, but the conversion process may just be too inconsistent to expect perfect results with every type of geometry. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
My customer has been under the assumption that my geometry is faulty. That is really what i've been trying to get to the bottom of. He insists he's gotten perfect conversion from SW to ProE through STEP files in the past.
Haven't ruled out the possibility that there may be things I could change with how i've constructed the files. I just don't know what that would be yet. Seems to be a complex and geometrically sensitive thing.
Chris
RE: STEP files from SW to Pro-E
RE: STEP files from SW to Pro-E
I also tried STEP AP214 as well as AP203, though I don't know the difference. I got the same results with both. Do you know the difference between the two?
RE: STEP files from SW to Pro-E
SW can Save as to Pro/E part (.prt) or assy (.asm) formats? Have you tried these?
RE: STEP files from SW to Pro-E
I tried saving the entire assem in ProE earlier today. Halfway through it said it was unable to export one of the parts. Everything else seemed to export. I'll try to save that one part individually, give these to the customer and see what he says.
This does not mean he will be able to export STEP or IGES successfully from ProE, however (which is the ultimate goal). We'll see I guess.
RE: STEP files from SW to Pro-E
Which versions of Pro/E and SW does your client have? His version of Pro/E may be ahead of the version his SW can export to.
RE: STEP files from SW to Pro-E
- Turn on Verification on Rebuild in Options. CTRL Q rebuild.
- While that is on do a TOOLS/CHECK with all options checked.
- Round trip check
- Export as STEP, IGES, PARASOLID
- Re-import from the STEP, etc.
- Do the first two steps on the imported parts.
- Fix any problems that show up.
You would be surprised how many time SW has trouble with it's own neutral files. General faults are really bad.Finally consider that SW and Pro/E are competitors. This means they don't give a rip about what the other guy's software does. SW won't license Granite and it is not likely that Pro/E will have the parasolid module. Add to that that the two represent solids differently internally and it doesn't matter that SW writes perfect STEP and that Pro/E reads it perfectly.
TOP
CSWP, BSSE
www.engtran.com www.niswug.org
"Node news is good news."
RE: STEP files from SW to Pro-E
I went the save as ProE route. It wasn't working for my customer before, but this time we got it. May be due to a few adjustments I've made to the files over this whole process. Don't know for sure. I did have to perform a work around with one of the parts that wasn't saving as ProE...I saved as STEP first, imported to SW, fixed a "general geometry problem" with import diagnostics and saved that as ProE.
Anyway, he opened the whole batch of files in ProE and they seem to be ok.
Still don't know why the direct STEP from SW wasn't importing right in ProE. I hope to figure that out at some point.
kellnerp, that's good advice about the sanity check within solidworks. I actually learned the verification on rebuild trick earlier this week and it helped me fix a couple hidden problems. All the files check out after going through those steps, but the STEP issue still remains.
Thanks so much to everyone for their input. I hope this might be helpful to others reading this string of posts.
I will let u all know if I figure out the STEP issue.
-Chris
RE: STEP files from SW to Pro-E
A good example would be the internal PDF maker built into Solidworks isn't as clean as say an external PDF printer. Sometimes I still export a PDF and get blank views, etc. Not because the PDF was corrupt, just that Solidworks glitched and didn't render the view(s).
James Spisich
Design Engineer, CSWP