STL, STEP, or IGES
STL, STEP, or IGES
(OP)
Does anyone have any comments as to which file type is the best generic CAD format for use with SolidWorks 2009 or 2010?
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RE: STL, STEP, or IGES
A lot depends on what's on the other end of the generic transfer - what format does your downstream program expect/prefer (or what does your upstream program do well at exporting)?
RE: STL, STEP, or IGES
Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP4.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion
RE: STL, STEP, or IGES
Second - ACIS (*.sat)
Third - STEP (either version)
Fourth - IGES (*.igs)
As Steve said, STL is only for sending directly to a rapid prototyping machine and even then I would send a parasolid. All of the RP machines I know of can use the smooth dumb solids listed above and the RP operator would rather have those files so they can control the tessellation of the STL files themselves.
- - -Updraft
RE: STL, STEP, or IGES
I consider Parasolid and ACIS to be "proprietary neutrals" while STEP and IGES are truelly neutral.
I would vote STEP. Be aware that IGES can be solids or surfaces - Option for solids output where appropriate. Also note that Autodesk products pre 2011 cannot open an ACIS later than ver 7 (while current ACIS is something like 17 or 18 or perhaps later - haven't used an ACIS in a while)
RE: STL, STEP, or IGES
RE: STL, STEP, or IGES
Best,
Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
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RE: STL, STEP, or IGES
I would certainly hope the geometry is the same.
Would double check any complex stuff like Loft, Dome, Freeform, Deform, Flex.....
A parasolid binary format would probably be the smallest file size.
RE: STL, STEP, or IGES
As rollupswx mentioned, parasolid is "proprietary neutral." STEP is a ISO standard for neutral files, while IGES is a ANSI (or ASME?) standard.
Joe
SW Office 2008 SP5.0
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RE: STL, STEP, or IGES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IGES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Step_file
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STL_file
Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP4.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion