IGES & STEP translator set up

Is this what you're looking for:

########################################################
#
# TRANSLATORS & PROCESS SPECIFIC APPLICATION PRODUCTS.
#
# Variables in this section are used Unigraphics translators such
# as iges or process specific applications such as ICAD.
#
# These variables can also be added or modified by the individual product
# installation scripts.
#
# Directory containing the AP203 STEP executables.
STEP203UG_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\step203ug\
#
# Directory containing the AP214 STEP executables.
STEP214UG_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\step214ug\
#
# Directory containing the DXFDWG executables.
DXFDWG_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\dxfdwg\
#
# Directory containing the IGES executables.
IGES_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\iges\
#
# Directory containing the UGTO2D executables.
UGTO2D_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\ugto2d\
#
# If the following flag is set, surfaces that are sent from ICAD
# to Unigraphics will not broken up into multiple faces
#UGII_ICADIF_SURF_CLEANUP=true
#
# Directory that contains the DLL's that run the Parasolid CATIA translator
UGII_CATIA_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\ugcatia\
#
# Directory that contains the DLL's that run the NX_CATIAV5 translator
UGII_CATIAV5_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\catiav5\
#
# Directory that contains the DLL's that run the Parasolid PROE translator
UGII_NXPROE_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\nxproe\
#
#######################################################

These can be found and set in the 'ugii_env.dat' file located in the UGII folder of your NX installation, or you can place the relevant variables in either your system or user profile.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Depending upon the version you're using (it's usually a good idea to include that info in the original post), there also might be some settings or preferences for the translators in the Customer Defaults (File -> Utilities -> Customer Defaults).

Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.

Some people are like slinkies....they don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

Hey guys. Thank you very much for the help. I apologize but I'm kind of 'slow' when it comes to this stuff. I catch on fast but I'm starting at zero knowledge here. See, I 'grew up' on UG inside GM. They had other 'droids' that did this stuff. All that I had to do was design. Ah, for the good old days! Anyways...here's some more information that may help you help me. First, I'm working on NX3. Second, when I go to "FILE" > "UTILITIES" > "CUSTOMER DEFAULTS" and then select the "TRANSLATOR DIRCTORIES" tab under the "GENERAL" section, all of the fields are empty. Yesterday, I added "C:\Program Files\UGS\NX 3.0\IGES" to the IGES line of the "TRANSLATOR DIRECTORIES" and was able to take one more step into the iges translation process...but that's all. When I attempt an IGES EXPORT I receive this error, "The environment variable IGES_DIR may not be set correctly." I have no clue where this 'environment variable' may be found or how it should be set "correctly". I know that this is probably really basic stuff but, as i mentioned earlier, i've just never had to do this type of thing. Finally, when I attempt to import IGES, STEP203 or STEP214 I get this error, "COULDN'T FIND THE TRANSLATOR IMAGE. THIS MAY BE DUE TO AN INCORRECTLY SET ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLE." That's great. But why don't they take it a step farther and walk you through the process of CORRECTLY setting up the environmental variable??? Grrr...HELP!!! Thanks again, dcar11

Was what I posted able to help you as it did cover the variable, IGES_DIR=, which you were getting the warnings about?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Unfortunately, John, I need the preschool version. As I mentioned in this last post, this stuff is all completely foreign to me. I don't even know where to find these environmental variables. I'm zeroing in but when i get to where i think that I want to be I'm not seeing what I think that I should be seeing.
For example: "C:\Program Files\UGS\NX 3.0\IGES" would seem to me to be where I'd find the "IGES_DIR=" but the only thing that I see in this folder are: 1- IGES.CMD file; 2- libug.dll file and 3- libug.pdb file. ...no help at all! Am I getting anywhere near where I want to be John? Thanks, dcar11

I thought I mentioned that the 'ugii_env.dat' file, which contains all of the 'officially' support variable can be found in the UGII folder in the folder where NX was installed.

Now you can either change them there, or make copies and place in either the systems or your own user profile. You can find these by opening the 'My Computer' folder in the explorer, placing your cursor over some 'white space', pressing MB3 and selecting Properties. Once the 'System Properties' dialog comes up, select the 'Advanced' tab and then the button at the bottom of the page labeled 'Environment Variables'. Now you will find two lists here, one for your own personal variables, which will only be in effect when you are logged-in, and one for System Variables, which will be in effect for all users (now you will probably need admin privilege to change any of the system variables, but everyone should have access to their own). Now just add the IGES_DIR variable in either place (if you're the only user on this system it doesn't really matter where you put it) and set it equal to the path where you want your IGES files to reside.

That should do it.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Unless this is a license issue, in all the installs I've done, I've never encountered this problem...

Have you tried uninstalling NX and reinstalling it? If you do, make sure you have it install all components of the Iges and stp translator.

You may also try just running the install file again and select "Modify". Then Scroll down to Iges, Step203UG, and Ste214UG and click on them and select "This feature and all subfeatures will be installed on your local hard drive" Then Next next next nextNext next next nextNext next next nextNext next next nextNext next next next finish... (I exaggerate)

Maybe something just got boogered up in the install. The install is super simple compared to I-deas or Pro-E so don't be scared!

Hey John,

I've done as you suggested. I've set up the IGES_DIR in the system variables. I've tried a couple different options (one in the IGES folder of the NX3 folder and the other just on the desktop) on where I want my IGES files to reside. I still get "Translator image not found. The environmental variable IGES_DIR may be set incorrectly." You said in your last post to make the "equal to the path where you want your IGES files to reside." I used: "C:\Program Files\UGS\NX 3.0\IGES" ...is that acceptable or do i need an "=" sign in there somewhere?

And, ingallspw... It's not a licensing thing. My UG license shows that iges, step203 & step 214 are all included. Unfortunately, this is a leased computer and I don't have the UG software to do the uninstall/re-install thing.

You could download the installation files from the UGS support ftp site.

Hi dcar11,

"Translator image not found" means either NX translators were not installed or incorrectnly installed, by default NX transaltors are not installed with NX setup. They have to be installed seperately, try re-installing translators from NX3 disk.

Ram

Note that while it was true at one time that Translators had to be installed separately, starting with NX 5.0 they were included in the main NX installation and if you accepted the default 'Typical' installation, you should have gotten them all. Of course, you'll still need the proper license to execute them, but the code should all be there unless you explicitly left them out.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

The file info below is my ugii_env.dat which has all the info John listed. I'm still getting the error. Any switch I may have to hit elsewhere?

TRANSLATORS & PROCESS SPECIFIC APPLICATION PRODUCTS.
#
# Variables in this section are used Unigraphics translators such
# as iges or process specific applications such as ICAD.
#
# These variables can also be added or modified by the individual product
# installation scripts.
#
# Directory containing the AP203 STEP executables.
STEP203UG_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\step203ug\
#
# Directory containing the AP214 STEP executables.
STEP214UG_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\step214ug\
#
# Directory containing the DXFDWG executables.
DXFDWG_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\dxfdwg\
#
# Directory containing the IGES executables.
IGES_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\iges\
#
# Directory containing the UGTO2D executables.
UGTO2D_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\ugto2d\
#
# Directory containing the CADAMTOUG executables.
CADAMTOUG_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\cadamtoug\
#
# If the following flag is set, surfaces that are sent from ICAD
# to Unigraphics will not broken up into multiple faces
#UGII_ICADIF_SURF_CLEANUP=true
#
# Set to run the JAVA runtime environment for the xlator UI
UGII_DEX_JRE=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\xlatorui\dex\
#
# Set to access the JAR files to run the xlator UI
UGII_DEX_JAR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\xlatorui\
#
# Directory that contains the DLL's that run the Parasolid CATIA translator
UGII_CATIA_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\ugcatia\
#
############################################################################
#
# UG/MANAGER PRODUCTS.
#
# Variables in this section are used to configure UG/Manager
#
# Directory containing the UG/Manager executables
UGII_UGMANAGER_DIR=${UGII_BASE_DIR}\ugmanager\

# Control for database attribute feature or old-style attribute
# synchronization.
# Set to "NEW" or unset for the new configurable database attribute feature.
# Set to "OLD" to revert to pre-v16 part attribute synchronization.
UGII_UGMGR_ATTR_SYNC=NEW

#######################################################################
#
# SCENARIO PRODUCT
#
# UGII_MSC_NASTRAN must point to the "bin" directory where MSC NASTRAN is installed
# this definition is assigned by the user after installing MSC NASTRAN
UGII_MSC_NASTRAN=C:\msc\bin\
# UGII_NX_NASTRAN must point to the "bin" directory where NX NASTRAN is installed
# this definition is assigned by the user after installing NX NASTRAN
UGII_NX_NASTRAN="C:\Program Files\UGSPLM\NXNastran\2.0\bin\"
# UGII_FEA_FOREGROUND = 1 sets the Nastran job to execute in the foreground
# UGII_MSC_NASTRAN_VERSION sets the MSC NASTRAN version number of the solver, valid
# versions are 68 for 68.2, 69, and 70, this environment variable allows the
# authorization to work on various versions of MSC Nastran if you are using
# another version besides 70 you must set this variable to either 68 or 69
# for the appropriate version.
UGII_MSC_NASTRAN_VERSION=70
# UGII_NX_NASTRAN_VERSION sets the NX NASTRAN version number of the solver, valid
# versions are 1 and 2, this environment variable allows the
# authorization to work on various versions of NX Nastran if you are using
# another version besides 1 you must set this variable to its appropriate version.
UGII_NX_NASTRAN_VERSION=2.0
# UGII_ANSYS must point to the directory where the ANSYS executable resides.
# An example for Windows NT Intel is C:\ansys55\bin\IntelNT
# An example for Windows NT Alpha is C:\ansys55\bin\AlphaNT
UGII_ANSYS=C:\ansys55\bin\Intel
# UGII_ANSYS_VERSION sets the ANSYS executable version .
# valid executable versions are "5.5" and above.
UGII_ANSYS_VERSION=5.5
#
# UGII_ANSYS_PRODUCT sets the ANSYS product used for Scenario Analysis.
# For valid product variables refer to Ansys Installation Guide or Ansys
# Operations Guide.The default product is ANSYS/Mechanical for which product
# variable is "ANSYS"
#
UGII_ANSYS_PRODUCT=ANSYS
#
# UGII_REPARENT_SCENARIO_3MB_ACTION = 1 displays "Reparent Scenario" action
# on the master node of Scenario Navigator. This allows users to reparent a
# scenario from one master to another. NOTE: It is very important that both
# masters are identical
#
# UGII_ABAQUS must point to the "Commands" directory where ABAQUS is installed
# this definition is assigned by the user after installing ABAQUS
UGII_ABAQUS=C:\ABAQUS\Commands\
#
############################################################################
#
# MOTION PRODUCT
#
# Unigraphics sets the following three variables internally for ADAMS if
# they are not set in the system. These varaibles should be set by user
# only if the path for the respective files/directory is changed. In a
# typical installation they are set properly to the files/directory as
# shown below.

Being on NX3, I suspect that the translator option was not loaded.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

My license options include the translators. Also, as you can see in my post before your posting, it 'appears' that everything is in order.

Ftrom a prior post "For example: "C:\Program Files\UGS\NX 3.0\IGES" would seem to me to be where I'd find the "IGES_DIR=" but the only thing that I see in this folder are: 1- IGES.CMD file; 2- libug.dll file and 3- libug.pdb file. ...no help at all! "

I have 27 files in my IGES$DIR folder, one of which is iges.exe. If you don't have that, the software was not installed.

Files in my IGES$DIR folder:
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\de_cnv_obj.rose
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\dex.jar
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\iges.bat
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\iges.bin
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\iges.cmd
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\iges.def
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\iges.exe
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\iges.ico
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\iges_cnv_obj.rose
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\iges_io.rose
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\iges_orig.def
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\igesexport.def
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\igesexport_orig.def
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\igesimport.def
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\igesimport_orig.def
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\igesnullnx40_in.prt
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\igesnullnx40_mm.prt
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\keystone_extensions.rose
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\libcxa.dll
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\libde.dll
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\libiges.dll
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\libiges_out.dll
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\libiges_pre.dll
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\libug.dll
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\reformat.exe
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\ug_cnv_obj.rose
V:\aeapps\ugnx4\IGES\unformat.exe


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli