7

SolidDesigner Data Transfer

In This Section:

• Alias to SolidDesigner via IGES/STEP 160
• Creating the IGES file in ALIAS 161
• SolidDesigner to ALIAS via IGES/STEP 163

Alias to SolidDesigner via IGES/STEP

Studio surface models can be transferred to SolidDesigner via either IGES or STEP, depending on the availabilty of the transfer formats to the Studio and SolidDesigner user. Using Studio, there are two types of model information that can be sent to and read by SolidDesigner, geometry information and topology information.

The Studio IGES file includes only the description of the geometry information. The STEP entities that Studio supports means that both the geometry information as well as the topology information can be transferred and read into SolidDesigner.

The geometric data describes the basic shape of the object and in both Alias and SolidDesigner, geometric data is represented using NURBS.

Topological data describes how the geometric components are connected together to form a solid. The STEP file format has advantages over IGES when transferring Studio models to SolidDesigner because there is more information describing the model that is being transferred.

Creating the IGES file in ALIAS

Follow these steps to create an IGES format file for SolidDesigner:

1

Select the object to be exported so that it is the "active" object.

2

From the File menu select Export > Save Active As.

3

Select IGES from the File Format menu.

4

Select 'Default' from the IGES by Vendor browser.

You can alter the output variables to achieve different results.

5

Select the Save icon and specify the IGES file name. ALIAS automaticallyappends the .iges extension to the file name.

This file is now ready to be read into SolidDesigner.

Creating the STEP file in ALIAS

Follow these steps to create an STEP format file for SolidDesigner:

1

Select the object to be exported so that it is the "active" object.

2

From the File menu select Export > Save Active As.

3

Select STEP from the File Format menu.

4

Select AP214 from the Application Protocol.

5

The Studio model should have already been stitched into a solid shell (volume) or a shell (group of stitched surfaces that do not describe a volume).

6

Select the Save icon and specify the STEP file name. Studio automatically appends the .stp extension to the file name. This file is now ready to be read into SolidDesigner.

Importing the IGES/STEP file into SolidDesigner

Importing into SolidDesigner 4.0

In SolidDesigner:

1

Select File at the top

2

Select External

3

Select STP under LOAD, this will bring you to "LOAD STEP" menu

4

Select Surfaces

5

Select Connect "on", Check Part "on", and Trm Par "off" under the Options header

6

Select Custom "on" under Resolution header

7

Select Accuracy and type .001 in the field to the right

8

Select File Name and type (name.stp) under the file header

9

Select OK

Step 2: Creating a Solid

Once the imported geometry has been used to create a solid, the resulting solid part may be defined as a closed solid, surface quilt or a partial surface quilt.

All surface edges must be used to create a solid before you can take advantage of the solid functionalities in SolidDesigner. In general, edges fail to be used to create a solid because of a mismatch in the topology of two or more adjacent faces or because the maximum distance between two adjacent edges is greater then the current accuracy defined in SolidDesigner.

If you are not successful in stitching the entire object, return to the Alias model and investigate the boundary condition further.

SolidDesigner to ALIAS via IGES/STEP

Creating/Exporting an IGES file in SolidDesigner

In SolidDesigner you must export all surfaces as NURBS. You can set this by typing the following in the SolidDesigner command line:

(set-iges-all-sf-nurbs "YES") 

To switch back; type:

(set-iges-all-sf-nurbs "NO") 

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