| 1. Question: What file formats are supported by the Expert Series ? |
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Answer: The Expert Series programs have interfaces for the following file formats for general data transfer: STL, VRML, ZPR, DXF, IGES and VDA-FS. In addition to these general formats there are some more specific formats available. The slices can be exported from 3Data Expert in CLI, SLI, SSL and SLC formats. Also there are import translators for the Nastran/ASCII geometry files (.fif) and ASCII OBJ geometry files (.obj). The availability of these file formats depends on the program purchased. With some programs the formats are included in the base package, with others they have to be bought as separate add-on modules. As a separate add-on package there is also additional import translators available for Step and native Catia V4, catia V5, Pro/E and Unigraphics formats. This Import Package can be installed on top of the following Expert Series 7.1 base packages.
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| 2. Question: What are the supported versions of the file formats ? |
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Answer: The IGES translator is implemented according to version 5.1 specifications, defined in the document "The Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) Version 5.1". The VDA-FS translator in Expert Series follows the version 2.0 definitions. The DXF translator implementation is based on the ASCII DXF descriptions in the AutoCAD version 11 manual. For AutoCAD version 12 the format was not changed much so the DXF file transfer with the systems following the AutoCAD 12 specification should still work fine. However starting from the version 13 of AutoCAD the DXF file format was changed to contain also some binary information. The documentation of these binary parts is not public, and therefore Expert Series DXF translator does not support DXF format from AutoCAD 13 or later. |
| 3. Question: Writing IGES doesn't seem to produce any file. Why ? |
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Answer: Normally the resulting IGES file should appear in the directory that you selected in the "File->Save As"-command dialog. The Expert Series however uses temporary files, stored in the Windows temporary directory, during the conversion to IGES. If storing these temporary files fails, the IGES file cannot be produced. In the older versions of the Expert Series (before 5.1) the temporary files cannot be written, if there are white space characters in the temporary directory path. This will cause the conversion to fail. The solution is to change the Windows temporary directory to a place (for example C:\tmp) where its path doesn't have space characters. Another reason to the problem might be that there is not enough free disk space on the partition where the Windows temporary directory resides. This is especially case if you are handling very big models. You can try to change the Windows temporary directory to another disk partition, where more free disk space is found. The Windows temporary directory is defined in an environment variable called TEMP. The environment variables can be changed in the following places in different Windows versions: Win 95/98: Add a line like SET TEMP=C:\tmp into c:\autoexec.bat Win NT 4: "Start->Settings->Control Panel: System: Environment" Win 2000: "Start->settings->Control Panel: System: Advanced: Environment Variables" Win XP: "Start->Control Panel: System: Advanced: Environment Variables" If there is an environment variable called TMP also defined, you should change its path to the same value as TEMP. Starting from the version 5.1 of Expert Series it is also possible to change the temporary directory path for the program in the "Edit->Customize"-dialog of the programs. |
| 4. Opening STL files fail with error "Invalid Certificate trust list file". Why ? |
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Answer: In the newer Windows versions, like Windows 98, 2000 and XP, the .STL file name suffix is as default registered for the Certificate Trust List files. This means that if you try to open a .STL file by double clicking it, Windows starts a program that can handle Certificate Trust List files and that program then tries to open the file as that type of .STL file. Among CAD systems the .STL suffix is however used for standard triangulated geometry files, so double clicking this type of .STL file in Windows, which has default configuration, causes the error message "Invalid Certificate trust list file". Anyway these problems only affect the file opening by double clicking it. If you first start a program that can open the triangulated geometry type .STL files, like DeskArtes View Expert or 3Data Expert, and then use the "File->Open" command to open the file, it will succeed. It is also possible to change the connections between the file type suffices and the programs, so that .STL files will be connected to for example DeskArtes View Expert. You can do that from Windows Explorer, by first selecting command "Tools->Folder Options..." in Explorer menus. Then select the "File types" page in the dialog that opens. In the "File Types" page select the "STL Certificate Trust List" in the list of registered file types. Then click the "Change" button and select the "View Expert" from the list of available programs, and finally click "OK" in both dialogs. After that you should be able to open the triangulated geometry .STL file to View Expert by double clicking the files. Of course the connection to the Certificate Trust List .STL doesn't then work anymore. |
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