Industrial Design System FAQ

Data transfer

  1. What file formats are supported by the IDS ?
  2. What are the supported versions of the file formats ?
  3. What IGES writing parameters should I use in the IDS when transfering data to Pro/E ?
  4. What IGES writing parameters should I use in the IDS when transfering data to Catia ?

1. Question: What file formats are supported by the IDS ?
Answer:
The IDS has interfaces for the following file formats for general data transfer: STL, DXF, IGES and VDA-FS. In addition to these general formats there are some more specific formats available. The slices can be exported from Rapid Tools in CLI, SLI, SSL and SLC formats.

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.

2. Question: What are the supported versions of the file formats ?
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 IDS 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 IDS DXF translator does not support DXF format from AutoCAD 13 or later.

3. Question: What IGES writing parameters should I use in the IDS when transfering data to Pro/E ?
Answer:
Our experience is that the following IGES writing parameters have usually worked best for transfering surface models from IDS to Pro/E:
  Optional flags: default
  Surface representation: Rational B-splines
  Trim representation: Polylines
  Spline trim tolerance: 0.001

4. Question: What IGES writing parameters should I use in the IDS when transfering data to Catia ?
Answer:
Our experience is that the following IGES writing parameters have usually worked best for transfering surface models from IDS to Catia:
  Optional flags: default
  Surface representation: Parametric splines
  Trim representation: Polylines
  Spline trim tolerance: 0.001


DESKARTES and the DA symbol are trademarks of DeskArtes Oy.
Copyright 1996-2008 DeskArtes Oy.