I would recommend that you contact the GTAC group as they have provided (for a fee) translation services for various formates, both those which are technically our responsibilty, such as EMS, as well as competitors.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
UGS NX Product Line
SIEMENS
UGS PLM Software
Cypress, CA
Well 'too old' generally means that GTAC no longer has the necessary, and often proprietary, hardware to handle either the media that your files are on (like some of the more obscure tape cartridges that were all the rage with different hardware vendors 10 or 15 years ago) or that the now obsolete software had to run on, if the files were not archived in some sort of neutral format.
Anyway, good luck in finding someone with some museam quaility Intergarph workstations still running.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
UGS NX Product Line
SIEMENS
UGS PLM Software
Cypress, CA
It's been a long, long time ago, but I did translate some 2D curves from EMS using the IGES translator. If I remember correctly, the translation was done from a command line rather than inside EMS. I also believe we made some IGES files of some fairly complex surfaces as well. Once the IGES files were made, they imported fairly easily into NX (UG at that time).
Unfortunately, none of the EMS users are still working here.
Yes, once the data was in IGES format it worked fine since EMS was one of the first systems to make extensive (almost too extensive in cases where they should have used arcs and conics) of NURB curves and surfaces.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
UGS NX Product Line
SIEMENS
UGS PLM Software
Cypress, CA
We've had quite extensive experience with translating EMS to UG. We still have an old 6110 workstation in case we have to go far back into the archives.
nkwheelguy is spot on with using iges. That works the best,
and if the models are fairly 'clean' will transport as a solid into NX. What OS are you working on?
Try to get rid of any unnecessary geometry in the EMS file before translating.
