IGES translation

[gieter]

We do more and more translations from Catia to UG NX3. The problem is that the quality of the IGES file is dependent on the quality of the model in Catia and the translation tolerances. We are looking for information/settings to instruct our customers how to export IGES.

I suppose we're not the only one having this problem and that there exist studies on this mather. I did an extensive internet search but nothing usefull came up.

Can anyone direct me to a good source?

Thanks,

 

[ewh]

Do you have to have the translations done in iges? Are the parts composed of primitives or lofted features?
We have found that stp is a much more robust format for translations than iges is, especially for free form features, and is second only to parasolids.

 

[sean01]

Gieter,

You neglected to say whether you are importing V5 or V4 Catia data. Theres a Catia V5 import license for NX3 as well as STEP - both work pretty well in my experience, certainly for solid models. The biggets irritation with them is that the model they import effectively becomes a 'parasolid' which doesn't allow much eseful editing of features and parameters.

In Catia V4, most of the parameters you need to get access to are accessible via the CATIGE or IGECAT utilities, with the exception of untrimmed surfaces (i think this is IGES type 44 or 42 from memory) both of these seem to work fairly well as well - I've certainly not had any problems using CATIGE with the IGES version set at version 5.2. If you are having difficulty reading a model in as a closed set of boudaries you can alter the model standard in catia (ST on the bottom toolbar - or via the STANDARD keyword)

We regularly translate IGES data into NX3 and have found that the you need to fiddle with the individual .def files in the UGS programme directory - we have at least different ones for metric and imperial and then customer specific versions. Its relatively easy to work out what setting does what if you open the file in a text editor - but if you want I can email you a general version that we are using.

Hope this helps

sean

 

[gieter]

ewh, Sean,

The data come from both V4 and V5 and are primairally lofted. We also prefer STEP, but if the original model is not a solid we found we have less problems with IGES then with STEP.

What are settings can be modified in CATIGE or IGECAT and how do they affect the translation into NX3? Are there certain IGES types that should be avoided?

Sean, if I understand your explanation, you can either export a closed set of boundaries or not. What difference does this make in the translation?

We don't have a Catia license ourself and in most cases we are not in the position to do a translation optimization with our customer because of lack of time and goodwill and because of lack of knowledge both from our side as from the customer's side.

Mik Doms
mik (dot) doms (at) allard-europe (dot) com