Optimal settings for IGES import/export?

[tdp240]

We use both I-DEAS (10.1) and CATIA v4 here, and our CATIA boxes don't have STEP translators, so we have to do all part translations with IGES data. Does anyone know what the optimal settings are for exchanging IGES data back and forth? We can't seem to get a clean translation in either direction.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

 

[RCDLtd]

Depending on what Rev of Catia you are running you may be facing a problem where I-DEAS is outputting in IGES 5.3 (Its' default) but Catia is running IGES 5.0 or 5.1

This has lead to very poor translations for me in the past.

It would be worth trying the "old" I-DEAS IGES translator which uses IGES 5.0. I found this to be more compatible.

To invoke the "old" translator, in the I-DEAS prompt window type:

/xto co bo fc ex for export or
/xto co bo fc im for import

This will have more effect in the I-DEAS -> Catia direction. In the Catia -> I-DEAS direction ensuring that a CatCLN has been performed helps as does sending Solids, Surfaces and wireframe out in separate files. I-DEAS seems to struggle with multiple entity types in the same file.

I've found little benefit of the IGES flavouring in I-DEAS.

If this still doesn't give you what you need then I'd suggest finding someone with a direct translator. 80% of my translation problems dissappeared when I invested in one.

 

[tdp240]

Thanks for the suggestion. The "old" translator wasn't perfect, but it was better than the "new" one. I"ll definitely save that command prompt.