SolieWorks Step to UG

[camit]

To all,

We have a 25 meg step from a SolidWorks file that we have to open in UG (no parasoild) from the customer. It takes 20 minutes to open. When we try it in CATIA 5 it takes 1 minute. Is there any way or do we need to do something different for the Step file to be opened in UG with better time peformance?

All help will be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[cowski]

It takes 20 min to initially import it into a part file, or 20 min each time you open it after that?

Sometimes when you export a step file it exports not only the solid you are interested in, but also all the tool solids and sheets used to make it. If you don't need these, you can delete them after importing the file to improve load times.

 

[camit]

cowski,

Thanks for the feedback. To answer your question we tried it both ways. First by opening the file in UG and then importing it into a new file in UG. It was both 20 plus minutes. However the surprise is when we opened it in Catia 5 and it was 1 minute. Can the customer clean up the file by deleting or setting the translator to just export the solid?

 

[looslib]

Once the file has been opened in UG abd saved as a native UG file, how long does it take to open.

UG's STEP translator is a lot slower that Pro/E's too.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
"Fixed in the next release" should replace "Product First" as the PTC slogan.

Ben Loosli
CAD/CAM System Analyst
Ingersoll-Rand

 

[camit]

Ben,

thanks for the response. To answer your question the reload is fast as it is now a .prt file. However all of our files are coming into one department and has to be distributed from there. That is why we are trying to reduce our cycle times bring the files into UG for CAM programming. And we are still amazed at how CATIA 5 only takes 1-2 minutes to do the same part. Is there anyway or any techiques to make this run faster or take less time to load.

 

[cowski]

UG won't open step files directly, you must import them. If the file is large and complicated, I would not be surprised if the translation process takes 20 minutes or more. Once it is saved as a UG file it should open faster.

Here is a general tip to keep in mind (I doubt this is the cause of your trouble, but I'll mention it anyway). If you save the file while it is shaded and zoomed up on a small feature it will take longer to open the file next time (regeneration time - to get the detail the system will default to something like super fine shading). You may want to do a view fit and/or wireframe view before saving a file.

 

[J-C]

Is parasolid not an option? I would expect that to translate much better since both UG and Solidworks use it.

Jason

 

[camit]

Jason,

Thanks for the response. To answer your question we cannot get the parasolid from the customer at this time and all we have is the step file.

 

[ewh]

NX3 will open step files as .prt files, but it may be much quicker to open a new file then import the step file into that. What version of UG are you using?

 

[UGperson]

The Reasion for your question is because CATIA V5 and solid works are made by the same company. CATIA V5 step to CATIA V5 is faster than a step made from UG.

 

[camit]

ewh,

Our production version is 2.06. I have tried it in NX3 both ways and it is still surprisingly slow. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[J-C]

Solidworks may be owned by Catia but they have little in common. Solidworks runs on the parasolid kernel owned and licensed by UG. Also, Solidworks had a STEP translator before they were bought by Catia so Catia's STEP xlator is likely different.

My guess is UG's step xlator is not programmed well or does alot of extra checking. I would try reimporting back in Solidworks and see how long it takes.

Jason

 

[cowski]

You may also want to validate the geometry after importing into UG. There may be some problems that it is having trouble calculating/displaying. I'm not sure where the command is in NX3, but in NX2 it is in the Analysis menu (Examine Geometry...).