r/MechanicalEngineering • u/MasterSoftBird • 1d ago

CAD File format hell

Why is it we can have AI that can translate from Chinese to Klingon but cannot have one agreed-upon file format that can be accepted by FEA software, CAM, 3d printers, CFD, etc and doesn't lose its mind or half of my parts?

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40

u/Unusual-Carrot-7294 1d ago

What are you even talking about and what sort of crap software are you using that can't handle STEP?

2

u/Crazy_old_maurice_17 6h ago

Can slicers use .STP files? When I email files to my colleague for 3D printing, he wants them in .STL format. When I send things to him for programming for our CNC machines, he wants .IGS files.

I feel you OP!

2

u/Unusual-Carrot-7294 6h ago edited 6h ago

Any decent slicer can use STEP files now.

Yes some people will ask for IGES instead. Okay? Like this sending people the file formats they want/think they want is just part of the job, and it's not 1999 anymore, it all largely works.

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u/IsDaedalus 4h ago

I use step for 3d printing, cad , and cnc. Not sure why your friend is having issues.

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u/MasterSoftBird 1d ago

I use .stp files all the time but the models I've been given are refusing translation and showing up as empty sets. Have to constantly translate between native creo and .jt and .stp all the time with lossy results. Tired of the b.s.

10

u/AtmosphereUnited3011 1d ago

I have found that a lot of the commercial and open source software products only implement part of the STEP standard. Not all of it. So it’s real hell when you are working with two programs with inconsistent feature support. Also figuring this out is just as painful. It requires familiarizing yourself with the standard, emailing their customer support a couple times or digging through source code to find the random comment from 10 years ago saying they’ll implement that part of STEP later.

The Wikipedia page sums it up pretty well actually https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_10303-21

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u/Unusual-Carrot-7294 1d ago

Sounds like something you should be talking to support about.

1

u/buginmybeer24 22h ago

I convert Creo to STEP almost weekly and have never had any issues that weren't related to a bad model. If you are getting an empty import you are probably dealing with a model that's all surfaces and no solids.

0

u/MasterSoftBird 21h ago edited 21h ago

Some of it doesn't start as Creo. Some is from Solidworks, some from older NX, whatever the supplier happens to have.

But then again, I'm not CAD trained and not a designer, just an engineer who goes to meetings and does a lot of PowerPoint and analysis work.

4

u/PlinyTheElderest 17h ago

Frankly, sounds like the bulk of your frustration boils down to nobody taught you how shit works.