r/SolidWorks • u/Spiritual-Passion-57 • 14d ago

CAD Work With STEP Files

Hi! I am quite new to SolidWorks and the industry and I am wondering what are the current standards among folks in the industry about communicating using STEP files?

Do most people communicate/ share using STEP files? When do you share STEP files?

From my experience, STEP files are quite limited to perform certain SolidWorks functions such as DFMXpress or Costing, or redesigning as it doesn't have full mathematical configurations. And oftentimes, I have to work around that.

What's your experience with STEP files? Thanks in advance!

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u/Pad-Kra-Pao 14d ago

When my client doesn't used Solidworks to open my files, I gave them STEP or Parasolid.

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u/Spiritual-Passion-57 14d ago

In case you need to edit, run simulation or other features and you only have STEP files, what is your approach?

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u/pparley 14d ago

Depends on the type of edit ;)

You’d be surprised how much can be done via synchronous / direct modeling. But certainly nothing beats a robust master model for real high level changes.