Colors in STEP exports

[dgschaefer]

Hello,

WF4, M220.

The tooling vendor for this project is requesting changed surfaces after tooling release be highlighted red when new files are sent. We prefer to use STEP file over IGES, but STEP doesn't reliably keep the surface color. IGES does, but the files are not as good.

Based on the results of a Google search [1], I tried setting these options, but have mixed results:

step_appearance_layers_groups yes
step_export_format ap214_cd

When the resulting STEP file is brought back into Proe, I get my red surfaces. When brought back into SW 2013, however, I do not. Unfortunately, I believe the tooling supplier is using SW.

Is there any way to get my surface colors exported in a STEP file?

[1] - http://www3.eng.cam.ac.uk/DesignOffice/cad/proewild3/usascii/proe/interface/step_colors_and_layers_support_for_step_ap203_an.htm
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[BenLoosli]

Sounds like the colors ARE being exported to the STEP file, but SW is NOT importing them.

One story I heard years ago when IGES was being worked on and a vendor (remaining unnamed to protect the guilty) was doing their import demonstration. They brought in a surface and each segment of the UV grid was an individual line, so a 3x3 UV ended up with 18 line segments instead of 6. When asked why they did it that way the answer was "No one said the surface grid had to be useable".

[dgschaefer]

Maybe, but another possibility is that Proe is exporting it in a non-standard way and SW can't understand it, but a re-import back to Proe works.

I have no idea if that's even possible, frankly, but out of Proe and back into Proe just fine doesn't prove that the export is working right to me.

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[dgschaefer]

OK, I take that back.  It turns out that SW is seeing the surfaces as having different color assignments; it's just using the same actual color for each so they look the same.  Helpful.

Looks like a SW problem after all.

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[rrich]

Silly thing but I have had better luck in transfer of colors with IGES. But geometry can be questionable if it is complex via IGES.

Ron

[dgschaefer]

That's what I'm seeing too, but these are complex plastic parts.  I don't want to go IGES on these.  Plus, there are a lot of construction surfaces that IGES doesn't' let you exclude, STEP will.

What I have discovered is that Parasolid works quite well with both geometry and colors when imported into both Proe & SW.  Still don't know why the STEP isn't working, but it's a moot point now.

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