Having problems importing .STP file of unknown origin

[p_hanson]

Having problems importing .STP file of unknown origin

I have been asked to import a solid model of a small engine for bracket design, yet I cannot get the file to open in AD. Are there tricks to doing this? I have never imported .STP files before and really have no experience with this. Would it be better to get the file in an IGES format? I would upload the file to the forum, but it's over 40M.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[indesign]

Have you tried both Alibre stp and the All stp formats. Alibre stp is not the same as the other stp formats.

 

[jwknecht]

You need to import rather than open the STEP file. STEP files normally import well. If it is a single part, you can also try ACIS (.SAT). Both of those are preferrable to IGES. But, I have seen where IGES works when STEP did not.

To import, from the Home page or from an open part go to File/Import. Or, just drag and drop the file into Alibre.

 

[Gaspar]

My guess is that they sent you the whole motor, not the bracket :shock:

40 Mb is way to large for any kind of bracket known to mankind.

An automotive part in the 40-60 Mb league is the complete dashboard.

Ask them to isolate the bracket first before exporting. Isolating means to open it in a separate work space. Hiding everything before exporting will still export the whole assembly. They must either delete all parts but the bracket before exporting or open the bracket as a single part and then export. If you post here what CAD package they are using, someone will surely be able to advice you on what to tell them.

 

[p_hanson]

I need the entire motor to design the bracket. I'm making a new rotary actuator to control the carburetor and need to design the bracket to accomodate.

I've tried to import the file using both Alibre STP and all STP formats. No go. I've imported the file in Solidview Pro, so I know the file is good. But I only have a trial version of Solidview Pro, so I exported an IGES from Solidview (because Solidview wont export an STP file) and then tried to open in AD but get a different error message.

I've sent the IGES file to AD customer support (because it was only 15M while the STP file was 40M zipped). Hopefully they can determine why other software can open this file but not AD.

I've contacted the customer and waiting for a responce as to the different file types that can be exported and the software used.

I will try to keep the forum updated....

Thanks again.

 

[p_hanson]

Update:

My customer is using Pro E....does anyone know a specific file type from Pro E that would be easily imported into AD?

Thanks

 

[Gaspar]

I recently imported a couple PRO-E IGS files, but by no means as big as what you got. They imported perfectly.

 

[jwknecht]

My recommendations are STEP, SAT (ACIS), and finally IGES. But take a look at the import export options in Alibre. There is no harm in the shotgun approach (try them all). Chances are that one will work OK.

When I import I first try with no options. Then I do a check part. If there are no errors, good to go. If there are errors, I try some options (heal, disregard non solid faces, make tolerant).

 

[HaroldL]

p_hanson wrote:

I need the entire motor to design the bracket. I'm making a new rotary actuator to control the carburetor and need to design the bracket to accomodate.

I suspect you do not need the "entire" motor, just the parts necessary to design the bracket.
Try to get just the carburator, intake manifold, etc, parts incedent to your design. That should get the file size down to something more manageable.

HaroldL

 

[demarchi]

Did you try to import the geometry under Rhino? The demo doubles as an impressive free viewer. At least you can see if the model is readable...

 

[p_hanson]

I suspect you do not need the "entire" motor, just the parts necessary to design the bracket.
Try to get just the carburator, intake manifold, etc, parts incedent to your design. That should get the file size down to something more manageable.

Actually the motor is relatively small, single cylinder similar to a lawnmower motor. But I do need the entire motor to incorporate the mouting brackets for the motor & outer cage assy. But the file size is pretty big, 160Mb for STEP and 130Mb for IGES.

I received the file in an .igs format and it seems to open but as soon as the window opens with the model my pc locks up and won't do anything in AD. My processor is still running at about 50% (dual P4 3.0GHz) and my used RAM drops from 1.0G to about 400M. P.S. The file took more then 30 min. to open that far. Should I wait longer?

Is there a way for me to upload this file, and have someone else try to open? Maybe there is a problem with my pc. I am experiencing other problems with AD that inhibit its performance from time to time.

Any suggestions...

 

[demarchi]

Try to zip the file at maximum compression.
stp and igs are text file, and you could find the zipped file is much smaller.
If it is not small enough, let me know the final size. I could try to place it in my web server for downloading.

As I said in an earlier post, check the same model with the Rhino demo, in order to verify the model is ok.

 

[Gaspar]

An IGS or STP file usually compresses a lot when zipped.

I still think a file that size is way too large to manage. It has every chance to have errors and will sure make any mundane PC dizzy.

I would ask the people who own the native motor file to remove all the internal parts and then, extrude off any unneeded geometry. I would ask only for what is necessary for the job.

I once had to deal with a whole dashboard. Much smaller than what you mention but large enough to make it unmanagable. With much patience, I sketched a big square and extruded off most of the piece which I wasn't going to use. This simple operation took more than an hour. I exported the resulting model as ACIS and then reimported the ACIS part back to AD. The reimported model was easy to manage and had all the geometry needed for my work.

An imported file that size is trouble by definition in my experience :shock: