Cadalyst has examined the CAD data exchange issue with their recent articles covering STEP vs IGES and CAD data translation services.
The STEP vs. IGES article polled six MCAD vendors on various issues surrounding the use of the neutral data exchange formats. The questions covered developer support, end-user support, problems in the formats, and future direction of neutral CAD data exchange.
The article includes tables of MCAD translator support for the two protocols.
Four CAD data translation services were reviewed in the second article. The services are available over the internet as ASPs (application service providers). The services range from methods to translate the data through the STEP neutral format, to design intent feature-based native translation. Each of the services is available on a pay-per-use basis. The article concludes with a number of tips for using ASP data translation services.
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