STEP: FAQ

Import

  • Question: 
    You successfully opened the STEP file, there is no KO faces, but the solid was not created.
  • Answer: 
    Try an interactive Join on the Shell
  • Question:
    You successfully opened the STEP file, but the parts are not correctly placed.
  • Answer: 
    Edit the STEP file with a text editor and look for MAPPED_ITEM entities.
    Those are old entities not used anymore and not supported. Ask the provider of the STEP file to use CONTEXT_DEPENDENT_SHAPE_REPRESENTATION entities instead.
  • Question:
    You successfully opened the STEP file, there is no KO faces,
    but there are some missing geometries.
  • Answer: 
    Check in the .rpt for NS (Non supported) elements,
    and consult STEP documentation to have a comprehensive list of Supported Entities
 
  • Question :
    You receive a 'Low memory state' warning message and your STEP file is not totally converted.

  • Answer :
    There is not enough memory to convert the file completely and
    all the remaining entities are skipped. 
    We recommend that you use Windows NT4SP06 (and above) for large STEP files
    and with at least 1 GB of RAM and 2 GB of SWAP.

Export

  • Question:
    The .rpt reported that there were one or many KO Faces or the .err reported that an invalid Body has been detected.
  • Answer:
    The problem might be due to two sources : a bad CATPart or a bug in the STEP code.
    To verify the CATPart is OK, use the usual tools : Cleaner, NCGM Workbench and
    make sure there is no major errors.
    A internal check is done while exporting and a line is added to the .err to warn if the Body is invalid

  • Question :
    I am losing some parts of my assembly while exporting my CATProduct to STEP, why ?


  • Answer :
    Make sure that you do not have any foreign parts included in your CATProduct like STL files or Parasolid files...etc.
    Those files do not contain any V5 information except the visualization information and
    therefore it is impossible to export them as STEP file.
    If you have CATIA V4 .models in your CATProduct, make sure to have
    them migrated to V5 before exporting to STEP.