// Tokens: // 'CHK' = Place a checkmark // 'NOCHK' = Don't place any checkmark // NOTE: Don't uses spaces between the "|" and the NOTES/CHK/etc tokens // // // ----------------------------->>>> Header Line // 3D CAD Importer | Ext | Import From
Disk Files? | Import From
Live Application? Autodesk Inventor | .iam (assemblies),
.ipt (parts) | CHK | CHK NOTES-START

Autodesk Inventor is Autodesk's main MCAD "BREP solids" modelling software program which has competed with its rivals of SolidWorks, ProE/Creo, Solid Edge, Unigraphics NX (and partly) CATIA v4/v5 since its original release in 1999.

The file formats of key importance would be ".ipt" which contains the geometry of each part/object in the scene, and, ".iam" files which contain the scene assembly information.

Conversion from Autodesk Inventor into Okino software is handled by these 3 ideal methods:

The Autodesk Inventor import converter module allows geometry, hierarchy and materials (assembly data) to be imported from native disk-based Autodesk Inventor files or from a running copy of the Autodesk Inventor 3D solid modeling application using the Autodesk Inventor automation API. No intermediate files are used in the translation.

If you do not have a copy of Autodesk Inventor installed on your computer then you will need to install the Inventor "Apprentice Server" COM component module. This module allows Okino's Inventor importer to import data from .iam assembly files and/or .ipt part files without need for a full resident copy of Autodesk Inventor. This "Apprentice Server" is distributed by Autodesk in an installer called "Design Tracking". References to this page can be found on the Okino demo downloads WEB page.

Features of the Autodesk Inventor importer:

NOTES-END Autodesk DWF-3D (for AutoCAD, Navisworks, Revit & Inventor) | .dwf, .hsf | CHK | NOCHK NOTES-START This DWF-3D importer is considered by Okino to be our most important CAD importer for handling data from AutoCAD, Navisworks, Revit and optionally Autodesk Inventor. Okino wrote the first and primary implementation of DWF-3D over a long period of a decade. Its development focus has been to import the absolute most humongous of DWF-3D files and then have the data highly optimized for downstream programs which just can't handle such files. Common examples are very large oil & gas rigs, entire ships and architectural models.

This is not "just another 3D importer" but rather something we consider a "god send" to us and our customers. Whereas DXF and DWG are some of the worst file formats for general data translation, DWF-3D is one of the very best 3D file formats available. DWF-3D is actually an empty 'container file format', as is Adobe PDF, which uses the extensive and concise HOOPS 3D HSF format to capture and convey the 3D data.

It is highly recommended that you use DWF-3D file format to export out of AutoCAD and not the DXF or DWG file formats. For Navisworks and Revit, always use DWF-3D and never FBX format. For Autodesk Inventor, either use Okino's native Inventor importer or DWF-3D.

Please also refer to the corresponding DWF-3D export converter. NOTES-END Autodesk DXF & DWG (all versions) | .dxf, .dwg | CHK | NOCHK NOTES-START

DXF and DWG are the native file formats of the Autodesk AutoCAD product since 1982. DWG is the binary file variation to the ASCII DXF file format. These files can be viewed by many programs including Autodesk's free DWG TrueView application. It is a closed file format but has been documented by the Open Design Alliance.

The DWG import converter is an intelligent and complex converter which will read in DWG/DXF files containing 2d, 2-1/2d or 3d entities and transform them into optimized, grouped meshes of 3d polygons.

Please note that the base-level NuGraf and PolyTrans programs only import the DXF R12 file format whereas the CAD/Pack license adds in support up to the current version of DXF and DWG.

Highlights of the converter are as follows:

NOTES-END // Okino IGES (Trimmed Surfaces)| .iges, .igs | CHK | NOCHK // NOTES-START // This complex geometry import converter reads in "Trimmed Surface" // IGES files including the most used NURBS entities, their related trim curve information, geometry // hierarchy connectivity and polygonal data. It was the core back-bone of Okino CAD conversions during the // 90's and early 2000's era. However, all IGES conversions are now preferred to be handled by the // IGES-solids importer in the Okino Granite/Pack module. // //

Features of this Okino IGES "Trimmmed Surface" import converter: //

// NOTES-END PRC and 3D-PDF | .prc, .pdf | CHK | NOCHK NOTES-START PRC (Product Representation Compact) is probably one of the least known of 3D CAD file formats yet it forms the underpinning for Adobe Acrobat 3D PDF files. It may be considered the 'silent younger brother of the more well known U3D file format'. It has a fairly long but little unknown history.

PRC is primarily used as a 3D file format to embed 3D data within a PDF file. It was originally developed by the TTF Group of France whom were purchased by Adobe in 2006. In 2014 PRC became an ISO published standard.

Okino's PRC geometry import converter reads in native PRC 3D CAD files. It will also extract PRC and U3D files from within any chosen page of an Adobe 3D PDF file. It is an intelligent and well implemented importer for all forms of complex source PRC CAD file data, including the import and processing of 3D mesh and BREP (solids) geometry, assembly hierarchy (incl. intelligent “proto node” handling), materials (with adherence to the PRC father/son inheritance rules), 2D bitmapped texture maps, annotations and views markups, and all forms of PRC meta data.

Key salient features of the PRC import converter include:

  1. Dynamic Tessellation of BREP (NURBS) geometry items. The PRC file format differs from the U3D file format by allowing BREP (NURBS) parametric CAD geometry items to be defined and embedded within the file. Most often the source CAD program will pre-tessellate these BREP geometry items and store them within the PRC file as a highly compressed 3D polygonal mesh. However, for the rare case when the source program stores just the BREP geometry and not a polygonal meshed variation, this importer will tessellate the BREPs to polygonal meshes during the import process with mesh density controllable via a UI option.

  2. Carefully implemented material and texture map handling. PRC files can often have complex 2D bitmap texture maps applied to the CAD objects. This PRC importer builds upon Okino’s 3 decades of experience with precise material and texture map conversion with the support of these PRC attributes:

    1. Material attributes: Diffuse color, Ambient color, Emission color, Specular color, Opacity, Reflectivity and Gloss factor (Phong shininess) with selectable “shading coefficient” overrides.

    2. Texture mapping methods: Diffuse color map, Specular color map, Emission color map, Bump map, Reflection map and Opacity map with support for UV repeat (scaling), UV offset and UV tiling parameters.

    3. The PRC importer has been tested on many files and carefully tweaked to produce ideal “load and render” imports of texture mapped objects.

  3. Markups and annotations support whose entities are imported as accurate colorized polygonalized text and 3D polylines, grouped together as “3D PMI” or “Annotations Views”. Control is provided over hidden entity import.

  4. Import of ‘Views’ & Cameras, including orthographic and perspective cameras. Automatic scene fitting is done for PRC orthographic views.

  5. Automatic Texture Bitmap File Extraction of colormapped (8-bits), grayscale, RGB, BGR, RGBA and BGRA embedded image data to PNG disk-based files for use in downstream 3D programs for texture mapped objects.

  6. “Shading Coefficient Overrides” for the diffuse, ambient, emission and specular material colors, opacity value and the Phong shininess. These help to turn the “blown out” OpenGL shading model used by many PRC enabled applications into the more visually pleasing shading model used by common downstream DCC/Animation programs and viewers. This should allow for a quick “Load and Render” of the PRC model without having to spend an endless amount of time tweaking the imported material definitions.

  7. Four integrated CAD optimizers which take the most unwieldy and/or complex of PRC files and turns them into highly efficient models for all variety of downstream 3D programs and file viewers.

    1. Optimizer 1 locates and replaces all duplicated geometry.

    2. Optimizer 2 and 3 removes redundant runs of hierarchy tree nodes.

    3. Optimizer 4 invokes deep hierarchy tree node compression.

  8. Imported node names can be selectively appended with the corresponding PRC entity’s Name, Prototype descriptor, Node ID and/or File System ID. This information can be useful for the downstream PRC viewer and/or for easier visual inspection.

  9. Geometry processing functionality ensures that the "faceted" polygonal geometry typical of PRC files gets cleaned up: vertex welding, vertex normals welding, UV texture coordinates welding, triangle to quad merging and automatic vertex normal creation (based on smoothing angle).

  10. Proper and intelligent units matching. For example, if a millimeter based PRC file is imported into 3ds Max (inches), then the scene will be automatically scaled appropriately. Millimeters are assumed if no explicit units override is found in the PRC file.

  11. Automatic scene scaling & re-centering functionality. The imported model can be automatically rescaled to a user definable size limit. Automatic re-centering of the model to the origin is optional for those common cases when the PRC model is located hundreds of thousands to billions of units from the origin (which is usually not numerically acceptable to downstream non-CAD 3D programs).

  12. Well implemented meta data import from all PRC scene graph nodes. Compliant to the PRC ISO specification.

  13. Two Tree Traversal Methods, based on either visiting all the children nodes first or visiting the PRC prototype nodes first. PRC is a bit odd in how some files are created and defined such that the same scene will not be identical if the hierarchy tree is traversed child-first vs. prototype-node-first. The default method will produce ideal PRC file imports.
NOTES-END Solid Edge | .asm (assemblies),
.prt (parts) | CHK | CHK NOTES-START

Solid Edge is a 3D CAD, parametric feature and synchronous technology solid modeling software developed by Siemens. Some of its distant competitors would be SolidWorks, ProE/Creo, UG NX and Autodesk Inventor.

Okino knows of the Solid Edge software well as it had created one of the very first and still main conversion systems for the software.

Conversion from Solid Edge into Okino software is handled by these 3 ideal methods:

The Solid Edge import converter module allows geometry, hierarchy and materials (assembly data) to be imported from native disk-based Solid Edge files or from a running copy of the Solid Edge 3D solid modeling application using the Solid Edge automation API. No intermediate files are used in the translation.

Features of the Solid Edge import converter:

NOTES-END SolidWorks | .sldasm (assemblies),
.sldprt (parts) | CHK | CHK NOTES-START

Since the mid-1990s SolidWorks has dominated the mid-tier MCAD solids modelling market amongst its closest rivals of ProE/Creo, Unigraphics NX, Autodesk Inventor and Solid Edge.

SolidWorks has been Okino's #1 most requested and used MCAD importer (outside of STEP and IGES) for well over 28 years. We do not use reverse engineered technology, as commonly used by other companies, but rather license the real and actual runtime system from SolidWorks Corporation on a yearly basis. This has allowed our SolidWorks importer to remain entirely error free for over 28 years and is incredible fast to import and convert the most massive of assemblies.

Conversion from SolidWorks is best handled via native .sldasm and .sldasm files, or equally well via STEP AP204 or "IGES BREP solids".

The SolidWorks import converter module allows geometry, hierarchy and materials (assembly data) to be imported from native disk-based SolidWorks files or from a running copy of the SolidWorks 3D solid modeling application using the SolidWorks automation API. No intermediate files are used in the translation.

Features of the SolidWorks import converter:

NOTES-END