FIRST Inventor lib?

[gblake]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

How so? I've never had a problem with step files... Even exporting whole assemblies of robots.

I am a novice at this; but what I have read/heard is that STEP files basically define the shape of an object by modeling it's skin as zillions of small triangles, and they don't convey important information about things like the radius of a circular arc, or the density of a material being modeled, or that a couple of concentric circles/holes are supposed to stay concentric (as opposed to just happing to be concentric because of random luck), etc.

If I have developed an accurate sense of how STEP files can be used, the effects of using them instead a tool's native format, or some other more compact and sophisticated format, should be fairly predictable.

1. Portability = A good thing
2. Increased CPU & RAM consumption = A potentially bad thing
3. An inability to have the "meta-info" like face and vertex definitions, or concentricity added to them by the using program = A thing that limits their usefulness in many situations.

I might have the details of this a little off, but I think I have the general picture correct. If I don't, I'm all ears.

Blake
PS: See http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...20&postcount=5 also.