Pro E Translator???

[Josh T™]

How seamed is this? How does the .prt translator compare to Parasolids or IGES? Surfs better?Import wireframe or do you have to create the curves?

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

MUCH better than IGUESS. Not sure Pro/E can kick a Parasoid out. Importing a native Pro/E file with a solid in it will give you edge curves if you want.

 

Of the 100 or so Pro/E files I've imported over the years, I think I've only had 2-3 unusable files, and that was back in the CADCAM-e days. The Mastercam Converter has worked well with the exception of the planes making the parts look like a porcupine issue which was fixed.

 

JM2C

[Redfire427]

Josh,

Importing from ProE is poor at best. Forget what CNC Apps guy says. He must be refering to some past generation. As a company, we import probably 50 files a day so I would say I am somewhat of an expert on this matter. With the previous version of ProE ( Wildfire 2 ) you were able to convert the files very well with Mastercam version 9. When ProE progressed to Wildfire 3, that's when the problems started. Version 9 cannot open Wildfire 3 so we had to wait until Mastercam X came along and at least we could open the files but they were poor. CNC Software have made improvements to the converter with the latest release ( MR1 ) but it is still not great. My opinion is this is a ProE problem, not a Mastercam issue. When I say the importing is poor, I mean that the wireframe entity count is ridiculous for one. What we do is import the solid from ProE and delete all wireframe and then create a new wireframe from the solid. This usually drops the entity count in half. The funny thing is there are no duplicate entities. We also create surfaces from the solid and delete the solid as this makes it easier to program a portion of the model with selected surfaces rather than Mastercam looking at the entire solid. Speeds up processing time. Another problem is when you import the solid, it also imports some surfaces. We have never figured out why this happens so we have to delete them too. It must have something to do with the "history tree" within ProE. We have tried experimenting with STEP, IGES and Parasolid files and have not found a clear alternative. Each one has there own drawbacks. Again, I think it's ProE problem. I have spoken to other cam vendors and they tell me that they cannot import a proper file from ProE either. At least two vendors have told me they use Iges with no issues in their systems.

 

I don't mean to slam you CNC Apps guy but your feedback is outdated.

 

[ 04-03-2007, 09:28 PM: Message edited by: Prosin Molds ]

[gcode]

The best way to convert ProE is

ProE into SolidWorks

save out of SolidWorks as a parasolid

and import the parasold into Mastercam.

SolidWorks has the best translators in the industry. Its worth buying for the translators alone.

[YoDoug®]

+1000 to Prosin

 

We import an average of 10 ProE solids a day. The way the solid was created in ProE has a big affect on how well it will translate. When our designers use the ISDX module (interactive surface design) in ProE that's when we get the worst models. Molds and other models with complex surfaces are the worst. Assembly made features do not come in either. Again that is ProE fault for not updating individual models when an assembly feature is made.

 

I have also found that assemblies with a large # of components are very slow to manipulate. I normally create surfaces from solids on separate layers then blank the solids for better performance.

 

After import we also delete everything but the solid, then create wireframe in MCX if needed.

 

BTW, when the ProE solids are more prismatic we don't have any problems with translation. If your models don't have a lot of surfaces the converter is great.

 

If you use ProE as your design CAD I would definitely recommend getting the MCX-ProE translator, but only because there is no better option with ProE.

[Josh T™]

We're still running Wildfire 2.0 here. There has been talk of switching to UG but not for a while.

 

We machine ALOT of small, complex surfs here. The only issue I have with Parasolids is that the surface quality is WORSE than IGES on the tiny ones, lots of facets. No matter what I set the model accuracy to we still get them. I will keep doin' what I'm doin' until corporate IT has made a decision on the UG switch. If not we may make the investment.

 

Does MC have a Unigraphics converter also?

[Cuda84]

Yes they do. But we use parasolid to transfer data from UG to MCX. UG parasolids are great.

[Cuda84]

I guse I should tell you, if the UG file is a sheet body and not a water tight solid, you should read it in as surfaces not as a solid. As this will give you a solid for every surface or sheet.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Just read a few Wildfire 3 (acording to the header in the file) in this morning for a Turnkey (Project I'm working on - so much for outdated... ) and the parts came in flawlessly. Very complicated organic shapes. No extra surfaces, no gaps, none of the extra stuff Prosin describes above so I guess you can take this discussion as "...results may vary...". I happen to know one of the engineers that created one of the models and his Pro/E skils are exemplary at the very least so perhaps that has something to do with it.

 

My personal experience with another CAD Package (CATIA) proved to me that the CAD Designer's input will have ALOT to do with the quality of the model you get out of the software. I'm a CATIA rookie at best and some models I created in CATIA did not always come into Mastercam very well, but models from other skilled engineers came in quite well. SO take that for what it's worth.

 

4 Letters ..... G I G O

Garbage In Garbage Out

[Josh T™]

We used to inport Catia files in at my last job... Don S still does I think. The translator worked really well for that... BUT, the wireframe was really screwy. When we'd create/curve/all edges/all/surfs... MC would make 2 wires... one was true geometry and the other was lots of facets Depending on which one you selected could drastically change the part finish. Delete Duplicates never worked either. Does this happen with the ProE or UG translators?

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

When you create edge curves with all edges you do end up with a lot of apparently duplicate geometry. Not really sure how to resolve that other than to create the curves one edge at a time.

[cadcam]

I have converted allot of Pro-e files for me and for my customers and have had good luck with them.

The onny thing that drove me nuts like my customers was all the plane markers in X2 but now you have the option to turn them on or off.

 

But I have seen 95% or more of good conversions from MC and better these days then before.

 

I have a customer that uses Iges out instead and they have the Flavor locked down and they seem to get the cleanest Iges file in to MC I have ever seen. for starters no dups on the edge curves.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

quote:

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...The only thing that drove me nuts like my customers was all the plane markers in X2 but now you have the option to turn them on or off...

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by selecting options when you read them in. Definitely a breeze.