STEP file converter

ken

I use SimLab Composer. I have tried the rest, Alibre, ViaCad, 123D beta and others programs, and Simlab does the best conversions. But to be honest, nothing is going to turn a high poly model into something that Sketchup is not going to choke on.

Ken

MALAISE

Great explanation Chri!

Exactly what I was looking for

Pierre

lansd

@unknownuser said:

I use SimLab Composer. I have tried the rest, Alibre, ViaCad, 123D beta and others programs, and Simlab does the best conversions. But to be honest, nothing is going to turn a high poly model into something that Sketchup is not going to choke on.

This would be an incorrect comment due to lack of knowledge and experience, which is common on SketchUp forums since 2010. As I and the original SketchUp developer worked together to write the main CAD -> SketchUp conversion system in 2005 before he sold off the company, I'll point you to the proper methods to get any sized CAD file into SketchUp with good efficiency:

http://www.okino.com/conv/exp_sketchup.htm#bestpractices

emartingr

@pilou said:

Use Free-CAD
Import / Export!
STEP, IGES, OBJ, DXF, SVG, STL, DAE, IFC or OFF

Seems you can use some one for SU

Or Moment of inspiration but it's not the same price!
But you can send me the file in MP

The free 123D also
123D can IMPORT (Open) 123D, SKP, SAT,OBJ, DWG (3D solids), STP, 123C (Mesh content).
123D can export (Save As): STL, SAT, DWG, STP and its native 123D. you can also publish an image.

Thanks pilou,

FreCad would be great to convert 3D files to or from SU. The Collada format opens directly in SU. But I found it difficult to load the required conversion plugins into FreeCad. To import/export collada files from SU, the pycollada plugin is required and this involves installing Python, numpy and setuptools (http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Extra_python_modules#Installation_3).

I could not make it work -yet-, perhaps because there are many different versions of each. If someone has already done it, I would appreciate getting the information. If I manage to install it, I will send the detail method.

Jim

I can not get the COLLADA export to work yet either.

However, the .stl export does work. What's better is that FreeCAD does not need to be running to convert a .step to .stl. The FreeCAD Python API can be used to convert the file and a plugin can be made to import .step as an .stl from SketchUp.

The python script I am testing is very simple:


# conv.py
FREECAD = 'C;\\Program Files (x86)\\FreeCAD 0.14\\bin'
import sys
sys.path.append(FREECAD)
import FreeCAD
import Part
part = Part.read("C;/Users/Jim/Downloads/545424.STEP")
part.exportStl('C;/users/jim/part.stl')

In addition, you do not need to install Python. I was able to use FreeCAD's embedded Python to run the script:


"c;\Program Files (x86)\FreeCAD 0.14\bin\python.exe" conv.py

That's it. It will probably take SketchUp longer to import the .stl than FreeCAD takes to perform the conversion.

So there you have it with a little more work, a poor-man's .step import.

Aroundthebend

@malaise said:

Thanks Pilou,

I'll test freecad and then convert the file.

Pierre

Hi MALAISE, did you have any luck using Freecad to import STEP files i.e.:

Step into Freecad export as .stl >import into Sketchup.

cheers

pilou

@unknownuser said:

I'll point you to the proper methods to get any sized CAD file into SketchUp with good efficiency:

It's that we can say a very good article!

Aroundthebend

@pilou said:

@unknownuser said:

I'll point you to the proper methods to get any sized CAD file into SketchUp with good efficiency:

It's that we can say a very good article!

Thanks pilou. I now know what I need (once I read the article a few times!). Yes a very good article .

hsmyers

@jim said:

However, the .stl export does work. What's better is that FreeCAD does not need to be running to convert a .step to .stl. The FreeCAD Python API can be used to convert the file and a plugin can be made to import .step as an .stl from SketchUp.

Slight improvement, tested and working:


# step2stl.py
FREECAD = 'C;\\Program Files\\FreeCAD 0.15\\bin'
import sys
sys.path.append(FREECAD)
import FreeCAD
import Part
part = Part.read(str(sys.argv[1]))
part.exportStl(str(sys.argv[2]))

Late to the dance, but just ran into the problem => Thanks Jim !!

Aroundthebend

Hi all, I've been looking at this problem for some time. I've now started using Afanche3D Pro (£29'ish) which is a 3D file viewer. It can import STEP files (and others) and export to DAE (and other formats). I've found it very us usfull.

The STEP files I receive are usually in mm so I've set Afanche3D Pro System Length Unit to mm and the Default File Importing Length Unit to cm (these setting are found in the Options (Grey cog in tools above work area). This is so it enlarges by 10. I then export as a DAE and import this into SketchUp. Because the units in my SU are set as mm the DAE file will import at x10 (that makes it x1000 the original model size).

Afanche do some other viewers that only open one file type (i.e. STEP viewer £23)