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Offline - Export - Viewer
jochen333
OS Professional Posts: 28 PRO
Hello!
On thursday i am visiting an subcontractor in a rural area. I know that i will loose 3G 10 minutes before arriving there.
Being there i have to control some parts, that means i would have to checkup some measurements in onshape.
I dont always want to ask for wifi and co.
So today i was looking into possibilities working around this, just for a file on file based occasion.
I would like to export and view my data in a free viewer but didnt really find one. Ensuite Viewer is close, but the new version allows you just 10 views a month. And... as far as i know you need a online connection to startup the programm.
My next idea was to export 3D PDFs with the 3D PDF Exporter App. But the one out if two tries failed (Lost (free) credit and now pdf file) and the interface in Acrobat while viewing that 3D PDFs is not the best.
Now.... do you have any workflow in that area? Any ideas?
I Dont really want to trick by the onshape mantra with alway online for fault free data handling (I appreciate it), just want to have a possibility to have backup / view a special file while uproad all the time.
On thursday i am visiting an subcontractor in a rural area. I know that i will loose 3G 10 minutes before arriving there.
Being there i have to control some parts, that means i would have to checkup some measurements in onshape.
I dont always want to ask for wifi and co.
So today i was looking into possibilities working around this, just for a file on file based occasion.
I would like to export and view my data in a free viewer but didnt really find one. Ensuite Viewer is close, but the new version allows you just 10 views a month. And... as far as i know you need a online connection to startup the programm.
My next idea was to export 3D PDFs with the 3D PDF Exporter App. But the one out if two tries failed (Lost (free) credit and now pdf file) and the interface in Acrobat while viewing that 3D PDFs is not the best.
Now.... do you have any workflow in that area? Any ideas?
I Dont really want to trick by the onshape mantra with alway online for fault free data handling (I appreciate it), just want to have a possibility to have backup / view a special file while uproad all the time.
0
Comments
Hi Jochen,
I would recommend this workflow:
1. Export Onshape model in STEP format to local drive.2. Open the STEP file with a localy installed free STEP viewer (STP-Viewer, IDA-STEP-Viewer, etc).
Downloads:
http://stp-viewer.soft112.com/download.html
http://www.ida-step.net/components/viewers/basic
These viewers are only for viewing and hide/show components. Measuring is not possible with free viewers.
Best Regards
Hakro
You can also use the CAD programm "Free-CAD" as a STEP viewer with primitive measurement features:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/free-cad/
https://appstore.onshape.com/apps/Import and Export/AMNBNL3MFI76TZXLJ7UJHX3ZFIIPNO4HQO7BXFI=/description
Twitter: @onshapetricks & @babart1977
@hakro
Measuring is the key... Thats why i asked for a free viewer... hoping there is one with measuring.
Good point you mentioned FreeCad.... i already have it installed too, but wasnt aware of it opening STEPs.
It works and the measure function is enough for me. Thank You!
@brucebartlett
WebGL exporter is just another incarnation of 3D PDF exporter with the same troubles i think. As i mentioned in my first post the 3D PDF exporter kind of crashed on downloading the files one out of two.
I was told that they dont think the lost donwload is a problem on there side... Ok, they gave me 10 more free credits for trying, but i think they should rethink there webui dialog and give you the chance to redownload an already converted file without spending another credit on it (Same content of course).
So.. for now going on with native STEP-Export and FreeCad.
Update: Another Thing... in the 3D PDFs and WebGL Stuff i could not hide single parts in the step, thats a no go too.
And further on at WebGL exporter: While doenloading that testfile the download got stuck too several times. My connection here doesnt have problems normally.