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Why can't Onshape read the PMI data in STEP AP242 files?
Hello everyone,
MBD annotations can be exported in STEP AP242 format. We tested this by importing the exported file into PTC Creo. All annotations created in MBD were included. It also worked with SolidWorks. However, when we tried the reverse process with Onshape, the MBD annotations were not included. We also tested the data exported from Onshape, but the MBD annotations were still missing. Although Onshape can open STEP AP242 files containing PMI data, it does not display the PMI data. Is there something we’re missing here?
Answers
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Not supported yet, but in the plan.
Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA2 -
We are preparing MBD content that also covers the Step AP242 topic. We will be sharing this content this month. When will this support, which is part of your plans, be made available? Is there an estimated date?
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There is no specific timeline for this. Why do you need to import PMI?
Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA0 -
We were working on a blog post about this topic, and our goal was to demonstrate that it works both ways. Thank you for your response. On a separate note, I’m an Onshape Pro user, but I don’t appear as a Pro user on the forum. Could you help me with this?
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I can see the benefits of MBD and have been following the updates that have been made within Onshape recently. This is not something we currently use or urgently need, but I can see us slowly beginning to adopt this. For me, there are a couple of limitations that currently prevent this from being useful to us.
- Not being able to have a parametric link between the 3D MBD and the drawing. Glad to see that this might be in the pipeline - https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/31523/using-mbd-information#latest
2. Not being able to import the STEP AP242 file and see the MBD PMI information that was exported. We need to be able to check the file and see what a supplier would see, otherwise we just have to blindly trust the export functionality.
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"we need to be able to check the file and see what a supplier would see"
The intent is that you share the Onshape Document with the MBD information embedded in it.
SVP, Onshape Product and R&D
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Sure, though the supplier is going to use it, maybe even do something to it with his own system, so he might want to export it, and then he'll probably want the information to be in the file. QA usually calls for checking outgoing data quality, so there needs to be a closed loop for this.
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I think sharing the Onshape document makes sense for communicating design intent with the human at the supplier. However, the STEP AP242 file is needed for downstream workflows with the machines that the supplier uses e.g. CMM, and this needs to carry through the same information from the Onshape document - the 'single source of truth'. At the moment, we have no way of checking what PMI is in that exported STEP AP242 file.
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This is very much like wanting to check that 2D PDF exports of drawings include all the same things that are in the native drawing format. I've definitely been burned by issues with that in the past with other CAD systems where views were missing or dimensions disappear on the PDF that were there on the drawing.
If there was a good free STEP AP242 viewer that could be used to verify that the MBD output is indeed all there, it would be good. Having a built in way to re-import this info would be even better.Simon Gatrall | Product Development, Engineering, Design, Onshape | Ex- IDEO, PCH, Unagi, Carbon | LinkedIn
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"QA usually calls for checking outgoing data quality, so there needs to be a closed loop for this."
But unless the receiving user is also using Onshape, how would you confirm that their system of choice is reading the PMI data in the same way as Onshape? A real quality control check would require use of the same system and same version in the closed loop.
[To be clear: you are all making fair points and import is something we want to support in future; it's just not high enough on roadmap at the moment.]
SVP, Onshape Product and R&D
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You are right, but these things aren't necessarily about doing the right thing, but about responsibiliies, unfortunatley. Well, to cut that brutally short: What their system reads is not my business, as log as I can make sure my system wrote the correct data.
The sensible way would be to include them in the loop, but how to troubleshoot if say they can't read? Ideally, there'd be an independent instance to check the validity and conformity of the data exchanged, but as long as we don't have this, and for the sake of getting the most out of data exchange in both directions, it would sure help if we could re-import what we exported. The latter is by the way valid for all formats: I remember countless hours on the phone because of data transfer issues, and that is certainly one important point why I switched to Onshape, to make this obsolete. I'm afraid it can't be competely avoided, though, unless everybody uses Onshape, of course.
I understand it is not top priority, though.
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As much as I hate to say it, eDrawings will read PMI from STEP AP242. Does it read it correctly? No idea.
Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA2 -
It's okay. I, too, have a yearly phone call with the eDrawings sales team calling about one of my many many email aliases set up to give our office team legacy file viewing capabilities. Still not buying the license for the full version.
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https://www.nist.gov/services-resources/software/step-file-analyzer-and-viewer
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Good to know, but…
"Minimum system requirements: Windows 10, Excel 2016, 64-bit computer. The Viewer requires a web browser and Internet connection."
At least eDrawings tries to run on Mac OS.Simon Gatrall | Product Development, Engineering, Design, Onshape | Ex- IDEO, PCH, Unagi, Carbon | LinkedIn
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