Hi,

I'm not really familiar with file formats that support Nurbs geometry so I'm wondering what the differences are between 3DM and IGS (if any).

Is it just a matter of personal choice or are there reasons to prefer one rather than the other (provided that I use software that can import/export both formats of course).

Any information welcome.
Greetings

There are a couple of reasons to prefer 3DM if you have the choice.

One is that MoI only writes writes individual surfaces to an IGES file, so you have to re-join surfaces together in your other software. There is actually a mechanism in IGES to write joined surfaces but MoI doesn't use it right now because it is not very widely supported in other software.

The other thing is that 3DM files use a common library of code (the OpenNURBS library) to do all the reading and writing work, and this makes it less likely to have any variations in processing the 3DM file. So it's more likely to be a little more robust.

- Michael

Hi to all! This is the first time I've entered into a MoI discussion. I just downloaded the beta version last week I think it is awesome! I've also got Alibre Design Xpress. With a trial version of Rhinoceros you can get an Alibre Design / Rhino plugin. When I tried to read the native 3DM file straight into Alibre, It came out pretty bad. I then wrote an IGES file out from MoI and read it into Alibre as "stitch to solid" and I was able to add parametric features to the original MoI model, which is what I believe is Michael G's ultimate goal with this software (?) i.e. to use it with other CAD systems. I'll try to upload some JPEG's later.

Great Stuff! I'll keep testing and let everyone know the results.

mictu_utcim

Hi Michael, thanks for testing with Alibre! Each program may have different quirks that end up favoring one format over another. It is good to know that IGES seems to work better for going to Alibre. It would be great to know any other results from any other testing too!

- Michael

Thanks Michael. Here are the JPEGs I spoke of earlier. Remember this is Alibre Design Xpress. I do not know if the translation for the other commercial versions are the same. I tried a number of the other combinations for bringing 3DM files into the Alibre Design Xpress software, but non of them would stich into a solid, other than the IGES file. I'll continue to work on the other combinations and keep all posted.

mictu

Hi to all!

I just tried pulling in an IGES file into MoI from Alibre Design Xpress and it came through very cleanly.

I'll try to post some JPEG files this weekend.

Happy & Safe Holiday's to all!

Michael T.