The 3D ACIS® Modeler (ACIS) is Spatial’s prominent 3D solid modeling engine. 3D InterOp is a CAD data translation framework (Interoperability)

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The Unigraphics Reader component reads files from Unigraphics. This component is in the form of shared libraries.

InterOp Connect supports translation of the following file formats and versions:

Features Highlights

Features of the Unigraphics Reader include:

• Support for Compressed Files
• Support for Local Coordinate System (LCS) Translation
• Support for Assembly Files
• Support for Drawing Assembly
• Support for Free Part Translation
• Support for Reference Sets
• Support for Reading Free Curves and Free Points
• Support for Reading Face Name Attributes
• Support for Manufacturing Information
• Support for Reading Unigraphics Part and Assembly Files with Localized Paths and without Locale Setting
• Support for Extremity Points of Linear and Ordinate Dimensions
• Support for BRep and Assembly Translation for Unigraphics NX6

Options for Unigraphics Reader

Document

• Support for Compressed Files

The translator supports reading compressed assembly and part files. It also supports reading drawing data.

• Support for Local Coordinate System (LCS) Translation

The translator supports LCS translation while reading part files and assembly files (through flatten or XML route).

Assembly

• Support for Assembly Files

The translator reads Unigraphics assembly (*.prt) files and generates a combination of XML and SAT files in ACIS. Refer to XML-EBOM schema for information about the structure and usage of an XML file. Depending upon the capabilities of the Writer, the assembly will be flattened or written as assembly. For translation to ACIS, refer to ACIS Writer for further information on name handling.

• Support for Drawing Assembly

The translator supports reading drawing entities in Unigraphics assembly.

• Support for Free Part Translation

When translating to ACIS, InterOp provides support for translating free parts along with the assembly. For more information, refer to Free Part Translation.

• Support for Reference Sets

The translator supports reading active assembly reference sets in Unigraphics assembly.

BRep

• Support for Reading Free Curves

The translator reads free curves from Unigraphics files. Free curves in a Unigraphics file include: line, spline, arc (circle), and conic (ellipse, parabola, hyperbolas).

• Support for Reading Free Points

The translator supports reading free points from Unigraphics files.

Manufacturing Information

• Support for Manufacturing Information

The Unigraphics Reader component supports the export of PMI data and Dimension data for versions NX2, NX3 (except SmartModeler), NX4, and NX5.

PMI Data

Manufacturing Information for PMI is called through the use of the PMI representation. The PMI data includes dimensioning (Driven and Reference types), Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GDT), 3D annotation (text), and surface roughness information. To support the translation of PMI data, SPAXUGPMIExporter.dll is required in addition to the common DLLs listed in 3D InterOp Shared Libraries at Link and Runtime.

Dimensions Mapping

While translating from Unigraphics, the Basic, Reference, and Tolerance type dimensions from Unigraphics are mapped to BASIC, REFERENCE, or TOLERANCE types. The dimension subtype represents Linear, Angular, or Radius value type. The Unigraphics Dimensioning is based on the following rules:

• Dimension specified on a vertex will be attached to the corresponding edge.

• All the angular dimension values will be converted into decimal degrees.

• If the dimension has a unit along with the value, then the dimension value will be converted to the target document's unit. The following figure shows a Unigraphics dimension with unit:

If the target document has millimeter (mm) as its unit, the dimension value will be 42.8625, (= 27/16 inches = (27/16) * 25.4 mm).

• If the tolerance value of a dimension has a unit, the tolerance value will be converted to the UG file unit. The tolerance values will not be scaled to the target document unit. The following figure shows a tolerance value with unit:

The translated Dimension value will be 36.512500 and the tolerance limit is (+/-) 3.175000.

• The prefix and suffix text (or symbols) attached to dimension will be added to the note with a separator `|'.

• The blank status and Layer hidden properties of dimension are supported. However, there will be no layer ID or number associated with a dimension.

• For all tolerance types formats ("Nominal", "Plus-Minus", "fractions", "+-Symmetric") except limit type ("limits"), the main Dimension value and Maximum and Minimum Tolerance values are provided. If the format is limit, then the main Dimension value will be Zero and Maximum and Minimum Tolerance values will hold the two limit values. In Unigraphics, there is no Precision value along with dimensions. The following figure shows the dimension format as Limit in Unigraphics:

Then the translated dimension will be:

• Dimension Value: 0. 000000
• Dimension Tolerance Upper Limit: 80.100000
• Dimension Tolerance Lower Limit: 79.900000

• Dimensions in an assembly file are not supported.

• User-defined type PMI data is not supported.

• Dimension line extremities are provided under start/end extremities. They help for extracting dimension line vector.

Note: Unigraphics files do not contain names for Dimensions. The UG Entity ID is attached as name to the Dimensions.

Note: For the associated entities in an Dimensions, UG Entity ID is used as reference ID.

Annotations in Unigraphics

InterOp Connect supports Text, Surface Roughness, and GD&T types of annotations in a Unigraphics file. These annotations are translated only if they have direct association with BRep data of the main model. InterOp Connect represents these annotations as an attribute on the associated entity.

The Unigraphics annotations are based on the following rules:

• Annotations given to vertices will be attached to the corresponding edges.

• All angular values of GD&T will be converted into decimal degrees and other type of GD&T values will be converted into the target document units.

• In Text Annotations, text properties such as Underline, Color, Font Size, and Font name are not supported.

• InterOp Connect supports only the semantic type of GD&T.

• In Unigraphics, Surface Roughness is translated only if it was created using GD&T symbols. The Surface Roughness created using the User defined and customized annotations are not supported.

• The InterOp Connect Unigraphics component does not support the composite type of GD&T.

• If a dimension has GD&T attached as text as shown in the figure below, then the dimension is translated with note containing GD&T string:

• Prefix and suffix text (or symbols) attached will be added to the note with a separator "|".

• For all annotations, the blank status and the Layer hidden properties are supported. However, there will be no layer ID or number associated with the annotations.

• Annotations in an assembly file will not be supported.

Note: Unigraphics files do not contain names for Annotations. The UG Entity ID is attached as a name to the Annotations.

Note: For the associated entities in an Annotation, the UG Entity ID is used as a reference ID.

Note: The InterOp Connect Unigraphics component does not support annotations without the necessary association. For example, you can attach a Datum label to GD&T without creating the Datum itself. In such a case, the Datum attribute will not be translated.

Limitations

The Unigraphics Reader has the following limitations:

• Loss of Category Information

Only "ALL" category information is retrieved from Unigraphics files while other categories are ignored.

• No Support for Parasolid Format

SPAXGenericLayer and SPAXGenericLayerFilter arrays cannot be saved to a x_t file because these are not part of the x_t file format. Thus, the arrays can only be used while the entities are active (live) in a session.

• Assembly Cut

Unigraphics NX3 implements a new feature named "assembly cut". The InterOp translator provides limited support for this new feature. While reading an assembly file having the "cut" feature enabled, the InterOp translator reads all the Parasolid entities and generates Part files referred by assembly without performing the cut operation.

• Tool Body Used for "cut"

The InterOp translator does not distinguish between the tool body and target bodies.

• PMI

InterOp Connect does not support translation of PMI information from a compressed file.

InterOp Connect does not support PMI associated with datum plane and datum axis.

InterOp Connect does not support display information for Unigraphics PMI.

InterOp Connect does not support PMI for Unigraphics NX6.

• Limited Support for Dimension Line Extremities

InterOp supports translation of dimension line extremities from Unigraphics files of NX5 version only; translation of dimension extremities from NX4 and earlier versions of Unigraphics files are not supported.