My company is debating between purchasing JT, QIF, or Parasolid translators for PCDMIS. We have a customer that is moving to only providing solid model only with the GD&T in them. I have used STEP242 before on their sample model but wanted some feedback from anyone that has any of the other translators installed and which works better. JT files are the native language for the design engineers at the customer site. Any feedback is welcome before we spend the money.
I've only had experience with the CATIA translator. I have had very good experiences with that. It works no different than importing a STEP or IGS file, but it seems to more reliably import the GD&T stuff. Often, we have problems with the GD&T not making the full way from the native CAD system to STEP to PCD. I haven't had that problem at all with the direct CATIA translator.
For a short while I used an NX direct cad interface (DCI) for one of our customers. That didn't go as smoothly. Rather than a one-time translation from the native CAD to PCD, a DCI accesses the original model each time the program is opened. It is supposed to be as accurate as you can get since there is no conversion happening. It makes sense if you really need it, but it ended up being more trouble than it was worth for us. Little issues would occur like links to CAD files being messed up, CAD licensing issues, and file version issues. Nothing major, but enough to really mess up our workflow at times and could even make for some faulty reporting if a CMM operator ignores warning messages and just clicks OK when the model can't be accessed and FindNominals is being used.
We eventually got permission from the customer to just use STEP files. In hindsight, we might have done better to go halfway and use a translator instead of a full DCI.
I've only had experience with the CATIA translator. I have had very good experiences with that. It works no different than importing a STEP or IGS file, but it seems to more reliably import the GD&T stuff. Often, we have problems with the GD&T not making the full way from the native CAD system to STEP to PCD. I haven't had that problem at all with the direct CATIA translator.
For a short while I used an NX direct cad interface (DCI) for one of our customers. That didn't go as smoothly. Rather than a one-time translation from the native CAD to PCD, a DCI accesses the original model each time the program is opened. It is supposed to be as accurate as you can get since there is no conversion happening. It makes sense if you really need it, but it ended up being more trouble than it was worth for us. Little issues would occur like links to CAD files being messed up, CAD licensing issues, and file version issues. Nothing major, but enough to really mess up our workflow at times and could even make for some faulty reporting if a CMM operator ignores warning messages and just clicks OK when the model can't be accessed and FindNominals is being used.
We eventually got permission from the customer to just use STEP files. In hindsight, we might have done better to go halfway and use a translator instead of a full DCI.
