Summary

1. General Information.

2. Importing files.

3. Exporting files.

4. Package files.

5. Different package file import modes.

1. General Information.

There are many ways to exchange files. Either with another user (client, supplier, etc.) also using TopSolid, or a user using different software. You must be able to import or export these files.

TopSolid using multiple file types; they must be grouped in file packages (TopPkg extension) uniquely known and therefore usable by TopSolid (and its trade applications) or by TopSolid'Viewer.

For any exchange with other CAD software, importing or exporting needs to be done using generic (ParaSolid, STEP, Iges, etc.) or native (CatPart, Asm, etc.) files and the interfaces supplied with TopSolid.

Note: Some interfaces are optional.

2. Importing files:

Interfaces are a means to communicate this data between different CAD applications. The Import File command allows TopSolid to read files from other software.

The table below shows the TopSolid exchange possibilities:

(*): optional interface.

A preview is integrated with some kind of files. By selecting the file during the import, a Preview button is available and allows to display the file before converting it. Following is the list of files with preview:

1. • Catia V5: since R8

   • Catia v6: all versions

   • Acis: since R1

   • Pro Engineer: since WF3

   • SolidWorks: since 98

   • SolidEdge: since ST

   • Unigraphics: since NX6

   • Inventor: since V7

Catia v4, Iges, Step and Vda files have no preview. the Preview button will be grayed.

Various commands are available to import or convert:

• Import file without conversion: This command can import a file without automatically converting it. The goal is to transfer the imported file as it is.

• Convert document: This command allows you to convert after the fact a file imported without conversion. There is no link between the result of the conversion and the original file.

• Import file with conversion: This command imports a file and looks for the associated converter based on the file extension.

• Import file as a new minor revision: This command is useful, for example, when you receive successive versions of a small technical document. You import the first version using the "Import without conversion" command from a Word file. The subsequent versions are imported by launching the command "Import file as a new minor revision" on the object first created when you imported without conversion.

3. Exporting files:

Interfaces are a means to communicate this data between different CAD applications. The Export Document command allows you to convert files so that they can be used with other software.

The table below shows the TopSolid exchange possibilities:

4. Package files.

You can transfer a project (in whole or in part) from one server to another, even if only to allow to companies using TopSolid to communicate with native files.

This also allows you to create a preliminary draft on the local PDM, and then transfer it on the central PDM is necessary.

The Export package command allows you to export a project in whole or in part. If you perform the export on the project, the whole project is exporter; if you perform the export on an assembly, all the necessary files (even if they depend on multiple files) are exported in a TopPkg file.

The different commands to Import a package are explained below.

5. Different package file import modes.

There are different ways to import package files depending on the result you are looking for:

• Import as a separate copy and Import as a separate copy in a project or folder.

These two modes are similar in their basic principle which is to generate genuine copies of the imported objects by assigning them new identifiers during the import phase. All document references are also updated appropriately because of the assignment of new identifiers. It is a genuine copy, the documents are totally independent of the existing documents.

The separate copy mode re-imports the package's complete tree structure.

Import as a separate copy in a parent object imports the imported project's children in a new target parent project. The paste function use directly the Import as a separate copy into a parent object command.

Objects re-imported using this mode can be imported as many times as you want and produce as many different copies.

• Import as associative copy mode.

This mode imports objects as a copy like Import as a copy but in a specific folder called the import folder. The import folder is automatically created during importation. Objects imported this way can only be edited by pre-importing the updated originals of the same objects. This mode is particularly useful when you want to use a part, to machine it for example, while being certain that is never modified and only updated by importing a new revision of it.

• Update by importing.

This mode works only with Import as an associative copy. It is only available on an import folder previously created with Import as an associative copy. It updates the contents of the import folder.

• Import as replication mode.

In this mode, objects can be imported as is, keeping the original identifiers. It is then possible to send an object to another TopSolid PDM belonging to another client who can modify the object. Once the modifications are completed, the object can be sent back. If it is imported as a replication, it will be recognized and updated in the original PDM from which it came.