CAD Geometry Data Exchange Using STEP

With increasing demand for data exchange in computer integrated manufacturing, a neutral connection between dissimilar systems is needed. After a few national and European attempts, a worldwide standardization of product data has been developed. Standard ISO 10303 (STEP - STandard for Exchange of Product data) produced in its first version those parts that are relevant for CAD geometrical data. A European consortium of 14 CAD vendors and users was supported by the ESPRIT programme to influence the emerging standard and implement early applications for it. Over the years 1989-1992, project CADEX (CAD geometry data EXchange) worked out application protocols as a contribution to STEP; developed a software toolkit that reads, writes, and manipulates STEP data; and, based on this toolkit, implemented data exchange processors for ten different CAD and FEA systems. This book reports the work done in project CADEX and describes all its results in detail.