Inventor: options button unclickable while opening step file

[Anonymous]

Hi!

I am using Inventor 2016 Pro and keep bashing my head in over a simple thing. I recieved a step file and when i opened it there where only surfaces which I couldn't convert to solids. I read somewhere that you could use the (options...) button while importing a step file to maybe solve this issue. But when I select open, select the step format and finaly select the step-file in question the options button is just gray. All I want to do is convert the surfaces in the step-file to soilds so I then later can put it in my assembly. I have attached the step file in question if any of you want to look at it.

I haven't used Inventor for that long so there might be a very simple solution to this problem I have. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

[-niels-]

Welcome to the forum!

The screen you used to get when clicking "options" is available in 2016 after you hit "open", you can set the option on the screen there.

As for the step file, there are a few solids that generate properly by sculpting but, most of the geometry has gaps that prevents it from becoming solids.

It would be quite some work getting everything closed, if possible try getting a new step or different filetype from the supplier.

[Anonymous]

Thanks!

Hmm.. I was afraid of something like that when I tried sculpting myself but I thought it was just something I did wrong. At least I learned something so thank you for the help!

[KevinLi-Autodesk]

Hi philgapin,

Yes, there are UI changes about data translation between Inventor 2016 and older versions because of new feature "AnyCAD" supported in 2016 release. And for IGES/STEP format we still support "stitch" function to stitch a surface to solid, see attached screenshot. But the precondition is this surface is a closed surface and with no geometry errors.

I try to stitch your STEP file in Inventor 2016 but failed because there are some geometry errors block it, such as it contains overlapping faces and intersecting faces.

Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hi!

Yes I tried that to and recieved the same results. This step file isn't any good at all apparently. When I checked the manufacturers website I found a SAT-file too but it was pretty much the same thing, only slightly worse.
Thanks for the reply and insights!

[KevinLi-Autodesk]

Hi philgapin,

Open the STEP file in Notepad++ it shows this file is generated from Pro/Engineer software, maybe it is a fast way to request the data provider to fix geometry errors in the source data (Pro/E model) in Pro/Engineer, then export to STEP again.

Regards,