Exporting .vpb file as .stp or .igs

[Anonymous]

First time user here... I'm about to receive a model in .vpb format, which I want to convert to .igs or .stp

Does anyone have any experience in doing this?

Thanks!

[marcus_fritzen]

I think the only possibility would be to export the VRED project as FBX and find another tool which imports FBX and has the functionality to export IGS/STP (maybe Alias, haven't tried it).

Cheers,

Marcus

[Anonymous]

Many thanks Marcus, I will investigate Alias as an exporting solution.

[seiferp]

I don´t know what your ultimate goal is but I assume you want to keep the surface data or .iges and .step are the only formats your application can open. Anyhow, fbx can also store nurbs data. I just tested the Alias workflow and it works. I also can open the VRED .fbx in Maya. I didn´t manage to transfer a whole car (or at least it takes ages to open it in Alias and Maya) but it works with smaller scenes.

[Anonymous]

Hi Seiferp,

The aim is to produce a 1:43 scale model of a car from the .vpb file, and we need to design the mould for production.

I’ve been advised by my team they need to retain the surface data, and the team need to build the mould in ProEngineer.

Thanks for testing the workflow, that’s really good to know. This means if I have Alias I will be able to export to FBX. I will check if their programme can open FBX

Thanks again!

[seiferp]

Uh, I’d like to have one of these toy cars 🙂. So the first thing to clarify is if the VRED model still contains the surface data. You can see this on the icons in the VRED scenepraph. If it’s a blue triangle than the model was unfortunately meshed already. 2nd, can ProE deal with FBX. And FBX that contains surface data. This would be the best and you don’t need Alias for your workflow. If you have to go through Alias it might be that you have to split and export your model in smaller parts and assemble it again. Exterior, interior, wheels and so on. I haven’t managed to import a whole car in Nurbs into Alias or Maya in one go yet.