Determine the Origin of STEP
Considerable progress has been made in vector data exchange over the recent past. Initially, some CAD/CAM vendors offered direct translator software. There are several disadvantages to this approach, which include :
- A unique pair of translators is needed for every version of every combination of CAD/CAM systems available in the marketplace.
- The user is dependent on software vendors to maintain this almost infinite combination of version applications.
- The maintenance of all these combinations of transfer capabilities is costly, and that cost is ultimately passed on to the user.
- As a general rule, these translators passed low-quality solid geometry that was not adequate for driving NC operations without the CAD/CAM user having to aid the transfer process by doing a lot of geometry clean-up. Also, no attempt was made to transfer parametric model dependencies/constraints.