STEP Tools News for Wednesday February 6th

[Martin Hardwick]

This newsletter is a brief update of what is going on in STEP and at 
STEP Tools, Inc. If you want to know more, try the STEP Tools web site 
at http://www.steptools.com


--------------------------------- 
CD Version of AP-238 nearly ready

The CD ballot version of AP-238 will be completed in the next two 
weeks and submitted to ISO for ballot.

This will be the first AP developed by people who normally implement 
STEP, so we think everyone is going to be pleasantly surprised by the 
high volume of automatic validation and checking that can be done 
directly from the EXPRESS model. This in turn should lead to much 
less ambiguity for implementors, and far less need for them to join 
expensive "clubs" who know the implementation agreements that make 
the AP useable.


-------------------------------- 
ST-ACIS 3.0 and ST-Parasolid 4.0

New versions of ST-ACIS and ST-Parasolid are now available. 
ST-ACIS 3.0 translates AP-203 and AP-214 for ACIS v7.0. ST-Parasolid 
translates AP-203 and AP-214 for Parasolid V13.0.

The new translators have been tested using the latest STEP files 
produced by the USA and European testing organizations. They are 
available as stand-alone translators and as libraries that can be 
included in third party products. In the new version, the translators 
can be controlled using an extensive MS Windows interface.

The translators are being used extensively within STEP Tools on our 
STEP-NC and Shipbuilding projects. We can make this code available 
to library customers.


----------------------------------------- 
Additions to the list of STEP Translators

Last week we gave a list of STEP translators implemented using 
ST-Developer guessing that there would be others. So far we have 
been told about the following: 

AP-203/214 Translators: 
GibbsCAM (BA Solutions)

AP-214 Translators (2D-drafting): 
WeltWeitBau (AutoCAD, Microstation, Allplan, Ribcon)

AP-202 Translators: 
WeltWeitBau (AutoCAD, Microstation, Allplan, Ribcon)

AP-209 Translators: 
Applied Research Associates (NASA NextGrade)


---------------------- 
30,000 web hits weekly

The number of hits to our web site has now reached 30,000 per week. 
The addition of the official SC4 EXPRESS archive to the site is 
clearly one reason, but another reason is the growing realization 
that you can either talk about making design and manufacturing 
inter-operable, or you can do something about it using STEP.


------------------- 
Translation Service 
Period Covered: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969 -- Sun Feb 3 03:26:59 2002 
Total usage: 15344 
Successful usage: 13947 (90%) 
Errors: 1397 (9%)


--------------------------- 
Tools From STEP Tools, Inc. 
The world's foremost firms use the STEP Tools product line to help 
them share engineering product information. Over one million people 
use product data applications built with ST-Developer, the company's 
flagship product.

Data Management Tools: 
* ST-Repository -- database programming services for sharing CAD 
  and NC information across the supply chain.

Programming Tools: 
* ST-Developer -- programming tools for writing STEP applications, 
  translators and databases. 
* ST-XML -- programming functions to convert STEP data to STEP XML and 
  business object data. 
* ST-ACIS Library -- programming functions to convert STEP data to and 
  from ACIS models and SAT files. 
* ST-Parasolid Library -- programming functions to convert STEP data 
  to and from Parasolid models. 

Desktop Tools: 
* ST-ACIS Translator -- desktop tool for translating STEP data to ACIS 
  and vice versa. 
* ST-Parasolid Translator -- desktop tool for translating STEP data to 
  Parasolid and vice versa. 
* ST-Viewer -- desktop tool to view, analyze and dimension STEP data. 
  Consulting Tools: 
* ST-Consulting -- consulting services to assist in the development of 
  CAD, PDM and NC applications, translators, viewers, checkers and 
  databases. 
* ST-Training training courses designed to get decision makers up to speed 
  on the business benefits of STEP, and programmers up to speed on STEP 
  applications and products.


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