TransMagic translates part and assembly names, layers, colors, assembly hierarchical information & product manufacturing information (PMI for CATIA V5, Pro/E, NX and JT only). However, true feature support is a very resource intensive development because most feature trees are truly moving targets as they can and do change from release to release. Although TransMagic does not support native feature based translation, it should be noted that TransMagic’s repair tools provide improved classification of solids entities and act as an effective pre-processor for feature reconnection tools within the target CAD system. Virtually all of the major CAD systems, i.e. Unigraphics, Pro/E, CATIA V5, SolidWorks & Inventor, have feature recognition capability which is very efficient in populating a useable feature tree.
If you have special circumstances where feature translation is required, there are solutions on the market. Here is what you can expect:
- These solutions start at $50,000 and can run well over $100,000 per seat.
- Virtually all feature translation products also require a seat of each CAD system you are translating between on the same computer as the feature translator. This will likely add another several thousand to the overall start-up cost.
- Custom feature translation requires custom development which can be costly and time consuming.
- Features representations within the CAD files are a very dynamic, requiring frequent updates, reverse engineering, and result in a partial solution.
- Most feature translation systems only support the base features, i.e. fillets, holes, bosses, pockets, ribs, etc. These are usually the same features that are typically populated with feature recognition tools within the CAD system for much lower cost.
These solutions are targeted at people with very strong business case (and budget) for feature translation.
TransMagic, coupled with your CAD systems feature recognition, provides a solution that you can start using today for majority of feature interoperability requirements.