2022

Beginners guide

to CAD data
cadexchanger.com
Table of contents

3D data representation in CAD 5

1.1. Boundary representation 7

1.2 Polygonal representation 10

2. Product structure 13

3. Meta-data 16

4. Visual attributes 18

Authors

Roman Lygin
Anton Larin

CAD Exchanger Founder & CEO CAD Exchanger Product Manager

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CAD software development

1960s 1980s 2000s

Pioneering CAD systems Soon-to-be CAD market leaders Free and open-source CAD

1970s 1990s Nowadays

From 2D to 3D B-Rep modeling kernels 3D everywhere

Parasolid

ACIS

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Nowadays 3D objects representation became entrenched widely

in almost all the industries one can imagine: from ecommerce to

medicine, from 3D printing to aerospace. The business has to

adopt CAD data to enable fast and meaningful communication

within its own branches and with its partners and customers.

Is it high time to become proficient in CAD, 3D modeling,

and computational geometry?

Not exactly.

There are enough experts dealing with low-level issues of this

kind and providing their solutions for 3D models visualization,

conversion, and analytical processing. But to make a deliberate

choice of a proper technological stack it’s better to learn the

ABCs. This beginners guide will help you to figure out the core

entities existing in the CAD world.

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1. 3D data representation in CAD

Depending on the problem domain and required operations,

the choice is among the following types of 3D data representation.

Boundary Representation Voxels

B-Rep represents a 3D body using its boundaries: Voxel, or volume element, is a 3D counterpart of a 2D

surfaces, curves, and points. It allows to describe pixel. Can be found in medicine, scientific applications, and

them using precise geometrical definitions: analytical, games. Voxel data model, for instance, can result from

NURBS, procedurally-defined curves and surfaces, space scanning and attributing certain graphical

etc. properties, such as color and transparency, to each small

cell of a 3D grid.

Meshes Constructive Solid Geometry

Mesh is a tessellated representation of a 3D object, CSG describes a 3D body via a tree of binary or Boolean

also known as facetted or polygonal. It is used as operations required to construct it. Typical operations

approximated model where each precise boundary, include fuse, common, and cut. CSG objects can be

e.g. face-on-surface, is replaced with a set of facets represented by binary trees.

(triangles and linear segments).

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1. 3D data representation in CAD

B-Rep and meshes are the most common types of

3D data representation across CAD formats.

B-Rep Meshes B-Rep Meshes B-Rep Meshes

3D PDF DXF PLY

3D XML FBX PRC

3DS GLTF Rhino

3MF IFC Solid Edge

ACIS IGES SolidWorks

BRep Inventor STEP

CATIA JT STL

Collada NX U3D

Creo OBJ VRML

DWG Parasolid X3D

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1.1. Boundary representation
Entities

Definition of a 3D body

Geometrical entities Topological entities

A geometrical definition of the body boundary
Trims the geometry, which can be infinite in
(e.g. a ship hull surface, car body, etc). theory, and stores connectivity information.

Point Curve Surface Vertex Edge Wire

Face Shell Solid

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1.1. Boundary representation
Bodies

Solid body Sheet body

A lump of material in 3D space, which is A relatively thin surface-like body in 3D space,

manufactured using machining (milling, drilling), which is manufactured using molding or bending.

forging, casting, and other industrial processes.

B-Rep bodies E.g. a car body element, a ship hull.
E.g. a bolt, a piston, a gear.

Acorn body
Wireframe body A single vertex in 3D space, mainly used as a
A wire-like body in 3D space, mainly used as simplification of a body in the real world when

a simplification of a body in the real world.

a precise shape is not important.

E.g. electrical wires. E.g. positions of sensors or other auxiliary objects

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1.1. Boundary representation
Modeling techniques

Solid modeling

2D sketching followed by extrusion and rotation Fillets and chamfers

Using solid primitives (such as box, sphere,

Offsetting and hollowing
torus, cone, cylinder)
Sweeping
Boolean operations (cut, fuse, common)
Lofting

Sheet modeling

Extrusions and rotations (both map edges to

faces and wires to shells)

Offsetting

Sweeping and lofting

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1.2. Polygonal representation
When is mesh more preferable?

Reverse engineering Model visualization

Precise B-Rep definition is not available in reverse engineering When you see a B-Rep body in a 3D view you essentially see its
workflows such as 3D scanning. E.g. in the dental industry, digital polygonal twin, as OpenGL, WebGL or other technologies use
twins, equipment inspection, etc. tessellated representation to feed into the graphic card.

Meshes

Computer-Aided Engineering Computer-Aided Machining

Meshes are used in computations in domains of structural Thanks to a reduced memory footprint and faster computations
analysis, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), heat transfer, thereon, meshes are used in CAM for collision detection, tool-
and electromagnetism. path generation, and other scenarios.

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1.2. Polygonal representation
Mesh types

1D

Free-form curve approximation with

linear segments.

Meshes

3D
2D
Filling in the internal body space with

Approximation of a surface with triangles,

tetrahedrons, hexahedrons, prisms, pyramids

quadrangles, or arbitrary polygons.

and others.

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 PRACTICAL TIPS Generate meshes

If you are an engineer or a designer If you are a developer

1. Open Open CAD Exchanger GUI or request its free demo version. 1. If you don't have CAD Exchanger SDK license, request its free demo version
2. Open your B-Rep 3D model (e.g. STEP, Parasolid, IGES). 2. Check out the Visualization mesher example.
3. Try its meshing feature. 3. Run it with the following model in the installation package:

/examples/models/LeverArm.xml.
Read more
Find out about generating high-quality computational meshes for FEA
Read a blog post explaining the challenge of mesh-to-BRep conversion

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2. Product structure
Components
Assembly - complex model, consisting of multiple parts. Assembly
modeling tools allows connecting nested parts and subassemblies
together, placing them in relation to each other.

Part - single indivisible part. Part modeling tools allows to change the
geometry of the part.

CAD systems define structure with:

Constraints (mates) - conditions which limit the relative motion
of assembly components:
Distance and angle;
Coincidence;
Perpendicularity or parallelism;
Tangency.

Constraint solver - a CAD system component which

automatically computes positions of the components according
to the set constraints.

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2. Product structure
How does it map to files on disk?

Parasolid IGES ACIS Solidworks CATIA PTC Creo Siemens NX STEP JT

Single-file formats Multi-files formats Universal formats

A single (monolithic) file for the entire model. Each part and assembly is placed into a separate Provide both ways of representing parts
All the assemblies and parts are described file on disk. and assemblies: in a single monolithic file

within that file. Granular data storage: no need to load up the or several separate ones.
No risk of losing or misplacing part of data
entire assembly when you only want to work on
in transmission. one part.

Neutral formats Kernel formats Native formats

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PRACTICAL TIPS Explore products structure

If you are an engineer or a designer If you are a developer

1. Open CAD Exchanger GUI or request its free demo version. If you don't have CAD Exchanger SDK license, request its free demo version
2. Open your 3D model (we recommend using STEP, JT, and SOLIDWORKS). 2. Check out the assembly modeling example to create an assembly

3. Explore its assemblies and parts by opening Structure panel of several instances of a nut-and-bolt sub-assembly.
3. Check out the Bill of Materials (BOM) example.
4. Run it with the following model in the installation package: . /examples/models/as1.xml.

Read more
Find out about available approaches to traversing the hierarchy of assemblies and parts

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3. Metadata
Metadata (as opposed to 3D geometry and product structure which are sort of "regular"
data) is additional information used to enrich the 3D model and provide context for it:
design intent, manufacturing or usage guidelines, and more.
Object names and IDs - allow to name a part or a sub-assembly to be able to easily
identify them in a larger group.
User-defined properties or attributes - attached to parts, sub-assemblies, B-Rep bodies,
faces and edges to convey application-specific information (creation and modification
date, author, construction material).
Layers - serve to logically group model elements.
Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI) - a mechanism to transmit
manufacturing-related information (Geometrical Dimensions and Tolerances (GD&T),
text annotations, surface finishes and other elements) from design to production.
Graphical PMI - a 3D representation of PMI alongside the 3D model geometry,
consisting of displayable elements (e.g. meshes, polylines). User-defined properties describing the Graphical PMI annotation
original model and meshing parameters
Semantic PMI - a computer-readable representation of PMI that could be
automatically processed by software and fed into CNC machines.
PMI associations - connections between PMI annotations and B-Rep shapes they
describe, e.g. a cylindrical B-Rep face and its diameter.
Validation properties - allow exchanging data between CAD systems in order to
verify the correctness of the conversion and compare properties in the sending and
receiving systems (volume, surface area, center of gravity, bounding box).

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PRACTICAL TIPS Explore metadata

If you are an engineer or a designer If you are a developer

1. Open CAD Exchanger GUI or request its free demo version 1. If you don't have CAD Exchanger SDK license, request its free demo version
2. Open your 3D model (we recommend using STEP, JT, and IFC) 2. Check out the property table example and run it with the

3. Explore its properties by opening Properties panel following model in the installation package: ./examples/models/as1.xml
3. Check out the PMI example and run it with the following model in the
installation package: ./examples/models/
nist_ctc_02_asme1_ap242-1.stp
4. Checkout the validation properties and metadata examples. They can
be run without parameters.

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4. Visual attributes
Stored to enrich the data exchange process between various

CAD/CAM/CAE applications, useful if the model is to be displayed.

Colors - define the visual appearance of an element on a scene to make it more

appealing and easier to discern. It is specified via RGB, RGBA tuples or predefined
codes. Each CAD format has its own rules for which elements can be colored and
how the colors should be inherited/overridden at different levels.

Styles - line styles (solid, dashed, dotted, etc.), line thicknesses, point markers,
and others; typically relevant for 2D data-focused formats (DXF, DWG), or 2D
drawings in 3D-oriented formats (IGES).

Textures - 2D images (i.e. PNG, JPEG, TGA files) associated with 3D mesh by UV
coordinates to specify different aspects of an object's appearance: diffuse,
specular, and emissive textures - for material composition; bump, normal, and
displacement maps - for geometric features.
Parasolid model with colors attached to
A model with textures
Materials - encapsulate a group of several colors: diffuse, ambient, emissive, and
B-Rep faces
specular, as well as additional parameters, such as shininess to imitate real-world
materials.

Light sources - allow to simulate the presence of light in the scene and vary the
model appearance based on light direction, location, intensity, dynamics, and
other parameters.

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PRACTICAL TIPS Explore appearance properties

If you are an engineer or a designer If you are a developer

1. Open CAD Exchanger GUI or request its free demo version If you don't have CAD Exchanger SDK license, request its free demo version
2. Open your 3D model (we recommend using JT, OBJ, and FBX as 2.Check out the Appearance example
they often contain textures and materials) 3. Run it with the following model in the installation package:

3. Explore its appearance by opening Properties panel, Appearance section . /examples/models/as1.xml

Read more
Find out how can visual appearances be attached to B-Rep and mesh objects
Learn how to build visualization-focused 3D apps

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Conclusion

Here is a quick recap of the highlighted topics. Use this list to

brush up on your knowledge of CAD data entities and attributes.

3D data representation in CAD Metadata

The most common approaches to describing 3D data are B-Rep, meshes, voxels, Metadata provides context for the design intent of a 3D model, its manufacturing or

and CSG. usage guidelines, etc.

B-Rep representation includes a geometrical definition of a 3D model and its Common types of metadata are object names and IDs, user-defined properties,

topological model that describes hierarchy and connectivity information between layers, PMI, validation properties.

elements.

Visual attributes
B-Rep bodies are classified into solid, sheet, wireframe, and acorn.

Mesh is a more preferable geometry representation when B-Rep definition is not Visual attributes determine how the 3D model looks when displayed.
available (reverse engineering) or there are computing capacity or time constraints
Common appearance attributes are colors, materials, textures, styles, light source.
(visualization, CAE, CAM).

Product structure

Product structure consists of assemblies and parts whose positions are defined by

CAD systems with constraints and constraint solvers.

Product structure description vary from one CAD format to another and involve

merging all data into one or multiple files.

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Resources

Crash course on CAD data. Data representation, B-Rep’s and meshes,parts and assemblies, meta-data, visual attributes.

Common CAD formats overview. IGES, STEP, ACIS, Parasolid, JT, VRML & X3D, IFC, OBJ.

Video knowledgebase. End-user and developer manuals, testimonials.

CAD Exchanger tools documentation. Supported configurations, usage scenarios, data model overview, code examples.

Contact us

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About CAD Exchanger
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process 3D files in key industry formats. Desktop tool allows users to view
and convert CAD data. Developer tools let vendors integrate 3D data into
their C++, C#, Java, and Python applications.

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Table of contents

3D data representation in CAD 5

1.1. Boundary representation 7

1.2. Polygonal representation 10

2. Product structure 13

3. Meta-data 16

4. Visual attributes 18

Authors

Roman Lygin
Anton Larin

CAD Exchanger Founder & CEO CAD Exchanger Product Manager

2/22 Subscribe to newsletter