IGES 2D: Export

• IGES 5.1 is the standard used for the generation.

• Trouble Shooting,
• Best Practices,
• FAQ,
• VBScript Macros
• and in the Customizing 2D IGES Settings chapter.

1. Open the CATDrawing document to be saved in IGES format.

2. Select the File > Save As... command. The Save As dialog box is displayed.

3. Specify the name of the document in the File name: field.

4. Set the .ig2 extension in the Save as type field.

5. Click the Save button to confirm the operation.

• If the current unit belongs to the metric system (millimeter, centimeter, meter, ...)
  the export unit is the millimeter.
• If the current unit belongs to the Anglo-Saxon system (inch, foot, ...)
  he export unit is the inch.

So select the required type of session unit to export your data in one system or the other.

Limitations in the case of a multi-sheet drawing:

• When there are several sheets, the name of the file really created is not that entered
  by the user in the Save as dialog box,
  since it is concatenated with that of the sheet.
  Therefore,  it is not possible to check if a file with the same name already exists and
  any existing file will be overwritten without warning.
• If one of the sheets contains no geometry, no 2D IGES file is created.
• The number of characters of the name of the result file is limited to 150.
• If the name of a sheet contains one of the following characters
  or blank space,
  the character will be replaced with _ (underscore).

For more information, please refer to the Exported Sheets option

After exporting the data to 2D IGES files, the system generates:

• a report file (name_of_file.rpt) where you can find references about the quality of the transfer.

These files are created in a location referenced by 

• the USERPROFILE variable on NT. Its default value is 
  Profiles\\user\\Local Settings\\Application \Data\\Dassault Systemes\\CATReport on NT (user being you logon id)

All export options:

If the sheet to export contains no geometry, or only non supported entities, no IG2 file is generated.
The visual clipping of views is not yet supported.

The V5 elements are exported in the axis system of the sheet and do not keep their original coordinates.
So in an export-import loop, the result will not be at the same position.

Structured export option only:

• Dimensions are exported as graphic blocks and are editable as such.

Semantic export option only:

• Linear dimensions are exported as true dimensions and editable as such.
• The texts of those dimensions (linear only) are exported with the 2D IGES corresponding font.
• Circular, angular and curvilinear dimensions are still exported as graphic blocks.
• Chamfer dimensions are exported as graphic blocks.
• Dimensions that cannot be exported semantically are exported as graphic blocks.

• underlined text,
• text with frame,
• numerical values and decimal values given as fractions,
• funnels,
• half-dimensions,
• with an arrow pointing to the dimension line

are exported as sub-figures.

Semantic and Structured export options:

• Show/No Show:
  The V5 elements placed in the No Show are not exported. The visible elements are exported.
• Layers:
  In Structured and Semantic modes, layers are automatically exported.
  The number of the 2D IGES layer is the number of the V5 layer.
• Filters:
  To avoid missing geometries at export, we recommend that you activate either
  the filter All Visible or the filter None.
• Texts:

• All texts are exported as texts
  (even dimension texts in the case of dimensions exported as graphic blocks and annotations),
• All texts are exported and mapped automatically with the 2D IGES corresponding font. If a character cannot be mapped into an IGES font then it is replaced by the substitution character @.
  By-pass: Use the DXF interface that allows to export all the unicode characters, unlike IGES that allows only a small number of character sets.
• Kanji characters are exported with the 2D IGES 2001 font.

• The line thickness is automatically mapped, based on V5 current thickness.

Structures

The structure is not exported. 

Note that raster views are not supported.

The above applies to CGR, approximate, exact views.

Note that raster views are not supported.

Attributes

Exported implicitly through the graphic representation of text.

Only the contour of characters is exported.

Annotations

The geometrical basic elements of each representation are exported. If the representation includes filled areas, only the contour is exported.

Each graphical representation of the elements is exported to a subfigure

Semantic mode:

Linear dimensions are exported as such.

Angular

Curvilinear

Each graphical representation of the elements is exported to a subfigure

Each graphical representation of the elements is exported to a subfigure. If the representation includes filled areas, only the contour is exported.

Geometry

Miscellaneous