ST-Viewer is an interactive tool for viewing 3D product data. ST-Viewer gives everyone inexpensive access to 3D CAD information. ST-Viewer includes functions to display and relate product identification information, assembly structure information and 3D geometry information. Annotations can be made on this information and sent between users. Visualizations of solids and wire frame models can be cut and paste into other tools and printed.
ST-Viewer implements the ISO STEP standard for product model data. The viewer leverages ten years of work by more than 500 CAD experts to create a robust open format for CAD, CAM and CAE data. With the viewer you can ensure your CAD data conforms to the international standard for product data so that it is ready for customers and suppliers in the United States, Europe and the Far East.
ST-Viewer works with a very large range of CAD, CAM, CAE and PDM systems. The STEP interface of these systems are built and maintained by their vendors and monitored for conformance to the standard by national industry groups and the International Standards Organization. A list of systems that have been tested with the ST-Viewer can be found at the STEP Tools web site: http://www.steptools.com/products/stviewer/. This site also contains a free translation service that can be used to translate other kinds of CAD files to STEP.
ST-Viewer can be extended using an OLE/COM interface. The ST-Developer toolkit from STEP Tools lets application programmers create applications that use ST-Viewer to highlight or pick the geometry or assembly structure of a product. An application built using ST-Developer can link to ST-Viewer installed on the same machine using OLE/COM.
ST-Viewer can communicate with CAD systems, part libraries and databases as a World Wide Web browser helper application. ST-Repository is an Internet compatible database management system developed by STEP Tools for STEP data. ST-Repository contains customizable translation and visualization services for interactively selecting data for production planning and manufacturing control processes. Several major engineering design and production organizations have shown that STEP databases can reduce the cost of production planning and manufacturing control by between 35% and 75%. ST-Viewer and ST-Repository are your pathway to these savings. For more information see the Cost savings section of this help file or send a mail message to info@steptools.com
ST-Viewer reads many kinds of STEP files and generates visualizations in the Open Inventor file format. Open Inventor lets you to create a visualization state for a product model with transformations, colors, light sources, and text annotations. The images produced by ST-Viewer can be translated into the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) and incorporated into technical presentations on the World Wide Web.
ST-Viewer includes several sample STEP files with parts and assemblies. These files are located in the stpfiles subdirectory of the ST-Viewer (or ST-Developer) installation directory.