Best way to import CATIA 3DXML / CGR files into Rhino 8 as NURBS/BREP?

Rhino
1

Hi All,

I’m looking for the best workflow to bring customer-supplied CATIA / 3DEXPERIENCE files into Rhino 8 on Windows.

The files I have are supplied in:

  • .3dxml
  • .cgr

I do not have access to CATIA.

I have tested TransMagic, which opens the files successfully, but the evaluation version only allows me to export formats such as OBJ/3MF/STL. When I bring the OBJ into Rhino, I obviously end up with mesh geometry.

What I would ideally like is to retain the original CAD geometry where available and bring it into Rhino as proper NURBS surfaces / polysurfaces / BREP, either:

  • directly from 3DXML into Rhino, or
  • by converting 3DXML to STEP/Parasolid and importing that into Rhino.

I have also looked at Datakit’s Rhino importer and CrossManager, but I am still waiting to hear back from them regarding licensing/evaluation options.

Has anyone here got a reliable workflow for:

CATIA 3DXML → Rhino 8

while retaining proper CAD geometry rather than converting everything to mesh?

I’m also interested in recommendations for plug-ins or standalone converters that you are actually using successfully.

Some of the files are relatively large. The largest 3DXML assembly I currently have is around 190 MB.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Maciej

2

Hi @matt
I’m no super Catia expert, but I think that CGR-files are mesh based. 3DXML converters like CAD Exchanger and Datakit will cost you hundreds of Dollars/Euros. I seem to recall that Datakit’s single file format converters are 1200,- Euros a piece :exploding_head:
There are online converters out there, both free and paid, but never tested them with 3DXML files specifically. I’ve used https://3dencoder.com/ a couple of times fir IFC files, but with moderate success - some files come in clean, some don’t.
HTH, Jakob