Importing SAT files

Rhino Rhino for Windows
1

I have recently just realised that Rhino can export SAT files but unable to import SAT files. Is this correct? Or am I missing something?

2

Hi @yongsiang,

No, you are not missing anything. Here are a few options:

https://www.food4rhino.com/browse?searchText=parasolid&form_build_count=1

– Dale

3

Hi @dale,
Thanks for clarification and the quick response!

4

A bit older topic but: for a free solution, there is FreeCAD workbench which can import SAT to FreeCAD. From there, one can export to .dwg and import the .dwg to Rhino.

5

SAT → New DWG in AutoCAD → Import SAT → Save as DWG → Open DWG in Rhino

6

Why can Rhino export SAT, but not import it ?
Seems silly

7

Hi @osuire,

Years ago, we had a summer intern write the SAT exporter based on an old, publicly available SAT file spec. If I recall, the goal was to get Rhino solids into AutoCAD (ACISIN).

I don’t recall why we didn’t write an importer. It would have been limited to the old public spec. So probably not very useful.

But users today have 3rd party options.

– Dale

8

Yes, there’s also a lot of others CAD products.

9

Many products out there indeed.

But still, especially if it is not that hard, an importer would be great.

Please add it.

Thanks

/Erik

10

I agree that a SAT importer would be great. I routinely export SAT files to open in SurfCAM. Sometimes I then want to import that SAT file. Perhaps I did a last minute mod on the surface and stupidly failed to actually save the source Rhino file. Anyway, yeah, you can’t import SAT files. So, I’ve also been there. I think I actually got around this by loading SAT files in Surfcam and then exporting IGS from there.

But, I fully understand the situation they’re in. I’ve developed software that has a wider range of export than import formats. Why? Same reason as McNeel basically. It’s way easier to write an exporter that can use a limited subset of the file format to more or less output what really needs to be output. Lots of file formats are 10x more complicated than they need to be. On import you need to support as wide a range of the format as possible. It’s way more involved than export. So, unless you’ve got a huge amount of time and up to date file format specs, it may not be worth it.

So, I get it. Importing things properly and fully is tough. FreeCAD is always a good option to keep around anyway. I wouldn’t want to use FreeCAD for the die work I do but for parametric modeling it’s OK.