When you export a STEP file from Halocline Layout, your layout leaves the tool as exact CAD geometry with an assembly structure, not as an image and not as a facet model. The structure of your work is preserved and converted into the STEP format. Here you will learn which elements are carried over and which are not.
Geometry
The export produces exact solid bodies (BRep solids), not triangle meshes and not STL. A face is a real face, an edge is a real edge, precisely dimensioned. This lets you continue to edit, create, and dimension the result directly in the target CAD system.
- Format: STEP AP214. This neutral exchange format is read by every common CAD and PDM system.
- Units: Millimeters, true to scale.
Structure and Hierarchy
- Group structure: The group structure you created in Halocline Layout is transferred one to one into a hierarchy in the STEP file. Halocline groups become real sub-assemblies, and the nesting is preserved.
- Ungrouped objects: Objects that are not assigned to any group appear one after another in the list in the STEP file, but without a hierarchy.
Naming
- Names of individual objects: Each object keeps the individual name you assigned in Halocline Layout. The names end up in the CAD structure tree.
- CAD objects: All CAD objects keep their original names.
Instances
Objects with identical dimensions are automatically combined into a single part with multiple positions. For example: a shelving unit consists of 29 objects but only 4 unique parts (upright, long brace, short brace, panel). All four uprights reference the same part, and so do all of the long braces. When you swap out one part, all of its positions update along with it.