stepfg: STEP File Generator

Authors: E. Valetov and M. Berz
Organization: Michigan State University
Creation date: 03-Feb-2017
Email: valetove@msu.edu

0. Introduction

This program converts a list of polygons in the x-y plane specified by vertices into a STEP* file containing a 3D part obtained by extrusion of the interior regions of these polygons along the z-axis.

* STEP is an abbreviation for STandard for the Exchange of Product model data – ISO 10303-242.

1. Repository contents

README.md This file
LICENSE.md Copyright notice
stepfg.py Python source code
part_geometry.txt Sample input file (Muon g-2 Collaboration quadrupole)

2. Command-line arguments

stepfg [filename_in [filename_out]] [-h] [/h]  

filename_in: Input file containing 2D geometry data (default: "part_geometry.txt")
filename_out: Output STEP file with resulting 3D part (default: "part_out.stp")
-h or /h: Help information

3. Input file format

The input file format is three parameters as follows:

[First_argument,
Second_argument,
Third_argument]

First_argument: List of polygon specifications [pol1,pol2,...,poln]. Each polygon specification is a sequential list [vert1,vert2,...,vertm] of the polygon's vertices in the x-y plane. Each vertex is specified as a list [x,y] or [x,y,0].
Second_argument: z-coordinate interval [z1, z2] that the resulting 3D part should span.
Third_argument: Geometric proportionality coefficient. The output unit of length in the STEP file is mm, so use 10 if the 2D geometry is specified in cm.

A sample input file, "part_geometry.txt" containing a representation of the Muon g-2 Collaboration quadrupole, is supplied with this program.

5. Copyright Notice

© 2017 Eremey Valetov and Martin Berz