1. CAx Implementor Forum Jochen Boy, ProSTEP iViP
AFNeT Standardization Day
March 23, 2016 – Paris, France

2. CAx-IF @ AFNeT Standardization Day
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
Agenda
About the CAx Implementor Forum (CAx-IF)
Enabling STEP AP242-based Implementations
Commercial Tool Support for STEP AP242
Outlook

3. CAx Implementor Forum (CAx-IF)
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
CAx Implementor Forum (CAx-IF)
Joint testing forum hosted by PDES, Inc. & ProSTEP iViP
Composed of CAD vendors as well as translation and validation software developers providing STEP translators
Closed group (sandbox) allowing implementors to develop and test new approaches in a trusted environment
Launched in 1999, by merging previous PDES, Inc. and ProSTEP iViP efforts. Since then, 35 test rounds have been completed.
Mission is to meet industry’s needs by developing and testing standards based interoperable products

4. Goals of the CAx Implementor Forum
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
Goals of the CAx Implementor Forum
Accelerate CAx translator development
Ensure that users' requirements are satisfied
Implement functionality for today's needs
Identify functionality for tomorrow's needs
Avoid roadblocks by establishing agreed upon approaches
Increase user confidence by providing system and interoperability testing
Ensure new functionality does not adversely impact existing implementations

5. How Industry benefits from the CAx-IF
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
How Industry benefits from the CAx-IF
Member / Vendor Benefits
User / Customer Benefits
Testing in a closed, trusted environment
Early detection of errors leads to faster development cycles
Beta-testing with other systems enhances product interoperability and robustness even before production release
User requirements can be communicated, and common implementation approaches agreed.
Stability of new capabilities
E.g. PMI Polyline Presentation: Since testing started in 2008, no major changes to implementation structure. Widely used in industry now!
Early feedback on requirements
Concerning feasibility, and timeframe for support in various tools

6. CAx Implementor Forum “on a page”
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
CAx Implementor Forum “on a page”
Standardization
Issues
ProSTEP iViP
and PDES, Inc.
Working Groups
Interaction with other project groups
CAx
User
Companies
Requirements
Issues
Test Models
Result Summaries
Improved STEP Processors
Recommended Practices
Improved Data Exchange Quality
Interoperability
Widened STEP Scope
ISO 10303
Standardization
Working Groups
Issues
New and updated
STEP Parts

7. Current Domain Landscape
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
Current Domain Landscape

8. Recommended Practices Documents
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
Recommended Practices Documents

9. CAx-IF Test Round Breakdown
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
CAx-IF Test Round Breakdown
Two rounds per year: March – Sept. / Sept. – March
Meeting
Transition
Meeting wrap-up (minutes etc.)
Creation/Update of Recomm. Practices
Preparation for test round (Test Suite, Test Environment…)
12 weeks
Meeting
Implementation
Data submission
Update of implementations
Realization of test cases
Provision of test data (STEP files and statistics)
6 weeks
Conference Call
Data import
Results collection
Import of submitted test data
Collection of results
Pre-meeting resolution of issues
6 weeks
Conference Call
Evaluation
Preparation
Evaluation of results
Meeting preparation (collection of discussion topics…)
2 weeks
Meeting

10. CAx-IF Test Case Specification
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
CAx-IF Test Case Specification

11. CAx-IF Testing Methodology
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
CAx-IF Testing Methodology
Participants provide STEP files based on:
Current EXPRESS / XML Schemas
Latest (draft) Recommended Practices
Test Case definitions
STEP files are checked for:
Syntax (conformance to schema)
Structure / Semantics (conformance to Rec. Practices)
STEP files and corresponding statistics are provided in the member area of the CAx-IF homepage
Participants grab all provided files, process them, and report on their results. Detailed review at meeting.
If issues are found, they are resolved during the test round as far as possible.

12. CAx-IF Online Test Environment
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
CAx-IF Online Test Environment

13. AP242 Implementation History
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
AP242 Implementation History
Earliest support of AP242
in commercial products
IS Version
(v1.36)
Pre-IS Version
(v1.33)
DIS Version
(v1.23)
CD Version
2nd Point
Release
1st Point
Test Round
27J
28J
29J
30J
31J
32J
33J
34J
35J
Year
2011
2012
2013
2014

14. AP242 Support in Commercial Tools
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
AP242 Support in Commercial Tools
March 2015 Snapshot – ongoing development
Support of AP242-specific capabilities in production versions of commercial tools
CT CoreTechnologie 3D_Evolution 2014
Dassault Systèmes V5-6R2015
Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE R2015x
Datakit CrossCAD
ITI TranscenData CADfix 9.0 SP 3
PTC Creo 2.0
Siemens PLM NX 9.0.3
Theorem Solutions NX CADverter 17.3
3D Tessellated Geometry X I
XML Assembly Structure
PMI Graphic Presentation
- as Polylines
- as Tessellated
- Cross-Highlighting
- Saved Views
- Validation Properties P
PMI Semantic Representation
X = Full support; I = Import only; P = Partial support

15. CAx-IF Implementation Coverage
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
CAx-IF Implementation Coverage

16. List of available STEP Viewers
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
List of available STEP Viewers
In addition to CAD solutions, validation tools, and file translators, STEP is also supported by a wide range of viewing applications
Many of these already support AP242 as well, some of them even the new capabilities

17. CAx-IF @ AFNeT Standardization Day
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
Round38J Schedule
The CAx-IF Technical Workshop will be in conjunction with a LOTAR Meeting
The CAx-IF Review Meeting will be in conjunction with the PDES Inc. Fall Offsite and a LOTAR Meeting

18. CAx-IF @ AFNeT Standardization Day
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
Round38J Scope
Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI)
Semantic PMI Representation
Tessellated PMI Presentation
Associated PMI Validation Properties
Geometric Validation Properties
Composite Materials
Alternative Part Shapes
STEP AP242 BO Model XML Assembly Structure
Production Models
STEP File Library Update

19. CAx-IF @ AFNeT Standardization Day
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
Outlook
The CAx Implementor Forum will continue to support implementation of STEP AP242:
Broader support of existing scope by more vendors
Extend supported scope in commercial products, for instance:
Composite Material Definition
Kinematics
PMI in downstream applications (Inspection, Manufacturing…)
Support development of AP242 2nd Edition:
Enhancement of existing scope, in particular PMI
Development of new capabilities, for instance Machining Features

20. For more information about the CAx-IF, please get in touch with us! 
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
For more information about the CAx-IF, please get in touch with us! 
Jochen Boy
PROSTEP AG
on behalf of ProSTEP iViP
Darmstadt, Germany
+49 (6151)
Phil Rosché
ACCR, LLC.
on behalf of PDES, Inc.
Summerville, SC, USA
+1 (843)

21. CAx-IF @ AFNeT Standardization Day
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
BACKUP

22. New in AP242: Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI)
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
New in AP242: Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI)
Semantic PMI Representation
Machine-consumable
Fully defined without need for visual presentation and interpretation
Facilitates downstream use, e.g. inspection and manufacturing
Graphic PMI Presentation
Human-readable
Preserves visual presentation in 3D
Organized in Saved Views
Linked to underlying representation
PMI Validation Properties
Defined for Repres. and Present.
Safeguard data exchange
Enable Long-Term Archiving

23. New in AP242: 3D Tessellated Geometry
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
New in AP242: 3D Tessellated Geometry
Use Cases
Design in context
Explicit representation of Composites
Capabilities
Supports solid and surface data as triangles, curves as polylines and points
Geometry can be structured to preserve model topology
Sustains watertight tessellation
Ability to link precise 3D B-Rep and derived tessellated geometry if present in same file
Validation Properties
Surface and curve characteristics
Bounding Box

24. New in AP242: Business Object Model XML
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
New in AP242: Business Object Model XML
Motivation
As designated backbone for data exchange in the manufacturing industry, the capability to exchange PDM data in XML format is a key factor.
Scope
General Administrative Data
Part and Document Management
Properties
Requirements
Configuration, Effectivity
Assembly Structure
Composites
Kinematics
External References

25. Enabling AP242-based Implementations
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
Enabling AP242-based Implementations
AP242 is based on the merging of two well-established and well tested application protocols:
AP203 “Configuration controlled 3D design of mechanical parts and assemblies”
AP214 “Automotive design”
As a result,
First complete AP242 EXPRESS schema was available very early
Vendors could build their product based on the existing processors
New capabilities were added gradually as they became available
Immediate testing feedback helps to accelerate
Development of the standard, especially new capabilities
Robust implementation of AP242 capabilities in STEP interfaces

26. AP242 Support in Commercial Tools
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
AP242 Support in Commercial Tools
Even though AP242 was published as International Standard in December 2014, it was already supported by a number of commercial tools
Development efforts are going on with much energy; the number of tools supporting AP242 as well as the supported scope of AP242 will grow significantly in the near future
Continuity and compatibility: All capabilities supported by STEP interfaces for AP203 and AP214 work with AP242 as well

27. Activities supporting and promoting STEP AP242 implementation
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
Activities supporting and promoting STEP AP242 implementation
PDES, Inc. / ProSTEP iViP “CAx Implementor Forum”
Creation of Recommended Practices for STEP (Part 21 and XML)
Joint test rounds
Closed group / development environment
ProSTEP iViP / VDA “JT Implementor Forum”
Creation of Implementation Guidelines for JT
Joint Test Rounds, including combined use of AP242 XML and JT
AFNeT / ProSTEP iViP “STEP AP242 Benchmark #1”
Benchmark of available commercial tools
Focused on the new capabilities supported by AP242
Testing phase Apr.-Oct. 2015; results will be published end of 2015
First of a series of Benchmarks to trace implementation progress

28. Activities supporting and promoting STEP AP242 implementation
March 23, 2016
AFNeT Standardization Day
Activities supporting and promoting STEP AP242 implementation
NIST MBE PMI Validation and Conformance Testing
Developed set of publicly available test cases for PMI
Natively modeled in four major CAD systems
Reviewed by expert users and system vendors
Used by CAx-IF and AP242 Benchmark as reference point
NIST STEP File Analyzer
Creates spread sheets from STEP files
Generates report for AP242 PMI Representation and Presentation
Lists Validation Properties
Verifies compliance with Recommended Practices