Converting from think3 3D to IGES

The think3 application can save models to the IGES format.

General concepts

Entities are converted according to the think3 to IGES 3D conversion table.
Conversion is performed according to the current values of the parameters of the IGES Options dialog box opened by selecting Options.
Layers are converted as per map table defined in the General-Layers category of the IGES Conversion Options. If no mapping is defined, the "Layer" prefix (if present) is dropped from the name while conversion.

General warning on conversion of 3D think3 models to IGES

To know exactly to which IGES entities think3 entities are converted, see the conversion table.

In general, this is what happens:

think3 curves are converted to their IGES corresponding curves
think3 surfaces are converted to their IGES corresponding surfaces
think3 solids are converted to IGES Manifold Solid B-Rep Object (entity 186).
You can convert solids to their component surfaces by clearing the Save/Load solid entities check box in the General page IGES Options dialog box.

Tips

When converting a 3D model to the IGES format, you obviously need to check the results of the conversion process by loading the IGES file you created to the target environment. The following are some tips:

If the conversion fails, you can try to do one of the following:
- Try to select the check boxes under Convert to NURBS, in order to force conversion of any specialized curves and surfaces to NURBS. The target environment might not manage specialized curves and surfaces.
- Try to select the Map 143:0 to 144:0 check box, in the case the target environment does not recognize IGES 143:0 entities.
- Try to select both the Convert to NURBS and Map 143:0 to 144:0 check boxes.
- Try to select both the Convert to NURBS and Map 143:0 to 144:0 check boxes and the Map rational to not rational, in the case the target environment manages only non-rational curves and surfaces.
Reading the log file of the conversion process is the most direct and simplest way to check conversion errors. In such file, errors are logged in appropriate sections, which will help identify where the problem is.