C3D Converter Plugins
Plugins make it possible to read models from formats that are not directly supported by the C3D kernel, primarily proprietary formats. Technically, a plugin is a library that implements a given API and is explicitly loaded by the kernel on request from an application.
The plugin is a part of C3D Toolkit and is tightly integrated with the geometric kernel. In particular, this is manifested in the fact that the kernel automatically loads the plugin and activates it with a single license key if:
The license key includes the required format ([nx], [sw], [inv], [cat], [se], [cre], [ifc]),
The plugin binary files are located in the same directory as c3d.dll.
Some specifics of working with plugins:
Plugins can be updated independently of the C3D geometric kernel.
As a simplified workflow, the native plugins can be used through the ImportFromFile() method (provided that there is a license and the plugin binary files are located in the same directory as c3d.dll).
If it is necessary to pass any settings to the conversion manager instance returned GetConverter3D(), then the plugin usage scheme is two-stage: GetConverter3D() + ImportFromFile() (if specific callback objects are required for configuration selection and similar tasks).
If it is necessary to pass additional settings, such as working with model configurations or metadata, it is required to use the GetConverter3D() function to set specific callback objects, and then call ImportFromFile().
Geometric models cannot be read through plugins by using the ImportFromBuffer() method.
To use third-party plugins, or to use C3D plugins located in a directory different from the one containing c3d.dll, the following call sequence is used: GetConverter3D() - LoadForeignReader() - ImportForeign().
List of supported C3D plugin versions:
| Format | File extension | Version |
|---|---|---|
| NX | *.prt | 2004 – 2024 |
| ProE/Creo | *.prt, *.asm | 2002 – 2023 (Pro/Engineer Wildfire 1.0 – Wildfire 5.0; Creo R1.0 – Creo R10.0; partial support for reading Creo R11.0) |
| SolidWorks | *.sldprt, *.sldasm | 2007 – 2024 (PMI and annotations are supported for SW 2016 – 2024) |
| Inventor | *.ipt, *.iam | 2010 – 2024 |
| Catia V5 | *.CATPart, *.CATProduct | 2004 (V5 R14) – 2023 (V5-6 R33) |
| 3D XML | *.3dxml | 4.2 – 4.3 (no files of versions 4.0 and 4.1) |
| Solid Edge | *.par, *.asm, *.psm | 2009 (ST2) – 2024 |
| IFC | *.ifc | IFC 2X3, IFC 4, IFC 4X3 |
For the nwd, rvt, rvm, and sp formats there are partner plugins compatible with c3d_plugin; working with them is similar to working with the IFC format (see Auxiliary Converter Methods).