HOOPS Exchange imports and exports important CAD data, including Product Manufacturing Information (PMI). There are two types of PMI data that HOOPS Exchange imports, visual (or graphical) PMI and semantic PMI.
Semantic PMI – Semantic PMI describes annotations added to your model. Semantic PMI can be parsed and interpreted programmatically, meaning automated workflows can be built on top of it.
Visual PMI – Visual PMI, sometimes called Graphical PMI, is PMI information often built off of the Semantic PMI and is shown within the 3D application for users. This can’t be easily used programmatically, unlike Semantic PMI but is critical for display and human interpretation.
Regarding HOOPS Exchange, there are some file formats where only one PMI type can be used. Below is a table of each file format and what PMI information can be imported.
PMI Import
| File | File Extensions | Semantic PMI? | Visual PMI? | Other Limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3MF | 3MF | N/A | N/A | |
| ACIS | SAT, SAB | N/A | N/A | |
| AutoCAD – 2D | DAE | Yes | Yes | |
| AutoCAD – 3D | DWG, DXF | N/A | N/A | |
| Autodesk 3DS | 3DS | N/A | N/A | |
| Autodesk DWF | DWF, DWFX | N/A | N/A | |
| Autodesk Inventor | IPT, IAM | No | No | |
| Autodesk Navisworks | NWD | No | No | |
| CATIA V4 | MODEL, SESSION, DLV, EXP | Yes | Yes | Only support for 3D Note |
| CATIA V5 | CATDrawing, CATPart, CATProduct, CATShape, CGR | Yes | Yes | |
| Catia V6 / 3DExperience | 3DXML | No | Yes | |
| COLLADA | DAE | N/A | N/A | |
| Creo – Pro/E | ASM, NEU, PRT, XAS, XPR | Yes | Yes | |
| DGN 5 | DGN | N/A | N/A | |
| FBX | FBX | N/A | N/A | |
| GL Transmission Format | GLTF, GLB | N/A | N/A | |
| I-deas | MF1, ARC, UNV, PKG | Yes | Yes | |
| IFC | IFC, IFCZIP | N/A | N/A | |
| IGES | IGS, IGES | N/A | N/A | |
| JT | JT | N/A | Yes | |
| NX - Unigraphics | PRT | Yes | Yes | |
| Parasolid | X_B, X_T, XMT, XMT_TXT | N/A | N/A | |
| PRC | PRC | Yes | Yes | |
| Revit | RVT, RFA | No | No | |
| Rhino3D | 3DM | N/A | N/A | |
| Solid Edge | ASM, PAR, PWD, PSM | No | No | |
| SolidWORKS | SLDASM, SLDPRT | Yes | Yes | Stacked Balloon is currently not available. |
| STEP | STP, STEP, STPZ | No | Yes | |
| STEP/XML | STPX, STPXZ | Yes | Yes | |
| Stereo Lithography (STL) | STL | N/A | N/A | |
| VDA-FS | VDA | N/A | N/A | |
| VRML | WRL, VRML | N/A | N/A | |
| Wavefront OBJ | OBJ | N/A | N/A |
PMI Export
| File | File Extensions | Semantic PMI? | Visual PMI? | Other Limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3MF | 3MF | N/A | N/A | |
| ACIS | SAT, SAB | N/A | N/A | |
| IGES | IGS, IGES | N/A | N/A | |
| FBX 6 | FBX | N/A | N/A | |
| GLTF | GLTF, GLB | N/A | N/A | |
| JT 2 | JT | Yes | Yes | |
| Parasolid 3 | X_T | N/A | N/A | |
| PRC | PRC | Yes | Yes | |
| STEP 4 | STP, STEP, STPZ | Yes | No | Export of semantic PMI to the STEP AP242 Format |
| Stereo Lithography (STL) | STL | N/A | N/A | |
| U3D | U3D | N/A | N/A | |
| VRML | VRML | N/A | N/A | |
| Wavefront OBJ | OBJ | N/A | N/A |