Dr.Al
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Apologies if this comes over a bit preachy, but I mentioned this in a comment in another thread and thought it was worth making it more obvious on the forum as I think it's really important:
If you use 3D CAD to design stuff, get in the habit of exporting your designs regularly as STEP files. If your CAD system of choice gets "autodesked" at some point in the future (i.e. the company decides to stop providing free and/or affordable licences like Autodesk did with Draftsight) or you change operating system (or operating system version) to one that doesn't support your CAD system of choice, STEP files will allow you to import your model (albeit without the parametric history) into another CAD system. STEP files are a really good safety net. Other formats are available, but STEP files seem to be the most widely supported.
Similarly if you use 2D CAD, export as DXF (if it isn't already the native format).
If you're sharing models on websites like thingiverse, prusaprinters etc, share the STEP files as well as the STLs - then other people can tweak / "remix" the design much, much more easily.
This has been a public service announcement on behalf of your future frustrated self. Thanks for reading.
If you use 3D CAD to design stuff, get in the habit of exporting your designs regularly as STEP files. If your CAD system of choice gets "autodesked" at some point in the future (i.e. the company decides to stop providing free and/or affordable licences like Autodesk did with Draftsight) or you change operating system (or operating system version) to one that doesn't support your CAD system of choice, STEP files will allow you to import your model (albeit without the parametric history) into another CAD system. STEP files are a really good safety net. Other formats are available, but STEP files seem to be the most widely supported.
Similarly if you use 2D CAD, export as DXF (if it isn't already the native format).
If you're sharing models on websites like thingiverse, prusaprinters etc, share the STEP files as well as the STLs - then other people can tweak / "remix" the design much, much more easily.
This has been a public service announcement on behalf of your future frustrated self. Thanks for reading.