The purpose of Volume IV is to discuss issues of compatibility and conversion between the BRL-CAD geometry file format and the formats of various other computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), and computer-aided engineering (CAE) packages. Conversion is increasingly important for BRL-CAD users who must interact with a growing number of Government and commercial organizations involved in the research, development, testing, and evaluation of today’s combat systems.

Note that this document addresses BRL-CAD geometry converters, not BRL-CAD image converters (e.g., pix-bw, pix-ps, pix-rle, bw-ps, and pl-ps). For further information on image conversion, see the man page on the utility of interest. Also, because of the many file formats in existence today and the rapidly changing nature of computer software and software companies, it would be impractical to try to address all of the conversion paths and methods that are currently or potentially possible. Many times, conversion from one file format to another is not a one to-one process. Depending on the amount of time and effort the BRL-CAD user is willing to invest, seemingly incompatible formats can

Download BRL-CAD Tutorial Series: Volume IV – Converting Geometry Between BRL-CAD and Other Formats