Documentation/Customer files
What files the quoting tool accepts
STEP, IGES, DXF, a PDF drawing, a scan or a photo - each takes its own path.
The configurator accepts files up to 50 MB. A 3D model is priced automatically; a drawing reaches you with whatever we could read off it. The customer does not have to work out what they have - they upload what they were sent, and the engine recognises the kind of file itself.
STEP and IGES
The full automatic path: geometry analysis, a 3D preview with clickable features, the configurator and a price. Assemblies are split into parts and priced together, with identical parts grouped. This is the format in which a quote can reach the customer without you touching it.
DXF
A DXF is one of two things: a flat 1:1 cutting profile (laser, waterjet, sheet metal) or a drawing sheet made of views. The engine tells them apart itself. From a profile we rebuild the solid - the customer only states the material thickness - and it then follows the ordinary path, with a 3D preview and the configurator. A drawing saved as DXF is treated like a PDF drawing.
PDF drawings, scans and photos
From a vector drawing we read the material, threads, the ISO 2768 tolerance class, geometric tolerances, roughness, hole fits, heat treatment and coating, and we match the material to your library. For flat single-extrusion parts we can go further and rebuild the solid from the drawing, then run it through the ordinary geometry analysis.
Scans and photographed drawings are accepted deliberately: that is what the customer has to hand, and without it they would upload a photo renamed to .pdf. What cannot be read with confidence is not guessed - the customer leaves an e-mail and a quantity, the enquiry lands in your Quotes tab, and you price it by hand from the drawing.
A price derived from a drawing never goes out to the customer automatically, whatever gate mode you run. The customer is told that the shop will prepare the quote and send it by e-mail.