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Overview

ProDex works with CAD files in three ways:
  • View — STEP, STL, and DXF files open in an interactive, read-only viewer where you can rotate, section, hide parts, and take measurements.
  • Analyze — upload a DWG, DXF, or STEP file and ask Dexter what the part is, what labels and part marks it carries, what makes up the assembly, and how big it is. Findings come back as tables, a synthesized bill of materials, and rendered images in the chat.
  • Create and convert — ask Dexter to build a new part or drawing, modify an uploaded STEP model, or convert a file to another format. Dexter delivers the result as a downloadable file.
Nothing ProDex does changes your original upload. Edits and conversions always produce a new file.

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Viewing CAD Files

Open Data → Files and click a CAD file in Uploaded files or in the Reports folder. STEP (.step/.stp), STL, and DXF files open in the 3D viewer; DWG files do not. When you upload one of these files, ProDex prepares its preview in the background, so it is usually ready by the time you open it. If it isn’t, the viewer shows Preparing CAD preview… until the model loads. In the viewer you can:
  • Navigate — drag to rotate, scroll to zoom, and right-drag to pan. Fit model frames the whole model (or Fit selection frames what you’ve selected), View turns the camera to Isometric, Front, Back, Left, Right, Top, or Bottom, and Orthographic and Auto-rotate change how the camera behaves.
  • Explore an assembly — the Assembly tree lists the STEP file’s components. Click one to select it, or use its eye icon to hide or show it. Right-click the model for Select component, Hide, Isolate, Show all, and Clear selection.
  • Cut it open — Section slices the model along one axis so you can see inside.
  • Change the look — Appearance switches between Shaded with edges, Shaded, and Wireframe, and adjusts lighting, component colors, and opacity. It never changes the file.
  • Measure — click a face to see its surface type, area, and radius where it has one. Select two faces to get the distance between parallel faces or axes, or the angle between them. Double-click a component to see its volume, extents, and edges. STEP measurements can be shown in millimetres or inches.
The viewer shows the most for STEP files. STL files open as a mesh with only overall size and area, and DXF files open as a flat 2D line drawing with just Fit model and View. 3D DXF files and files over 50 MiB don’t open in the viewer; ask Dexter to analyze them instead.

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Analyzing CAD with Dexter

Attach a DWG, DXF, or STEP file to a chat, or name one you’ve already uploaded, and ask a question. Dexter can:
  • Identify the file — format and version, units, overall extents.
  • Read the drawing — layers grouped into sub-assemblies, entity counts, and every text label with its position (DWG/DXF).
  • Synthesize a BOM — unique part marks grouped by sub-assembly with solid-body counts (DWG/DXF), or the component and assembly structure of a STEP file.
  • Render views — full 2D overviews, crops around a part mark, layer, or region, and 3D views from named angles, a custom orientation, or a multi-angle spin.
  • Measure — model dimensions, per-sub-assembly sizes, and distinct plate thicknesses.
Analysis only happens in chat, and nothing is analyzed until you ask. Each input file can be up to 64 MiB. See Supported Formats for what each format yields, and CAD Analysis for the workflow end to end.

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Creating and Converting CAD with Dexter

Ask Dexter to create or change geometry and it builds the model, checks it, and delivers the file as a report you can preview in the viewer and download:
  • “Create a 40 mm spacer with a 20 mm bore, 5 mm thick, as a STEP file.”
  • “Add four 6 mm mounting holes to the attached bracket.”
  • “Give me the flat profile of this plate as a DXF.”
Dexter delivers STEP by default, or STL or DXF on request. Each delivered file can be up to 50 MiB. Give Dexter the dimensions that matter for fit and function; it asks when something is missing and tells you which dimensions it assumed. It can edit an uploaded STEP model or a DXF profile, but it cannot write DWG files. You can also ask Dexter to convert an existing file:
  • DWG to DXF — for opening the drawing in other tools. This conversion keeps the 2D drawing but drops 3D solids.
  • DWG or DXF solids to DXF — a separate conversion that keeps the 3D solids, curved faces included. For DWG this needs an AutoCAD 2018 file.
  • To STL — a triangle mesh of a DWG, DXF, or STEP model.

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How Results Connect to the Rest of ProDex

CAD work never writes into other parts of your factory on its own:
  • BOMs — the bill of materials Dexter reads from a CAD file is a chat finding, not a record in the BOM section. Ask Dexter to build real BOMs from it as a follow-up; see From CAD findings to a real BOM.
  • Reports — ask for a report to turn findings and renders into an Excel, PDF, or slide deliverable.
  • Simulation and planning — extracted structure can inform models and planning inputs, but only when you (or Dexter, on your instruction) put it there.
Analysis findings are not saved. Each analysis reads the file from scratch, and rendered images appear only in the chat. To keep what you learned, ask Dexter to save key facts to memories, put them in a report, or build BOMs from them.
If your parts have significant curved geometry (fillets, holes, cylinders), upload STEP rather than DWG/DXF where you have the choice. STEP is meshed with its curves, while 3D views and measurements of DWG/DXF parts leave curved faces out. See Supported Formats.