Imported Step Drawing appears only as monochrome in Online Viewer
Issue:
When collaborating with a structural engineer, for example, who shares a STEP drawing (Standard for The Exchange of Product model data) in the online Autodesk Viewer, all the color-coded data for structural members are lost in the monochrome image.
Causes:
This is caused by the selection of the STEP format version AP203 which does not retain color information during the export from CAD applications other than AutoCAD Mechanical.
Solution:
When available, choose the later AP214 export version format, not version AP203.
From the AutoCAD Mechanical 2022 Help are these details:
The AutoCAD Mechanical toolset Step translator supports both, the import and export of STEP files.
Standard for the Exchange of Product model data (STEP) is an ISO standard for computer interpretable product manufacturing data representation (CAD data as well as meta data) and exchange. STEP is often used for exchanging 3D model data between dissimilar CAD systems. The STEPIN command supports STEP versions AP214 and AP203E2.
The AutoCAD IMPORT command also supports the STEP file format. However, AutoCAD does not support export to STEP.
Note: AutoCAD Mechanical supports the later AP214 STEP file export version so that color is retained when the STEP file is imported.
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