Import and Export > SigmaNEST (PRS) Part Import

SigmaNEST keeps each of its parts in a .prs file. Primecut can open these directly, so a part held in a SigmaNEST library can be brought in without going back to the drawing it was originally made from. PRS files appear in the part open dialog alongside every other format, and are drawn in the preview panel before anything is imported.

PRS import is experimental. SigmaNEST does not publish the PRS file format, so Primecut reads it by inspection rather than to a published standard, and a SigmaNEST version Primecut has not seen may be read differently or not at all. Always check the imported geometry against the CAD drawing before the part is cut. Primecut repeats this warning on every PRS import.

What is imported

•The part outline and its internal cutouts.

•The bend lines of a press part, which arrive on a layer of their own. Bend lines are open by design, so they are not treated as part geometry that failed to close.

•The part name, the material name, and the rotations SigmaNEST allows when nesting the part.

Machining lead-ins are left out. They are approach moves belonging to the SigmaNEST toolpath rather than part geometry, and Primecut applies its own leads when the part is processed.

Material and thickness

A PRS names its material but does not carry a thickness - SigmaNEST holds thickness against the sheet rather than against the part. Primecut matches the SigmaNEST material name against your material list, including any material aliases you have set up, and where a match is found the material is set on the part.

Where the name matches nothing, the material is left for you to choose and the SigmaNEST name is carried forward and offered when you pick it, so you can see what SigmaNEST called the material. Thickness is set in Primecut in the usual way, exactly as it is for a DXF.

The drawing the part came from

A PRS records the CAD file it was built from, and Primecut names that file in the import warnings. Where that drawing is still available it is the better thing to import: it is the original, and Primecut reads DXF and DWG to a published standard.

Checking the result

Every PRS import reports what it recovered - how many contours were read, how many bend lines, and how many lead-ins were discarded - and says so plainly if any contour failed to close. An unclosed contour means Primecut could not join the geometry into a complete profile, and that part should be checked against the drawing before it is nested or cut.