The growing acceptance of STEP as a viable form of product data for use in the manufacturing supply chain makes it vitally important that this new type of data be validated prior to its use. With the introduction of STEP AP224 there is finally a single data file that contains everything a machined part manufacturer needs to know to plan for and produce the required product: part geometry, dimensions, tolerances, surface finishes, feature definitions, material callouts, part and surface notes, and so on. Having a digital file capable of enabling a downstream manufacturing process is a radical departure for manufacturing engineers who have always depended upon engineering drawings. Such a cultural change naturally results in an initial lack of confidence in this new technology. STEPValidator was designed to alleviate these concerns by providing the capability to fully quality inspect an AP224 file.

STEPValidator is a Windows-based AP224 Validation system that also allows for direct viewing of AP203 files and for viewing of IGES files using a third party IGES viewer. STEPValidator presents the part model as a shaded image or as a wireframe image which the user can dynamically rotate, pan, and zoom. Each manufacturing aspect of the part can be viewed and checked during the process. Each of these items (features, dimensions, surface finishes, etc.) is displayed to the user with its defining data. These items are also associative to the part model which means that when they are selected, the affected area on the part model is highlighted. For example, a surface finish item will show the user the surface finish value and will highlight the surface affected. Each of these items can be accepted or rejected according to the accuracy of the data. At the completion of the validation, a status report can be generated for providing feedback to the creator of the STEP file, indicating if corrections are necessary.