How to turn a STEP file into a parts catalog
If you have a STEP file, you are about ten minutes away from a working 3D parts catalog. This is the whole process, with the parts people usually expect to be hard called out explicitly.
For the background on why this is worth doing at all, see What is a 3D spare parts catalog?
1. Export or locate a STEP file
Use the file your engineers already export. STEP is the common interchange format and every major CAD system writes it.
You do not need to simplify the model, strip internal components, clean up the tree, or re-author anything. That expectation comes from older parts-catalog tooling and does not apply here.
If you would rather not touch STEP at all, native SolidWorks and Inventor files work directly, and PDM/PLM systems can be connected so assemblies flow in without a manual export at all. See Integrations.
2. Upload it
Upload the file to Origeq. Conversion and part extraction run automatically.
Two things that trip people up in planning meetings, stated plainly:
- No CAD licence is required — not for you to upload, and not for your customers to view.
- No administrator rights or IT ticket are required to upload a single assembly. This is deliberately something an after-sales manager can do without opening a project.
Large assemblies are fine. Models that take 30 to 60 minutes to open in a CAD application load here in seconds.
3. Check the generated parts list
Origeq extracts the components and builds the parts list from the assembly structure itself, so it reflects what is actually in the model rather than a separately maintained document.
This is the point to review naming and part numbering. It is also the moment most teams discover the real state of their own metadata — which is useful information regardless of what you do next.
4. Share the link
You get a shareable URL for the assembly. How you distribute it is your call:
- Email it to a customer who has raised a parts question.
- Embed it on your support or product page.
- Print it as a QR code on the machine itself, so the catalog is physically attached to the equipment.
- Put it behind a login, if the assembly should only reach specific accounts.
You can start with an open link and tighten access later without republishing anything.
5. Receive structured order requests
The customer rotates the assembly, clicks the part they need, and submits.
What reaches you is a structured request naming specific part numbers and quantities, tied to the assembly they were selected from — not a description someone on your team has to interpret. Depending on your plan it arrives by email, through an online channel, or directly into your ERP.
That is the whole loop. The wrong-part problem disappears at the point of identification rather than being caught later at the shipping stage.
What this does not require
Worth listing, because these are the assumptions that usually delay a decision by a quarter:
- No rollout project or implementation plan.
- No engineering time, beyond locating a file that already exists.
- No integration — email requests work with nothing connected.
- No software installed by your customers.
- No commitment: your first 5 assemblies are free.
Doing it at scale
Everything above describes one assembly. When you are ready to bring across a whole install base, batch upload and the API handle volume, and a PDM/PLM connection keeps the catalog tracking your revisions instead of drifting from them. See Integrations for what connects where, and Pricing for what changes as you scale.