For a student project (doing applied research for a mechanical engineering company) we need to correlate the G-Code statements generated from a CAM System (used by a milling machine or lathe) with the surfaces of the final product produced, which is modelled in a CAD System.

The CAD export format is STEP which is described in the ISO10303 Standard. Unfortunately Mathematica does not provide a STEP Import format for the geometry of the modelled object (which astonishes me as it is a widely used format in mechanical engineering).

As I am a Wolfram Language beginner I am asking for advice on how to transform a STEP file into a geometrical region, allowing then to do computations like which G-code Statement generated which surface.

The STEP content links the standardized geometric objects described in the ISO10303 standard using the EXPRESS language which can be compared to an XML Schema as of today.Here the first few lines of an example STEP file

#10=MECHANICAL_DESIGN_GEOMETRIC_PRESENTATION_REPRESENTATION('',(#218,#215,
#219,#221,#220,#216,#217,#226,#225,#224,#227,#222,#223),#404);
#11=SHAPE_REPRESENTATION_RELATIONSHIP('SRR','None',#411,#12);
#12=ADVANCED_BREP_SHAPE_REPRESENTATION('',(#13),#403);
#13=MANIFOLD_SOLID_BREP('Solid1',#240);
#14=PLANE('',#266);
#15=PLANE('',#267);

I visualized the content using DFS

steps = StringSplit[
   StringReplace[
    ReadList["Documents/G-code/GCODE/Bauteil6_none_AP214.stp", Record,
       RecordSeparators -> {{"HEADER;", "DATA"}, {"ENDSEC;", 
         "ENDSEC;"}}][[2]], "\n" -> ""], ";"];
edge[n_] := Module[{instances = {}},
  instances = StringCases[n, "#" ~~ DigitCharacter ..];
  Drop[Map[DirectedEdge[First[instances], #] &, instances], 1]
  ]
vertex[p_] := Module[{instances = {}},
  instances = StringCases[p, "#" ~~ DigitCharacter ..];
  Property[First[instances], "Content" -> p]
  ]
edges = Map[edge[#] &, steps];
properties = Map[vertex[#] &, steps];
g = Graph[properties, Flatten[edges, 2]];
DepthFirstScan[g, 
  "#10", {"DiscoverVertex" -> ((depthval[#1] = #3) &), 
   "PrevisitVertex" -> (If[depthval[#] > -1, 
       Print @@ 
        Append[Table["    ", depthval[#]], 
         StringReplace[PropertyValue[{g, #}, "Content"], 
          "\n" -> ""]]] &)}];
10=MECHANICAL_DESIGN_GEOMETRIC_PRESENTATION_REPRESENTATION('',(#218,#215,#219,#221,#220,#216,#217,#226,#225,#224,#227,#222,#223),#404)
    #218=STYLED_ITEM('',(#421),#231)
        #421=PRESENTATION_STYLE_ASSIGNMENT((#423))
            #423=SURFACE_STYLE_USAGE(.BOTH.,#425)
                #425=SURFACE_SIDE_STYLE('',(#427))
                    #427=SURFACE_STYLE_FILL_AREA(#429)
                        #429=FILL_AREA_STYLE('',(#431))
                            #431=FILL_AREA_STYLE_COLOUR('',#433)
                                #433=COLOUR_RGB('',0.274509803921569,0.619607843137255,0.254901960784314)
        #231=ADVANCED_FACE('',(#75),#15,.T.)
            #75=FACE_OUTER_BOUND('',#89,.T.)
                #89=EDGE_LOOP('',(#166,#167,#168,#169))
                    #166=ORIENTED_EDGE('',*,*,#128,.F.)
                        #128=EDGE_CURVE('',#108,#109,#23,.T.)
                            #108=VERTEX_POINT('',#347)
                                #347=CARTESIAN_POINT('',(20.,-30.,40.))
                            #109=VERTEX_POINT('',#349)
                                #349=CARTESIAN_POINT('',(20.,-30.,0.))
                            #23=LINE('',#350,#46)
                                #350=CARTESIAN_POINT('',(20.,-30.,0.))
                                #46=VECTOR('',#290,10.)
                                    #290=DIRECTION('',(0.,0.,-1.))
                    #167=ORIENTED_EDGE('',*,*,#135,.F.)
                        #135=EDGE_CURVE('',#114,#108,#29,.T.)
                            #114=VERTEX_POINT('',#363)
                                #363=CARTESIAN_POINT('',(-50.,-30.,40.))
                            #29=LINE('',#364,#52)
                                #364=CARTESIAN_POINT('',(50.,-30.,40.))
                                #52=VECTOR('',#302,10.)
                                    #302=DIRECTION('',(1.,1.33226762955019E-16,0.))
                    #168=ORIENTED_EDGE('',*,*,#136,.F.)
                        #136=EDGE_CURVE('',#111,#114,#30,.T.)
                            #111=VERTEX_POINT('',#355)
                                #355=CARTESIAN_POINT('',(-50.,-30.,0.))
                            #30=LINE('',#365,#53)
                                #365=CARTESIAN_POINT('',(-50.,-30.,0.))
                                #53=VECTOR('',#303,10.)
                                    #303=DIRECTION('',(0.,0.,1.))
                    #169=ORIENTED_EDGE('',*,*,#131,.F.)
                        #131=EDGE_CURVE('',#109,#111,#25,.T.)
                            #25=LINE('',#356,#48)
                                #356=CARTESIAN_POINT('',(50.,-30.,0.))
                                #48=VECTOR('',#296,10.)
                                    #296=DIRECTION('',(-1.,-1.33226762955019E-16,0.))
            #15=PLANE('',#267)
                #267=AXIS2_PLACEMENT_3D('',#362,#300,#301)
                    #362=CARTESIAN_POINT('Origin',(-50.,-30.,0.))
                    #300=DIRECTION('center_axis',(1.33226762955019E-16,-1.,0.))

One can see that index #10 references #218 which in turn then references #421 and #231 and so on.

ADVANCED_FACE in this example could be modelled as a RegionUnion of a LINE with an InfinitePlane.

But how to do this in Wolfram Language? Shall I transform the STEP content into nested expressions like

advancedFace[{faceOuterBound[{edgeLoop[{orientedEdge[ ...]}], ...}, TRUE], plane[]}, TRUE] and then transforming the expressions into a list of basic geometric regions, meshes, combinded regions?

Any thought on how to best approach this problem is much appreciated. Regards Markus