Format ini mula muncul pada tahun 1990-an dengan tujuan menyeragamkan bukan sahaja kandungan 3D tetapi juga data tambahan khusus untuk kegunaan industri, seperti toleransi dan bahan. Dikenali sebagai standard ISO-10303-21, standard untuk fail STEP telah disemak selama bertahun-tahun untuk membolehkan ciri tambahan.
Data 3D dalam fail STEP diwakili dalam bentuk teks menggunakan gabungan bentuk yang terdiri daripada muka, tepi dan data geometri lain. Seperti yang dinyatakan, format STEP direka untuk menjadi standard untuk pertukaran model 3D, bermakna ia mempunyai sokongan meluas di kalangan aplikasi pemodelan CAD dan 3D serta perisian penukaran fail.
000ISO-10303-21;
001HEADER;
002/* Generated by software containing ST-Developer
003 * from STEP Tools, Inc. (www.steptools.com)
004 */
005
006FILE_DESCRIPTION(
007/* description */ (''),
008/* implementation_level */ '2;1');
009
010FILE_NAME(
011/* name */ 'c5.stp',
012/* time_stamp */ '2024-02-05T06:35:35+00:00',
013/* author */ (''),
014/* organization */ (''),
015
016/* authorisation */ '');
017
018FILE_SCHEMA (('AUTOMOTIVE_DESIGN { 1 0 10303 214 3 1 1 }'));
019ENDSEC;
020
021DATA;
022#10=SHAPE_REPRESENTATION_RELATIONSHIP('SRR','None',#22544,#11);
023#11=ADVANCED_BREP_SHAPE_REPRESENTATION($,(#11436),#22538);
024#12=ORIENTED_CLOSED_SHELL($,*,#11433,.F.);
025#13=ORIENTED_CLOSED_SHELL($,*,#11434,.F.);
026#14=ORIENTED_CLOSED_SHELL($,*,#11435,.F.);
027#15=CONICAL_SURFACE($,#11713,0.59315625,0.759762754875772);
028#16=CONICAL_SURFACE($,#11720,0.59315625,0.759762754875772);
029#17=SPHERICAL_SURFACE($,#11545,0.01265625);
030#18=SPHERICAL_SURFACE($,#11591,0.050625);
031#19=SPHERICAL_SURFACE($,#11689,0.050625);
032#20=SPHERICAL_SURFACE($,#11742,0.050625);
033#21=TOROIDAL_SURFACE($,#12201,0.3290625,0.0759375);
034#22=TOROIDAL_SURFACE($,#12206,0.4809375,0.0759375);
035#23=TOROIDAL_SURFACE($,#12211,0.1771875,0.0759375);
036#24=(
037BOUNDED_SURFACE()
038B_SPLINE_SURFACE(2,2,((#16169,#16170,#16171,#16172,#16173,#16174,#16175,
039#16176,#16177),(#16178,#16179,#16180,#16181,#16182,#16183,#16184,#16185,
040#16186),(#16187,#16188,#16189,#16190,#16191,#16192,#16193,#16194,#16195),
041(#16196,#16197,#16198,#16199,#16200,#16201,#16202,#16203,#16204),(#16205,
042#16206,#16207,#16208,#16209,#16210,#16211,#16212,#16213),(#16214,#16215,
043#16216,#16217,#16218,#16219,#16220,#16221,#16222),(#16223,#16224,#16225,
044#16226,#16227,#16228,#16229,#16230,#16231),(#16232,#16233,#16234,#16235,
045#16236,#16237,#16238,#16239,#16240),(#16241,#16242,#16243,#16244,#16245,
046#16246,#16247,#16248,#16249)),.UNSPECIFIED.,.T.,.T.,.F.)
047B_SPLINE_SURFACE_WITH_KNOTS((3,2,2,2,3),(3,2,2,2,3),(-3.14159265358979,
048-1.5707963267949,0.,1.5707963267949,3.14159265358979),(0.,1.5707963267949,
0493.14159265358979,4.71238898038469,6.28318530717959),.UNSPECIFIED.)
050GEOMETRIC_REPRESENTATION_ITEM()
051RATIONAL_B_SPLINE_SURFACE(((1.,0.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,1.,
0520.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,1.),(0.707106781186548,0.500000000000001,
0530.707106781186548,0.500000000000001,0.707106781186548,0.500000000000001,
0540.707106781186548,0.500000000000001,0.707106781186548),(1.,0.707106781186548,
0551.,0.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,1.),(0.707106781186548,
0560.500000000000001,0.707106781186548,0.500000000000001,0.707106781186548,
0570.500000000000001,0.707106781186548,0.500000000000001,0.707106781186548),
058(1.,0.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,
0591.),(0.707106781186547,0.5,0.707106781186547,0.5,0.707106781186547,0.5,
0600.707106781186547,0.5,0.707106781186547),(1.,0.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,
0611.,0.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,1.),(0.707106781186548,0.5,0.707106781186548,
0620.5,0.707106781186548,0.5,0.707106781186548,0.5,0.707106781186548),(1.,
0630.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,1.,0.707106781186548,
0641.)))
065REPRESENTATION_ITEM($)
066SURFACE()
067);
Disebabkan oleh format berasaskan teks, fail STEP boleh menjadi sangat besar apabila menyimpan data 3D kompleks ke format. Fail STEP juga boleh mengambil sedikit masa untuk dimuatkan ke dalam perisian penyuntingan, jadi sila berikan masa tambahan semasa mengedit fail ini.