What the system exports: RFY, CSV, IFC
Why the formats matter
Section titled “Why the formats matter”With a closed system the question is not whether it works well, but what stays in your hands if the project moves on elsewhere: to another machine, another discipline, another piece of software. The answer can be read off the supported export formats, and that is verifiable data, not a matter of opinion.
Machine program
Section titled “Machine program”FRAMECAD’s own machine format. Steelwise exports it directly for wall, truss and joist detail drawings, and uploads it to the production management platform. This format describes how long a given section is, and the production line software decides how the operations are spaced along it.
CSV and XML
Section titled “CSV and XML”The same software also produces CSV and XML output for the CNC commands, either for all detail sheets at once or one by one. CSV is the format the vast majority of production lines work from.
These two items together are the point: the design work is not tied to a single machine. RFY goes to a FRAMECAD machine, CSV to a CSV-based one — from the same model.
IFC, STP, WRL, plus DAE and STL. IFC matters most for collaboration between disciplines: through it the frame model can be brought into another BIM environment without anyone having to buy a FRAMECAD licence.
Drawings and documentation
Section titled “Drawings and documentation”PDF for selected layouts and detail drawings, plus SVG, BMP, WMF, EMF, DWF and DGN. The PDF is what goes to site and to the client; the rest matter when another designer wants to bring the drawing into their own system.
XLSX for the project data: material summary, frames, openings and accessories on separate sheets. This is what quotations, material orders and cost checks are built from.
The point
Section titled “The point”The system is closed at the level of the software licence, but not at the level of the data: the machine program also comes out as standard CSV and the model as IFC. If someone fears that one decision locks them in for years, this is the fact worth checking.
Sources
Section titled “Sources”“How to export files from Steelwise” (FRAMECAD Knowledge Hub), retrieved in September 2026.