The JT File Type and JT2Go Viewer

Save information out of Teamcenter and view in JT2Go.

JT is a translation and visualization format owned by Siemens and originally developed by Engineering Animation and Hewlett Packard. The initials JT stand for Jupiter Tessellation, a leftover from its development, but the name has stuck. The format was originally created to help with the lightweight display of large assemblies where fine detail and high accuracy were not necessary.

JT has been adopted as an ISO international standard for 3D. It can include B-rep in JT or Parasolid format for data transfer as well as facet data for visualization. Several CAD programs and other downstream engineering tools can read JT and there is also a dedicated free viewer, called JT2Go.
JT2Go can be installed on your Windows 7-10 computer or Android and iOS through a browser-based viewer, and has the following capabilities:

  • View JT, PDF, Solid Edge, PDM XML, VF, VFZ (Teamcenter Visualization), CGM, TIF files
  • Can attach PDF to JT file, and JT can be attached to PDF file
  • 3D view includes assembly structure and metadata
  • Measurement for facet and B-rep data – precise measurement for B-rep
  • Can load JT files from the web
  • Create and print views and snapshots
  • And more…

There is a JT2Go Supplier Edition which costs $228/yr and allows you to do 2D and 3D markups and view simulation results on top of the list of functions in the free product.
One of the most interesting applications is called JT2Go Plus PDF. This allows you to attach JT data to a PDF file and put links inside the PDF to the JT model views, essentially allowing you to create text and image documents with a built-in 3D viewer. 
The JT2Go viewer has some similarities to the eDrawings viewer that many people may be familiar with, but JT2Go has some advantages with the PDF. 
PDF Technical Data Packages can be written out of NX with the NX Technical Data Package solutions, which can use templates to create different types of documentation.
Additionally, you can save information out of Teamcenter that can be viewed in JT2Go. This can include a view-only facet format, high precision B-rep format, simulation results, measurable geometry, parts list and PMI data as well as metadata. That is probably one of the more popular uses of this format and the software. 
Siemens offers a JT Open Program if you need to make use of the available tools in JT for a project at your company, for example, a custom viewer or a package to include several types of manufacturing and geometrical data.
Overall, JT is one of the more recently created and less known translation formats that is flexible, lightweight, and powerful. While it is best suited to applications where NX and Teamcenter are being used, it can interact with several other programs (including SOLIDWORKS) and the PDF functionality offers broad appeal for including 3D and related manufacturing data into reports and documents.