Critical Points:
1) The goal of TransMagic is to be a simple, easy to use and deceptively powerful application for the translation, visualization & measurement of geometric formats. Geometric translation is an extremely intensive process mathematically speaking. Because of this TransMagic can consume a large amount of resources during the translation of very large and complex files.
2) TransMagic includes some very powerful "Repair" routines - that when used properly will help to increase your translation success. For hands-on video-based tutorials of these tools please see the "Tutorials" section.
3) When translating files consider the application you're getting the file from and the application you're translating the file to. When-ever possible use the native file format from the application you're getting from your customer or vendor. If they use Pro/E, Unigraphics, CATIA V4, CATIA V5, SolidWorks or Inventor then ask for their native file. Likewise if they use SolidEdge, MasterCAM, Visi, or any other Parasolid based application, then ask them for a Parasolid (*.x_t) file. If they use AutoCAD, Mechanical Desktop, CADKEY, IronCAD or any other ACIS based application, then ask them for a ACIS (*.sat) file.
4) Use STEP only if no other solid format is available. Use IGES as your last resort. If you must use IGES, see if your customer/vendor has the option to write out an IGES file as an MSBO (Manifold Solid Boundary Object). This option is not often available in most IGES writers but if it is, it's at least a solid IGES format. The best IGES reader in the world can't help if the IGES writer created a terrible IGES file. Unfortunately, this is very often the case.
5) Finally, consider the application your *translating a file to and use the same methodology of native file formats where possible and then STEP and lastly, IGES.
6) This "Native Format Philosopy" will always yield better results than just trying an IGES file to see how it works. Save yourself some time and pain and try to get the native format.
7) The TransMagic interface has many options that will turn themselves "off" and "on" based on your selection. In addition to the Icons along the top and sides of TransMagic, virtually every function is embedded in a Right-Click mouse button menu. The Right-Click menu changes based on your selection type. You can change your selection type by Right-Clicking and then selecting "Filter Selection". There you'll see you have the option to select Body, Face, Edge, Vertex and the Window Select Filters for Solids Only, Surfaces Only and Wire-Frames Only. Each type of selection has different Right-Click options available to it when selected.
Note: in order to "see" vertices, you'll also have to Right-Click and then select Show->Vertices.
8) Note that when you are at the "Body" selection level, which is the default, and you have a part or parts selected, you can use the File->Export menu option to Export only what you have selected. This differs from File->Save As in that File->Export only save what you have selected and File->Save As saves out the entire document and all parts within it. This is useful in breaking down larger assemblies into sub-assemblies. You can also easily select parts from the Assembly Browser under Tools->Assembly Browser. Likewise, if you have an open document, File->Import will let you insert additional parts into the already open document vs. File->Open which simply opens a new document for the selected file.
Let's get started:
1) 
Import/Open. Click the Open button and select a part to read in.
2) 
Single Select the part to determine if the part is a solid or a surface model. Upon selecting the part, if the entire part highlights yellow the part is a solid model. Conversely if upon selecting the part only a single surface is highlighted yellow the part is a surface model. The selected solid part may also be part of an assembly. Was a single surface selected? Then see section A. Surface? below:
A. Surface?
i. Save to a TransMagic native *.tmr file. This step is optional but recommended. If you're looking at a file in TransMagic you're actually looking at a TransMagic *.tmr model. If you loaded a huge model in TransMagic that took a long time to translate, you should save the file to a TransMagic *.tmr file if only for an intermediate storage format. This way if you're trying different things with the file such as different Repair operations and you want to load the file again to start over, loading the *.tmr file will take seconds vs. minutes.
ii. Click for a demonstration of TransMagic's Lite Repair function.
Note: The tutorials have sound so don't forget to turn your sound on.
B. Solid?
i. Save to a TransMagic native *.tmr file. This step is optional but recommended. If you're looking at a file in TransMagic you're actually looking at a TransMagic *.tmr model. If you loaded a huge model in TransMagic that took a long time to translate, you should save the file to a TransMagic *.tmr file if only for an intermediate storage format. This way if you're trying different things with the file such as different Repair operations and you want to load the file again to start over, loading the *.tmr file will take seconds vs. minutes.
ii. Save the file out to your desired format. Because TransMagic automatically applies some geometric Repair to models upon reading them into TransMagic, Repair is often not necessary.
iii. Load the file into your application. If you have an issue loading the file or an issue with the file in your application, see below:
Repair and Checking Operations
Checking
i. Re-load the *.tmr file you saved in step "i" in section "B" above.
ii. Check the model. If there are any severe geometric errors this step will tell you. First Single Select the part. Then click the 
Check Tool. This will print out a diagnostic report of the part. A “clean” check report will look like the following:
Repair Operations
A clean check report doesn't necessarily mean that a model can't be improved. It simply means that the file does not have any severe geometric errors. Some CAD/CAM/CAE applications will benefit from Repair operations, especially Full Repair. For example if a file imports as a surface model in Inventor, try Full Repair on the model and this will usually cure the problem. The same goes with other CAD/CAM/CAE applications.
i. Click for a demonstration of TransMagic's Lite Repair function.
Note: The tutorials have sound so don't forget to turn your sound on.
ii. Re-save the file and try to load the file into your application again. If you still did not have good results, proceed to Full Repair.
iii. Click for a demonstration of TransMagic's Full Repair function.
Note: The tutorials have sound so don't forget to turn your sound on.
iv. Re-save the file and try to load the file into your application again. If you still did not have good results, proceed to the Tutorials section and review the video tutorials in the "Automated Repair" section and in the "Semi-Auto Repair" section. TransMagic offers many ways to cure issues in a file but some more advanced Repair operations simply require you to know the tools available to you and the video Tutorials are a great way to learn these tools.
v. Re-save the file and try to load the file into your application again. If you still did not have good results, you can zip up and send the file to support@transmagic.com.
* Depending on your version of TransMagic you may not have the ability to read in or write out to certain file formats. For any questions on your version or to upgrade your version, please send your inquiries to info@transmagic.com.