[oasisaimlessly]

Conversely, what if I want to import STEP files and modify them?

You can make an almost perfect analogy with raster and vector image formats. They both have their niches; however: it's trivial to rasterize a vector drawing, but it's a ton of work to vectorize an raster image well.

So, all things being equal, it makes sense to start your designs at the 'high ground'.

[throwgfgfd25]

> Conversely, what if I want to import STEP files and modify them?

Right. OpenSCAD can import and mesh STEP files. But the process throws away the true geometry.

I agree that the raster/vector analogy is strong!