Best Practices for Importing 3D Data into SolidWorks by Brian Zias
July 7, 2009
An excellent entry “…posted by Mechanical Engineer on Mon, Jun 15, 2009″ on the Alignex Mechanical Division Technical Blog
We have spent 40 minutes wondering in the labyrinths of the Solidworks web sites, where all paths to support lead to dead-ends of restricted access. Still, we were unable to find that place where we could read what is the best format to be imported to Solidworks software. Nor were we able to learn what formats Solidworks is able to import. The search of the site by keywords “import formats”, “formats” and similar would bring endless entries of supplementary software by partners but nothing from the product description or knowledge base. Our verdict: Solidworks gives a bad example of accessibility for a website and a bad example of managing access to information.
We turned to Google and from the first try our search brought an excellent and very recent article on the subject with a title with almost exactly wording as our search keywords: “best practices for importing to into solidworks”.
The article is so good and necessary for our work, that we copy the entire text here, not to loose anything.
Also, the Alignex Mechanical Division Technical Blog is in itself definitely a case of best practice in managing of a corporate blog of an engineering company. We put it on our “learn from the best practices” list.
Even with One Million SolidWorks licenses out there (Learn more here), many users find themselves dealing with imported data from time to time. This data usually comes to the designer in the format of IGES, STEP, Parasolid, or possibly native Pro/E, Inventor, and UG files. Fortunately, SolidWorks can import all of these data types, along with many others. Here are four tips for working with imported 3D data:
1. Get the right format
Is there a single-best format in which a user should request 3D CAD data? Yes, SolidWorks format of course! Seriously though, there are myriad formats out there. Some types are neutral, agreed-upon standards while some are proprietary and require licensing from a commercial entity. The best format depends on where the data is coming from.
Parasolid (.x_t or .x_b) is my usual recommendation, since SolidWorks is based on that kernel. Other software also licenses that technology, e.g. Unigraphics, SolidEdge, and MicroStation. Any software users with the ability to export parasolid should provide that format for import into SolidWorks. IGES and STEP files, both neutral formats, would be my second and third choices for data, respectively.
2. Say ‘Yes’ to Import Diagnostics
Any time SolidWorks opens a non-native file type, the software first creates a SolidWorks document. SolidWorks uses the ‘Default Templates’ system setting to determine which template to choose (or whether to prompt the user). The second thing to happen is the Import Diagnostics command is started:
Make it a habit to always answer ‘Yes’ to this question. It will analyze the geometric data, and then allow for automated repair if issues are detected. Most of the time, it will find a few faulty faces or surface gaps, and most of the time these entities are repaired with one click. On some poor-quality imported data, the user will have to clean up via surfacing anything that is left behind. Pay attention to whether the data is solid or surface bodies, or possibly a mix. To become a solid, a surface must usually be patched until it is water-tight.
Make it a habit to always answer ‘Yes’ to this question. It will analyze the geometric data, and then allow for automated repair if issues are detected. Most of the time, it will find a few faulty faces or surface gaps, and most of the time these entities are repaired with one click. On some poor-quality imported data, the user will have to clean up via surfacing anything that is left behind. Pay attention to whether the data is solid or surface bodies, or possibly a mix. To become a solid, a surface must usually be patched until it is water-tight.
3. Use FeatureWorks
Imported files contain only geometric data, not the history of how it was made. FeatureWorks is a tool that allows imported solids to be transformed into an intelligent feature tree. It reverses a “dumb” imported part with only one feature (the imported body) into a full feature history. An example would be this IGES file with no history after being opened:
FeatureWorks has a few different recognition modes. Fore simple geometries, the automatic mode is pretty much turnkey. Alternatively, a user can proceed through manual interaction with the module to point out geometry that needs to be a certain feature type. After running the automatic recognition, 15 seconds later we see a fully-defined, parametric, SolidWorks part.
A complete feature history is invaluable when it comes time for complex design changes or creating a detailed drawing (it will also fully define the absorbed sketches). It is not always necessary to reverse a part that far. One tip is to use FeatureWorks on a feature-by-feature basis. With the add-in enabled, users can right-click on a feature in the graphics area (e.g. a fillet face, or fastener hole) and ‘Edit Feature’ which will trigger background recognition of that specific geometry. This makes opening legacy data and making a few tweaks a painless process.
4. Get comfortable with Surfaces
All solids are really just surfaces in disguise. More precisely, solids are water-tight sets of surfaces that are ‘filled’ up with volume. At the surface level, you can manipulate data even without having a part history. An example is the Delete Face command. Try the option ‘delete and patch’ next time there’s some feature (fillet, small hole) that you need to remove, or erase and re-create. Also tools such as Move Face and Replace Face come in handy to resize or manipulate imported geometry. As a final note: When you are stuck with a poor-quality imported surface and start to question how it can be turned into a solid, surfaces are the answer.
My hope is that these few tips help you transitioning legacy data from another CAD tool to SolidWorks easier and/or improve working with others who do not have the benefit of modeling in SolidWorks. If you continue to have issues, don’t hesitate contacting your SolidWorks VAR Service Center. That’s one of the many great reasons you pay for your Subscription renewal.
Tags: SolidWorks, FeatureWorks, Import 3D Data
