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Solidworks and Illustrator help!!!

Question asked by Matt Meister on May 30, 2012
Latest reply on May 31, 2012 by Kelvin Lamport

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Hey everyone,

I'm a little new to Solidworks but I am having trouble with importing an .ai file into a sketch so that I can cut a part out on a waterjet machine. I have looked around have seen that people have has some issues in the past with this and I was wondering if anyone else had the same problem. When I create a new part file I try to open the .ai file so it would sketch on the front plane, but when I open the file nothing happens in Solidworks it just open Illustrator and I cent figure out what I'm doing wrong. Does anyone have any suggestions. I am using the student version of SW2012 so I don't know if that is a problem as well. Thanks for any help!!

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Mark Kaiser May 31, 2012 9:10 AM

Try this process:

1. Start a new part.

2. Start a sketch on a plane.

3. Through pull down menus, tools>sketch tools>sketch picture

This should bring your picture into your skech, then you will have to trace your picture with the normal SW sketch tools. If a .ai file doesn't work, convert your .ai file into a jpeg, or another file type that SW will work with.

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Jeff Mowry May 31, 2012 10:21 AM

You may also be able to export the Illustrator file into DXF or such, too, and import this into SolidWorks. However, this often imports as a million tiny line segments, in which case it won't work very well for cut paths. Might be worth trying, since tracing takes a while (if you're accurate), perhaps with different settings on import/export to see if you find the right flavor.

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Kelvin Lamport May 31, 2012 10:26 AM

I have done this in the past, but don't have Illustrator installed on my new machine.

Have you tried dragging and dropping the .ai file directly into an open SW part, or into an open sketch in a SW part?

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Mark Kaiser May 31, 2012 9:10 AM
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Try this process:

1. Start a new part.
2. Start a sketch on a plane.
3. Through pull down menus, tools>sketch tools>sketch picture

This should bring your picture into your skech, then you will have to trace your picture with the normal SW sketch tools. If a .ai file doesn't work, convert your .ai file into a jpeg, or another file type that SW will work with.
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Jeff Mowry May 31, 2012 10:21 AM
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You may also be able to export the Illustrator file into DXF or such, too, and import this into SolidWorks. However, this often imports as a million tiny line segments, in which case it won't work very well for cut paths. Might be worth trying, since tracing takes a while (if you're accurate), perhaps with different settings on import/export to see if you find the right flavor.
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Kelvin Lamport May 31, 2012 10:26 AM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
I have done this in the past, but don't have Illustrator installed on my new machine.

Have you tried dragging and dropping the .ai file directly into an open SW part, or into an open sketch in a SW part?
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Solidworks and Illustrator help!!!

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