For all of you cad master that leave here.
what is the best way?
what are the advantage and disadvantage of them?
wich is better when leaving an old cad system and going to solidworks?
For all of you cad master that leave here.
what is the best way?
what are the advantage and disadvantage of them?
wich is better when leaving an old cad system and going to solidworks?
UG.
but it's more of an information question.
some times we ask for extrnal companye files.
some times we are beeen asked to send cad files.
Hi Don,
I would ask the Companies that you supply the files too, for their prefered file type.
Our insurance company can not open IGES files from Solidworks but can open the .x_t step files.
Be very AWARE about sending dwg or dfx files from Solidworks to profile cutters as the don't export 1:1 scale.
We ended up with miniature profiles because of this as they loaded the dfx file direct in to their machine. A right Gotcha!
We have now added a "huge" note on the orders and any emails we have sent since.
Regards
Pete
Hi Peter.
thanks for the comments.
we are using spaciel sheet that is 1:1 when exporting/sending DXF
but we to have this problams.
i prefer STEP (214b) on iges or X_T.
but this is why I opened this discussion.
Attn, Don
Hi there! I know this is an old post, but I actually found it just digging around with the same exact question from the original post.
FYI, it is very possible to export 1:1 DWG and DXF file formats. I used to do it by the thousands for the guy who nested all the plate at my old job. I'd be happy to say more if you're interested. Your same problem happened to me the first time I tried it, but there is definitely a work around
Best regards,
Adam
The originating CAD system question is a very valid one, because it can determine the quality of translation for which format you will want to send and receive from SolidWorks to/from the other system.
Parasolid requires no to very little translation at all to another CAD that also uses Parasolid, such as NX does (I think UG also used Parasolid but I'm not sure) on the other hand, if the other system uses a different kernel then STEP is king.
Generally this is the rule of thumb for different CAD as far as I know:
For very old and legacy CAD systems then IGES is not a bad idea because it's an older standard that's been around for much longer so older systems might handle it better.
It is my understanding the Parasolid is the base format for SWX, NX, ProE, etc. We regularly trade files with vendors and suppliers and I have found Parasolid to be the best for us. Is saves and opens quickly and the file sizes are usually a lot smaller. When we get STEP, and especially IGES, we wind up getting a lot of surfaces and have import issues. My preferences are:
Steve
just a fyi,... Pro/e (creo) is based on PTC's Granite. (not parasolid... the only thing they had which had parasolid was called Pro/Desktop,.. or DesignWave by ComputerVision)
Generally it is Parasolid , STEP and then IGES
that being said what version of SOLIDWORKS are you talking about?
in SOLIDWORKS 2017 and newer you can natively read Proe, NX, Inventor, SolidEdge and CATIA (requires premium license) and there is no translation using 3DInterconnect, it reads the file and imports, so if you have NX files to import I would use those.
also in SOLIDWORKS 2018 that functionality extends to STEP, IGES and ACIS so I would argue since STEP no longer requires translation that it is the best format but I have not had time to test this.
What was your old CAD system?
Cheers,
Anna