Importing Formats

[malpasar]

I am wanting to import a model into solidworks and it is available in the
following formats.

Available file formats: Autodesk 3D Studio 4 Binary [Discreet/Kinetix
3DSMAX [3DMAX] Import] (.3ds; .max); 3D Studio ASCII (.asc); Alias/
Wavefront SGI Object [Maya Import] (.obj); Maya ASCII (.ma); Autodesk
AutoCAD (.dxf; .dwg); NewTek Lightwave 3D Object (.lwo); VRML 2 Worlds
(.wrl; .vrml); IGES [NURBS models only] (.iges); SoftImage/XSI Scene (.xsi);
Caligari trueSpace Object Binary/ASCII (.cob; .coa); Microsoft DirectX
Model Binary/ASCII (.x); Imagine (.iob); POV-Ray (.pov); RealiMation (.rbs);
Renderware (.rwx); StereoLithography Binary/ASCII (.stl); X3D (.x3d); ZGL
(.zgl).

Solidworks only recognises the .dxf and puts it into a drawing but i need
the 3D model. Are there any plug-ins or convertors which will allow me to
use one of the file formats above.

Thanks

 

[ttraser]

Solidworks recognises dxf as 2D only. STL might work, depending on the file size, you have to make sure you selectmodel, under options. Otherwise it will only be a graphices file. You will have to use IGES nurbs type 126. You can download a trial version of Rhino and use it to convert a 3ds to IGES if that doesn't work.





Good Luck,

 

[ttraser]

Does your company have alot of files that require converting?


If so, drop me a line,


[email protected]


Good Luck,

 

[malpasar]

No, i'm actually a final year engineering student and need a solidworks
model of a light commercial vehicle to use in some computational fluid
dynamics.

cheers

 

[malpasar]

i have downloaded rhino and tried to convert the .3ds into iges but the file is
empty. looking at the rhino help it says " polygon meshes are not exported
to iges file. if you import a 3ds file (which is a polygon mesh file) and write
out as an iges file the file will be empty"

any other ideas??


cheers

 

[ttraser]

If the file isn't that large, you can use the STL file directly to Solidworks. If it's large, then you might have to pull it into Rhino and drape a surface over it and re-create it. Try the following sites for models that might help you.


www.turbosquid.com


http://www.3dmodelsharing.com/index.php


http://www.3-d-models.com/


http://www.modelbank.com/





Good Luck,

 

[malpasar]

thanks, i've found a solidworks plugin which imports from 3ds.

cheers

 

[ttraser]

where did you find the plugin? do you have a link?

 

[malpasar]

http://www.sycode.com/products/3ds_import_sw/index.htm

you have to pay for the plug-in but the demo version you can download for
free lets u import up to 10 times or use for 10 days, whichever come first.

you can get them for other file formats too

 

[ttraser]

yes. this company used to be fpsol. or floating point solutions. They have alot of plugins, their STL plugin is very good as well. The plugins cost only about 200 + 50 for each upgrade. There is usually a limit on size of object as well as usage.


Good luck,