Many people deal with importing models and translating data back and forth between SOLIDWORKS and other software on a daily basis. Requesting the proper file format for this move is imperative, but can be overwhelming. Read our blog to discover how to avoid errors and learn about the different options.

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Well I found a very new open source part library, but they don't make drawings for Solidworks. BOLTS is an Open Library of Technical Specifications. The aim of BOLTS is to build a free and open-source standard parts library for CAD applications. It does so by providing a common database that can be utilized by many different CAD applications. The short answer: File-Open.You can open SOLIDWORKS 2017 part documents and assembly documents (NOT drawings) using SOLIDWORKS 2016 SP5.0.With previous release interoperability, you can collaborate using a mix of SOLIDWORKS 2017 files and SOLIDWORKS 2016 files right inside of SOLIDWORKS 2016 SP5.0. Files can be opened directly and associativity is maintained.

File Type Options

When importing 3D models from another software, requesting the proper file format can be daunting and prone to errors if you're not sure what you're looking for. During an import, you can access a full list of file formats that SOLIDWORKS can open up from the File Type drop-down menu.

However, some formats have more functionality than others, and some work better as a translation path. So, before we get into how to get solids to and from SOLIDWORKS, I want to explain all of the different file formats that SOLIDWORKS can open up, and what each file does.

Below is the full list of file types SOLIDWORKS is able to import.

As you can see, knowing which file format to request that will work best can be a bit tricky.

Luckily for you, we have a guide to help. I've broken the files out into a few different groups to help organize and understand the different formats and the variations between them.

2D Paths

• Drawing (.dwg)
• Drawing Interchange/Exchange Format (.dxf)
• Adobe Illustrator (.ai)

The first is a group I'll call '2D Paths.' These consist of files that only contain 2D information. These can be opened in SOLIDWORKS and edited as a sketch, or inserted directly into a drawing.

3D Mesh

• VRML (.wrl)
• STL (.stl)

The next group I classified under '3D Mesh.' These are wireframe geometry, made from a series of polygons (triangular shapes). They are typically used in visual software or for rapid prototyping. 3D Mesh files contain a lot less mathematical accuracy, and do not typically import well into SOLIDWORKS due to their geometry. Usually they have to be changed into a solid using the ScanTo3D add-in for SOLIDWORKS (in SW Premium) or using a 3rd party software to clean their geometry up. Most people use wireframe files merely as a reference to create geometry around.

3D Solids

• Parasolid (.x_t)
• IGES (.igs)
• STEP (.stp)
• ACIS (.sat)

3D Solids are the best way to translate solid geometry to and from SOLIDWORKS. These four formats are the typical import/export method for bringing files into and out of SOLIDWORKS successfully. The geometry contained is 'dummy' geometry so it will not contain history, but it will have mathematically accurate solid geometry on import. The order of preference is exactly as shown - I would always try to import Parasolid first, then try IGES, then STEP and finally ACIS. SOLIDWORKS actually runs on the Parasolid kernel, this is the mathematical backbone of SOLIDWORKS, therefore Parasolid is always going to be a preferred method of translation.

CAD Files

• Pro/E Part (.prt)
• Pro/E Assembly (.asm)
• Unigraphics (.prt)
• Inventor Part (.ipt)
• Inventory Assembly (.iam)
• Solid Edge Part (.psm)
• Solid Edge Assembly (.asm)
• CADKey (.prt, .ckd)

SOLIDWORKS can import these files directly from the native CAD format. This can have varying degrees of success, depending on the complexity of the source. Some of these formats will allow you to import full history and some will not. For example, Pro/E files will import and give you the choice of whether or not you want to try to rebuild the model so it will have an intelligent feature history, or import just a dummy solid. In order to import Inventor files, you to have the Inventor viewer or a license of Inventor installed on the same machine to convert the geometry properly.

Special Files

• VDAFS (.vda)
• CATIA Graphics
• Rhino
• IDF, EMN, BRD
• Point Cloud>
• IFC

These are all the formats that didn't fit nicely into the other groups. VDAFS is a 3D solid translator, but it's not really used today. It was a German automotive data translation standard that stands for “Vereinung Deutsche Automobilindustrie Flächen Schnittstelle” which translates to “Organization of the Automotive Industry - Surface Translation Format.” It became DIN standard in 1986, but it was replaced by STEP format in the 1990s. Today, this is a very rare file format.

CATIA Graphics are purely graphical information. It's not a format you see often. If you need to import CATIA files into SOLIDWORKS, you can use ACIS as a translation method, but you lose a lot of accuracy and there is room for feature errors. There is a CATIA v5 translator for SOLIDWORKS available as an add-in, which allows for translation between the two, and it does a nice job of importing CATIA files directly.

Rhino files are surface models, and SOLIDWORKS imports the surface geometry nicely from Rhino.

IDF, EMN and BRD are all circuit board files from electrical engineering software. These can be imported as a block with SOLIDWORKS and used to see the size of a circuit board. If you want to bring in a much more complex circuit board, you can use CircuitWorks (included in SOLIDWORKS Premium), and this will import an entire board and propagate all of the components on the board.

Working with Point Cloud files requires ScanTo3D. This will allow you to import all of your typical point cloud formats like .xyz, .txt, .asc and also mesh files like .nzip, .nxm, .scn, etc.

You can also import IFC files, which are files used to communicate with BIM software. You can save files out for programs like Revit or other architectural CAD, and also set options like OmniClass.

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Written by: Michael Nolte, Application Engineer

Every few releases it’s always a good idea to update your SOLIDWORKS templates to the latest version you and your company are currently using. No download avatar games. Being one of the techs on the DASI HelpDesk team, we run into the rare occurrence that a part, assembly or drawing seems to have become corrupt. It’s even more rare that we find that multiple files fail to open; this is when we start looking at the templates being the culprit.

With CAD software continually updating, you wouldn’t want to design your new parts in old templates. Similarly, would you want a template from Microsoft Word 5.5 to be used in your Microsoft Word 2016?

Over many years, during the normal upgrade path of SOLIDWORKS, templates get changed, updated and saved in the current version of SOLIDWORKS. This should allow the users to have templates that are of the best quality to start their new part, assembly and drawing file(s) with. However, as with any program on Windows, templates can have problems. The steps below are how to get a fresh set of current templates created and, if so desired, to copy the Drafting Standard and Sheet Format (title block) over to the new template(s).

HINT: To check the age of a part or assembly template you can start the new part or assembly, right click over one of the normal planes (Front, Top or Right), select Properties and look at the Date created and Last modify fields.

Here is an example of a template to NOT continue using until it’s updated:

Follow these steps on how to get a fresh set of templates:

1. Open SOLIDWORKS > go to Options (gear icon on top center toolbar)
2. On the System Options tab, select the File Locations category on the left side (about in the center)
3. Leave the ‘Show folders for:’ set to ‘Document Templates’

   HINT: We will be deleting all the paths in the Folders box in the next step. Take a screen shot or copy these down if you wish to re-establish these paths afterward.

4. Selecting one by one, delete all paths that are listed. (If using PDM Professional, skip deleting the path pointed towards your PDM vault temp folder)
5. Click the ‘Add’ button, browse to some place convenient. (C: or Desktop or Documents)
6. Create a new empty folder. I created mine as ‘C:SW Template Folder’
7. Open this folder and then click the ‘Select Folder’ button.
8. Click OK out of System Options, click yes if prompted to making changes to search paths. The creation of the new templates happens very quickly and behind the scenes.
9. Start by going to the File menu, then selecting New or Clicking on New button. This action causes SOLIDWORKS to check the empty folder that we pointed towards, see that there aren’t any templates in the folder and create new ones.

At this point, you can just keep using the new templates that SOLIDWORKS created, modifying them as needed or you can use these templates as the basis for creating updated version of your old templates. If you plan on updating your old templates, you may want to add the old paths back into File Locations, Document Templates.

The basic process for creating new templates using the settings from your old templates is as such:

1. Open the old template, let’s start with a part template. This can be done by file, open (change your file type to Template), browse to the folder where your existing part template is stored or by file, new and selecting the existing part template. (File, New works if you put your old template paths back into folder locations.
2. Save the drafting standard to an external file by going to Options, Document Properties tab, stay on the ‘Drafting Standard’ category, then clicking the ‘Save to External File’ button.

   This creates a .sldstd file that can be read back into another part file.

3. To import these settings into the new part template that was created in the first half of this article. Open the template by going to the File menu, open, change Type to template, browse to the folder that we created them in. In my example ‘C:SW Template Folder’. Open the part template for this example. Part.prtdot
4. While the part.prtdot file is open, go to Options, Document Properties, Drafting Standard category. Select the ‘Load From External File’ button, browse to the .sldstd file we make back in step 2). This imports all of the settings from your existing part template file. Verify that all of your existing settings are imported and then make any additional changes on the Document Properties tab as needed.
5. Save the part.prtdot, close the template. Then click new and test the new template.

HINT: I like to name my templates as to what they are and when I created them. i.e. ‘Part Inch 2017.prtdot’

Repeat these last steps 1) through 5) for your assembly and drawing templates. For your drawing template, you will also need to move over your Sheet Format (Title block) if you’ve customized them. To move over your Sheet Format follow these general additional steps.

1. Open your existing Drawing template that contains your title block.
2. From the file menu, select ‘Save Sheet Format…’ This allows you to save your title block as a .slddrt file
3. Close your existing drawing
4. Open your new drawing template by File, open, change Type to template, browse to the folder that we created them in. Again in my example ‘C:SW Template Folder’. Open the drawing template for this example. draw.prtdot
5. Change the sheet format by right clicking over ‘Sheet1’ in the FeatureManager tree, selecting properties and then browse to the .slddrt file that was saved in step 2).
6. Save your drawing template, close it and then test it to make sure it’s working correctly.

To expand on these steps if you have additional size drawing sheets and/or need to update your title block with extra things like Annotations that are linked to custom properties.

Since you are updating your templates, here is a group of great other tech articles that go further in-depth of Drawing templates:

Here is a link on SHEET FORMAT & TEMPLATES DIFFERENCES:
http://dasisolutions.com/index.php/3d-cad-2/item/sheet-format-vs-templates

Here is a link on GETTING THE RIGHT INFO IN YOUR TITLE BLOCKS:
http://dasisolutions.com/index.php/3d-cad-2/item/title-block-focus

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Video Archive: Drawings Foundation in SOLIDWORKS (Digital Dimensions is now part of DASI Solutions)
https://youtu.be/KFTDKpFPpiM

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