 | | | | | | |
| |
|
Hi-
I seem to want to do something a little bit backwards relative to what most
people & most converters seem to be doing... :)
I'm a die-hard SolidWorks user & wish to import LDraw .dat models into
SolidWorks.
I'm having some trouble. Here's what I've tried:
I downloaded LDraw & the entire part library.
I downloaded, purchased, & registered 3DWin from TB Software.
3DWin can convert .dat files to .igs or .stl, both of which can be read by
SolidWorks.
When I perform these file conversions, however, the files either won't load into
SolidWorks, load but with errors/warnings & come up empty, or import and have
just a few curves but no solids and the curves don't even look like the
completely correct part.
I know that I'm starting with good .dat files, because MLCad opens up the .dat
files just fine.
Does anybody have experience with this conversion? Or, is there already a
library of parts models that can be imported into SolidWorks?
Thank you very much,
-Jason
PS--Here's a little more detail on some of the trials & tribulations, if some of
you are familiar with the nitty gritty of this process.
1 - STL. After I have created an .STL file with 3DWin & I open the .STL file
with SolidWorks, the file opens & is empty--there is no geometry. Tested this
with 3001.dat & 3002.dat. When opening an .STL file generated from 1.dat, I get
some thin geometry, but no solids, & it's incomplete.
2 - IGS. After I have created an .IGS file with 3DWin & I open the .IGS file
with SolidWorks, I get one of the following errors:
a) "This file contains free curves/points which are not desired according to the
import options. Do you wish to import them anyway? Yes/No" After I select "Yes",
the file opens with a sort of a skeleton of imported curves, but no solid
geometry, & the part looks incomplete. (I get these results with file 1.dat).
b) "Unable to read IGS file. File was truncated or contains invalid data. OK". I
click "OK" & the box disappears & SolidWorks gives up on opening the file. (I
get these results with files 3001.dat & 3002.
During my troubleshooting, I have tried parts 1.dat, 3001.dat, & 3002.dat. All
of these open fine in MLCad, so I know that the source .DAT files are OK.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Some further progress. It turns out that I was able to convert a .DAT file to
.STL with LDView & import it into SolidWorks, but it further turned out that,
once I'd imported an .STL file into SolidWorks, I couldn't do very much with it.
I can't mate or manipulate it or even display it very well--there's no
selectable geometry.
So, I performed many experiments on part file formats that SolidWorks *can*
import and that I *can* use for assemblies & such:
IGES: .IGS or .IGES
ProE: .PRT
ACIS: .SAT
STEP AP203: .STEP
STEP AP214: .STEP
SolidWorks: .SLDPRT
VDAFS: .VDA
Parasolid: .X_T
Parasolid Binary: .X_B
So, that broadens my target quite a bit. If I can get help converting a .DAT
file into any of those formats, I'm set!
Anybody got insight on this?
Thanks,
-Jason
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad, Jason Bardis wrote:
> Some further progress. It turns out that I was able to convert a .DAT file
> to .STL with LDView & import it into SolidWorks, ... I can't mate or
> manipulate it or even display it very well--there's no selectable geometry.
The modeling strategies for Solidworks and LDraw are fundamentally different:
LDraw is based on triangle meshes, and Solidworks is based on constructive solid
geometry. Going from CSG to mesh is easy, but going the other way requires some
AI guesswork, and probably human input too.
LDraw does have various primitives which could help the converter do more than
spit out triangles, but I don't think anyone has written conversion software
that uses that data.
So for the time being, any geometry you bring in to Solidworks from LDraw,
regardless of the format, will just be a mesh of triangles. You may be able to
mate it, or use the vertices as reference points, but it won't be pretty with
edge lines turned on.
--Bram
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
> The modeling strategies for Solidworks and LDraw are fundamentally different:
> LDraw is based on triangle meshes, and Solidworks is based on constructive solid
> geometry. Going from CSG to mesh is easy, but going the other way requires some
> AI guesswork, and probably human input too.
>
> LDraw does have various primitives which could help the converter do more than
> spit out triangles, but I don't think anyone has written conversion software
> that uses that data.
>
> So for the time being, any geometry you bring in to Solidworks from LDraw,
> regardless of the format, will just be a mesh of triangles. You may be able to
> mate it, or use the vertices as reference points, but it won't be pretty with
> edge lines turned on.
>
> --Bram
Bram-
Thank you very much for your explanation. I had only a vague comprehension of
this concept, & you helped solidify it. (No pun intended!)
Well, 3DWin is *supposed* to be able to take .DAT files & make .IGS files out of
them. http://www.tb-software.com/products_2.html
I haven't yet been able to make a good .IGS file that SolidWorks 2009 has been
able to import. And, when I take a .SLDPRT file, export it as .IGS, & then
import it back into SW, I've lost the individual construction features in the
feature tree, but all of the geometry on the part (faces, lines, vertecies) is
selectable & usable for mates & further edits & such.
Thus, I concluded that 3DWin should be that conversion software that performs
this task. I've got a help request in to the developer, but I haven't heard
back yet.
Thanks,
-Jason
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Oy, why didn't I think of this before!?!?!
There's a SolidWorks-supported website where people upload models for public
consumption.
I put in a search for "lego" & got 309 hits. This will go a long way towards
meeting my needs!
http://www.3dcontentcentral.com/Search.aspx?arg=lego
Thanks,
-Jason
| | | | | | |
