Built in Translators

[65Roses]

I'm going to be using SW Professional to do jig and fixture design. Will I be able to open CATIA files of our product into SW and design the jig/fixtures around our product?

SE is claiming their newest version will be able to perform this task. I don't see how they would be able to do this and SW wouldn't. Dassault wouldn't be dumb enough to let this happend would they?

 

[ShaggyPE]

Solidworks will not be able to open the CATIA files in their native form. The CATIA files will need to be saved as parasolid, IGES, or STP. At this point SW will be able to handle them. The files in this format are now considered dumb solids. They can be inserted into assemblies and mated just like a SW part.

I don't believe that SolidEdge can do anything different than this.

 

[ShaggyPE]

After reading GBor's post in the other thread, I looked at SW's opening capabilities. It in fact does list .cgr. I have never used this capability with CATIA files. I have however used it to open Pro-E models (.prt). The pro-e models open in SolidWorks in a translated format, but the geometry comes in. In other words, once the pro-e file is opened in SW it is no longer a Pro-E file. This file will only open in Pro-E if Pro-E has similar translating capabilities. You cannot use the two types of software back and forth. I can only assume the SW/CATIA relationship works the same way.

 

[65Roses]

SE web site states,

"Solid Edge Version 17 adds to this extensive array by introducing a new CATIA® V4 Translator, a new batch Inventor migration tool, and a third party ME10 translator from Voyager Partner PROCIM."

Are they claiming to be able to handle the native form with that statement?

 

[J-C]

That's v4. If you need v5 then you may be hosed as well with SE.

Jason Capriotti
Smith & Nephew, Inc.

 

[TheTick]

CATIA has a multitude of formats. CGR is a graphic representation of a model. It's not the same as getting the full part geometry from a CATIA model.

You may want to consider this carefully to determine just how useful importing CGR geometry actually is.

I could be the world's greatest underachiever, if I could just learn to apply myself.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

-SolidWorks API VB programming help

 

[SBaugh]

You can buy a CATIA Translator that will allow you to open CATIA files into SW, however the translator isn't cheap. Again however, if you use a lot of CATIA files it will be worth your while to purchase the Translator.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
faq559-716 - SW Fora Users

 

[TheTick]

We got a lot of CATIA files from tier 1 auto manufacturers. After we did the math, we found it was cheaper to outsource the translations. Cruddy translations by the Radialsoft translator we had at the time cost us 2x the time (overhead $) as the outsourcing.

These were some large models of auto interior consoles. They were quite cumbersome if they didn't sew up into solids.

I highly recomend Mathdata services for this. <

http://www.mathdata.com>

I could be the world's greatest underachiever, if I could just learn to apply myself.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

-SolidWorks API VB programming help

 

[SBaugh]

Tick,

Check this thread559-123858 out and check out the other translators that are available.



Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
faq559-716 - SW Fora Users