Cannot bring in .SAT, .IFC, .IGS/IGES files exported from Solidworks

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

I am having major problems trying to bring in a solidworks file into Navisworks 2012 Manage. I asked our vendor using solidworks to export his file as an .ifc then .sat, step, igs, iges. I cannot bring in any of these files without Navisworks freezing or crashing. I thought navisworks was advertised as being able to open all of these file types. I cannot even open an Inventor file. All my files are large but this should not matter....or should it (anywhere from 300mb to 1gb)

Autodesk....please help

[lee.mullin]

This sounds like possible memory issues when loading the file.

Firstly I'd recommend you look at this to see if the machine needs improvement, specifically with RAM

http://beyonddesign.typepad.com/posts/2011/06/121-gigawatts-121-gigawatts-great-scott.html

Next check the Task Manager to see how much memory is being used when trying to load the files.

When it crashes do you get a message asking you to send an error report? If you do can you add your forum username to the details so we can track it.

[Anonymous]

Lee,

My machine is custom built for CAD. Talking about specs how about getting autodesk to use more of the processor.

My machine:

240GB SSD PCI-E Revo X2\

Core I7 @ 4.2Ghz

12Gb Ram @ 1800Mhz / Triple Channel

Quadro 4000

etc, etc, etc.....

Its not my computer. I dont even use 1/2 of the memory or 25% of the processor when opening these files

[lee.mullin]

There is an existing enhancement request to support multicore processors. This isn't currently in the product so you would still be limited by what is available from 1 core.

Is this Windows 7 64 bit? This is the way to get the most of the RAM installed.

Regarding memory you may want to change the Memory Limit in Options > Model > Performance. This should be set to Auto, but you may find manually lowering this may improve performance, this looks for a contiguous block of memory and works to that, if this does work, defragmenting the machine may also help.

Alternatively you may want to run this process overnight when the machine isn't being used for anything else. The Batch Utility allows you to set this up and schedule this in Windows Scheduler.

The files you are loading are still fairly large as they need to be converted to a Navisworks file first, which depending on the IFC for example can be a memory heavy task as it's an open standard file, meaning different software writes the files in different ways.If you do get a crash, please send an error report so we can track this.

If you have a file you can provide us for further testing, let me know and we'll create an FTP site for you.

[Anonymous]

Lee,

I have mulitple files I would like you to try,can we set up the FTP

Thanks

** I attached a picture of the progress of the file open, it is still at 1% after 10 minutes

[Anonymous]

Lee,

This picture shows status after 40 minutes

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Lee,

After hitting 9gb of memory and 45 minutes later my drawing open up and my entire 86mb file had one 4 x 4 tube steel column in it, which is about .01% of the entire assembly

Thanks

[lee.mullin]

The IFC file opened in a little over a minute, this is not unusual. The progress bar was slightly decieving on this one as it was at 6% after 60 seconds but was fully loaded a few seconds later.
We support .x_b up to schema 16, this is schema 22.1 (you can find this by opening the file in notepad),The Navisworks 2012 File Formats guide can be found here

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/navisworks_2012_-_supported_formats_and_applications.pdf
We do not support .x_t files unfortunately.

However the IGS file was very slow to load, it's not actually loaded yet. I will escalate this to development.

I have had this running on on a Win 7, 64 bit, 8GB, Multicore 1.73GHz machine. Which is below the specification you have. I'd recommend looking at the comments above for ways to optimize performance and probably go down the route of IFC files or alternatively if you are currently on Subscription you'll be able to get hold of the Subscription Advantage Pack which includes Solidworks support. there's more details here: -
http://beyonddesign.typepad.com/posts/2011/09/interoperability-enhancements-for-navisworks-2012.html

[Anonymous]

Lee,

Thank you for your reply. I aslo have a .sat that I am having a very difficult time opening. It will not open in Navis and takes over 1hr to open in Autocad, AMEP, etc. When I do get it into Acad, it is unusable, it takes over 40min to execute a command.

Can I upload this file?

Thanks

[lee.mullin]

Please do, please use the same FTP site.

[Anonymous]

Lee,

Files just uploading

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Lee,

That file that you referenced on the subscription site, product enhancements > interoperability enhancements for navisworks does not exist at that location. Can you please send me an updated link to that file, I am in need of a solution. I need to get that solidworks file into Navis. We are in the middle of a huge project.

Thanks

[lee.mullin · Accepted solution]

In the Subscription Center can you access Downloads > Product Enhancements?

Regarding the SAT file, I'll escalate to development but I don't think this will be the way to go, SAT files are quite inefficient files to work with so even with improvements it is likely there will still be problems using this in an everyday workflow. Hopefully the Solidworks enhancements will work for you, otherwise I would suggest IFC's and maybe use the Batch Utility to process these overnight and convert them to NWC files.