Converting to Inventor

[dbrblg]

Hi,

We are in the process of converting from SolidWorks to Inventor.  Is it possible in Inventor 2013 or 2014 API to open a specific configuration of a SolidWorks file in Inventor so it can be saved as an Inventor file?

I have done some conversions in the past where I have opened the SolidWorks file in Inventor and saved it in the Inventor format, but we are discovering there are a lot of SolidWorks files with configurations which we need to maintain in Inventor.

Thanks

[JoAnn_Hogan]

Hi,

First of all I dont know solidworks at all so this might seem like a stupid question. But is there a Export to Inventor option in solidworks?

Otherwise I know you can open a solidworks file in Inventor. Otherwise if you have lots of parts you need to convert have a look at the Import and Export options in the Task Scheduler

[dbrblg]

Hi Jo

Unfortunately on our antiquated version of Solidworks there is no export functionality that I could find 😞

I am doing a lot of additional work after the part is opened (such as adding custom properties etc) which I dont think is possible using the task scheduler.

Thanks for your suggestions 🙂

[JoAnn_Hogan]

The task scheduler would do the import and save as Inventor file for you (You can let it run when you are not in the office) and to the additional properties afterwards. Which saves you time to import the different files

[JDMather]

---

@dbrblg wrote:

open a specific configuration of a SolidWorks file in Inventor so it can be saved as an Inventor file?

...a lot of SolidWorks files with configurations which we need to maintain in Inventor.

---

Configurations are not translated.

You will have to Open each Configuration in SolidWorks and Save As a neutral format (like *.stp).

[dbrblg]

This is what I was afraid of.  Thanks for confirming this 

[rdyson]

Does SolidWorks have something like Task Scheduler that would do the opening / saving for the OP?

[blair]

I would copy all Solidworks files to a new directory for the conversion and set the old existing directory to "Read-Only". This will help is preserving you old data should problems arise (who ever said you can't go back).

[nmunro]

In addition, there is a free Inventor add-in available on the Exchange app store that will copy property information (including configuration specific property values) from SW files to Inventor files.

http://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/INVNTOR/en/Detail/Index?id=appstore.exchange.autodesk.com%3aiprope...

Neil

[dbrblg]

I don't suppose there is a way to import SolidWorks files into Inventor maintining the feature tree instead of ending up with just the Base Feature in the  Feature Tree and having to run Feature Recognition is there?

[JDMather]

Feature tree is not preserved going from Inventor to SolidWorks or from SolidWorks to Inventor, but base solids can still be edited.  Is the entire design wrong?

[dbrblg]

Not that it's wrong but more that we have a consultancy company claiming to be able to convert all our files from SolidWorks to Inventor maintaining all of the features - I was doubtful having done some basic research on the internet (and playing around with the software) and so wanted a third opinion from people with more experience 🙂

[JDMather]

They are going to run Feature Recognition or rebuild from scratch.