topic Converting From Solidworks To Inventor in Inventor Forum

Converting From Solidworks To Inventor

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 20:55:04 GMT

My company is looking into converting our existing SolidWorks library to Inventor. At base level this is easy enough, the model part of the conversion works fine and visually/model wise what I have what I am looking for. What I am loosing in the process is what our SolidWorks designer is calling the model features, basically stuff like arrays and other model data he keeps referring to as sketches. From looking over his shoulder, I suspect the answer is "no" since the two programs seem to go about how they handle this data differently but I also am sure I am not the first person to find myself trying to navigate a program transition such as thing.

Re: Converting From Solidworks To Inventor

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 21:10:49 GMT

If memory serves correctly it can open them but only as a "dumb" solid, meaning the features, sketches, etc. will not be there. Great for visualization, but not so great to continue projects that are already in process.

Re: Converting From Solidworks To Inventor

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 21:13:12 GMT

Getting to the dumb solid part is easy, it's the "meta data" I'm looking to retain that's proving to be the problem.

Re: Converting From Solidworks To Inventor

johnsonshiue — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 00:03:42 GMT

Hi! Inventor does have a feature recognition tool for subscribers. I believe SWX has a similar tool.

https://apps.autodesk.com/INVNTOR/en/Detail/Index?id=9172877436288348979&appLang=en&os=Win64

To convert SWX files to INV files in high fidelity (sketch, dimensions, features, and drawings), you may want to look into GoToInventor. It was developed by our partner specializing in data translation.

https://www.iti-global.com/gotoinventor

Many thanks!

Re: Converting From Solidworks To Inventor

imajar — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 00:10:57 GMT

Imagine it like this: In both Inventor and Solidworks, the users create sets of "instructions" for the software to create shapes and those instructions can contain varying amounts of intelligence and inter-dependencies with other parts. Imagine a simple "paper sketch" of a complicated machine, an advanced user could build an entire machine based on that one sketch in such a way that they could make a change to that one sketch and the software could propagate changes through tens, hundreds, or thousands of parts automatically based on a quick and simple change.

When converting between Solidworks and Inventor (or other software's) all the "instructions" are lost and only the final shape is preserved. Anything you convert will no longer be editable in the same intelligent manner that it was originally created. How much of a problem that will create for your company would be better to ask the people familiar with the models.

A phased or partial transition may be something to consider depending on the nature of the company and the work. I know of some firms that use multiple software.