AUTOCAD STEELWORK

[Keith.Challinor3761]

we work with clients who produce a steelwork frame upon which we site our equipment 

the steelwork is produced in Autocad and given to us as a 3D model (dwg)

some of the steelwork is solids some are meshes that will not convert to solid and so cant be imported to Inventor 

does any one know of any way that the steel work can be converted to be of use in inventor 

i have tried export to STL STP SAT etc but the meshes are the problem has anyone written a shrink wrap for AutoCAD  

[JDMather]

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@Keith.Challinor3761 wrote:

... some are meshes that will not convert to solid and so cant be imported to Inventor 

i have tried export to STL 

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STL???

Attach an example *.dwg file here.

[Keith.Challinor3761]

Yes tried sat stl stp and few more

[JDMather]

stl is rubbish???

Not appropriate file format for what you describe.

Attach your dwg file here and end all doubt.

[MICHAEL.JONES.AMCE]

Do you know if the client is utilizing Advance Steel to create the steel structures?  

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Keith,

Inventor has some mesh modeling workflows, though not comprehensive.  You can import mesh data in stl, obj, STEP, and other formats. Then you can create geometry based on the mesh. Or, you can create drawing views for the mesh object and annotate the views.

Please share an example here so forum experts can take a look and help find the best workflow for you.

Many thanks!

[Keith.Challinor3761]

i have asked what they are using and am told AUTOCAD i suspect that they are using advanced steel as i cant imagine anyone using just Vanilla AutoCAD for this work 

[MICHAEL.JONES.AMCE]

If they're using Advance Steel...they have some options for exporting other than a .dwg file.

 Also found this forum posting discussing workflows for IFC files into Inventor.

The post discusses Cross-Manager a stand-alone (purchased) package to convert various CAD files.

[lena.talkhina]

Hello @Keith.Challinor3761 !

Just guessing,

are they use Advance steel for Revit or for AutoCAD?

[Keith.Challinor3761]

I would think ADVANCED STEEL FOR AUTOCAD , that being the case what would be the best way for them to export for use in INVENTOR?