Backwards Compatibility

[gt5pilot]

I just recieved some 2004 parts and an assembly from a client, and as you have probably guessed by the title line, I have a down version - 2003. Has anyone successfully been able to make a backwards compatability translator?

I have opened parasolids and .IGS files into 2003 from the 2004 part files, but of course, I get no features. Without having the features I have no ability to modify the parts.

Thank you for any insight you can provide.

Kirk

 

[rockguy]

Baren-boym is suppose to unviel a translator at Solidworks world in Jan. Other than that I don't believe it's possible.

http://www.baren-boym.com

 

[MadMango]

As far as I know, there are no backwards compatibility programs... yet. I have heard of a company working on one though (forgot the name). But since it doesn't exist yet, the answer is still No.

Parasolid or Step are your best options.

MadMango
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[gt5pilot]

Thanks for the responses, I figured that I was pretty much out of luck.

I did call our support group - they mentioned a "feature retrival" add-in that I do not have. Does anyone have this add-in? What kind of success rate have you have at recreating features from .IGS and parasolids files?

Kirk

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Correct me if i'm wrong (I don't have SW2004), but doesn't SW2004 have the ability to save-as SW2003? If so get your supplier to resend part files per your version.

 

[gt5pilot]

That was the first thing that I asked - they said no...go figure.

Kirk

 

[rockguy]

There is no version of SolidWorks that will save back to a previous version.

 

[macPT]

MadMango

Are you referring to

http://www.elysiuminc.com/

?

I don't know about backwards compatibility, but sounds promissing for translation between CAD's.

Does anyone knows these CAD translators?

Regards

 

[SBaugh]

That feature retrival add-in they are talking about, is probably called Featureworks. What happens is you export out a parasolid then when you import it back in you run Featureworks and it trys to associate certain areas of the model to SW features. It's pretty neat but I don't know many people who use it. It comes in the SW Office Package.

MadMango,

That website looks like it is for exporting files in and out between different CAD systems. They may just either get better results or they repair the files for you, for a cost. You can do the same thing in SW if you import a different type of CAD file into SW and it doesn't cost anything but time and you learn a few new ways to repair surface models.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[MadMango]

All,

I don't remember the company, and the posted link above was not it either.

MadMango
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[RawheadRex]

Kirk,

You never said if you had access to FeatureWorks so for purposes of this post I'll assume the answer is no.

I actually have access to SW03, SW04, and FeatureWorks on my workstation. If it's of any help I'd be willing to try running a test and translating a Parasolid generated in SW04 utilizing FeatureWorks from within SW03. While I've never tried anything such as this before I'd imagine the data ought to translate well enough (or at least be more useful than the dumb solid one ends up with when opening an IGES file). It would be an interesting test to undertake nonetheless.

If you're interested email one of your SW04 files to the address in my Eng Tips profile. Otherwise best of luck to you.



Chris Gervais
Sr. Mechanical Designer
Lytron Corp.

 

[gt5pilot]

Chris,

You are correct, I do not have access to Feature Works. Thank you for the help - I would like to send you a file, but I can not find an e-mail address or a button that sends an e-mail to you in your profile. Would you please ping me @ kirk.olson@heii.com, please?

Thank you.

Kirk B Olson
Senior Principal Engineer
HEII, Inc.

 

[murugansubham]

after changing the model to parasolid or iges format, if u use featureworks , it is working but we can't get exact feature names.
for simple cut, extrude, fillets, chamfers it is working . it is giving seperate features for these features.
but for loft feature it is not taking properly, correct loft feature name.(it is just give imported base faeture like)
and in this feature work conversion, the first feature name is imported feature.(it may be single feature or combination of two or more features)
and i don't know these properties in latest version.

regards,
Murugan .S
Design Engineer,
GlobalSoft Pvt Ltd,
INDIA.