Tutorials | Add-ons | Solidworks exporter
Solidworks Add-on Manual
Related files
SolidWorksAddon Manual.pdf
SetupSolidWorksAdd-on.exe
Description
Install the SolidWorks Add-on
and learn how to configure
SolidWorks to export to
Visual Components' 3DCreate
software.
/7
The SolidWorks exporter add-on provides an elementary toolsets
for Transfering a geometry From SolidWorks into the Visual
Components 3DCreate simulation software. This manual Includes
instructions for installation, usage and some practical tips to get
most out of your Geometry export.
Installation
Before launching the SolidWorks Add-on installer, ensure that you
�����������������������������
have the following items
installed on your computer:
•
•
3DCreate
SolidWorks
In order to install the Add-on double click on the 'SetupSolidWorksAddOn.exe' installation file.
Follow the installation dialog to install the SolidWorks Add-on.
First Use
When the Add-on has been installed you may need to make the Visual Components SolidWorks
Exporter icons visible inside SolidWorks. To do so, open SolidWorks, then click Tools -> Add-Ins.
Choose the Visual Components Exporter, Both the "Active" and "Start Up Columns".
A new tool bar will be added, to enable it right click on any existing tool bar and choose Visual
Components Exporter. This will open a new tool bar with two icons, similar to the one below,
which is only visible when a document is open.
Activation
When the exporter is run for the first time, an activation dialog will pop up, asking for a licence
key. Follow the steps of the activation dialog, to activate the SolidWorks Add-on. After a
successful activation, the Add-on it is ready to be used.
Export
To do a export simply open SolidWorks. Load the assembly model without enabling lightweight
model in the load options. After The model is loaded, click on the Visual Components target
symbol and all the solids seen on screen will be exported out to a open Visual Components
session.
[email protected]
www.visualcomponents.com
The Visual Components logo 3DCreate,
3DRealize and 3DVideo are trademarks of
Visual Components Oy, Inc. All other brand
names, product names, or trademarks belong to
their respective holders.
The level of detail is the same as can be seen on screen, if the tesselation should be lowered, the
options of the document properties need to be modified (see "Simplify Geometry") in the next
section).
/7
tutorials | Add-ons | Solidworks Exporter
More options
The button with a yellow question mark opens a export options dialog. This dialog is used to
specify additional export options. There are three options which can be modified:
Enter your part names in
this input field
1.Exclude Parts/Assemblies by Name
Possibility to exclude parts or assemblies from being exported on basis of a name based
filter. Each line in the text field is compared against part or assembly names in the current
model. When the names match the item is skipped from the export. This enables a fast and
quick export.
2. Merge Distance
In each solid nearby
�������������������������������������������������������������������������
points are merged to optimize the model. The merge distance value
affects the distance at which this merging is done. The value is represented in millimeters.
The smaller the value, the better the result of the merging.
3.Crease Angle
The default angle at which a crease in the polygonal model will be set for hard or soft edge
treshold. The default value is sufficient for standard export models but may be changed if
the model exhibits some prominent visual artefacts on its surface.
Simplify Geometry
Clean Geometry
Simple models are lightweight
and can easily be shared.
Unneccessary data is removed
in order to enable a smooth
simulation of the model.
The amount of data in a SolidWorks model is often too much for a smoothly running simulation
model. SolidWorks offers a toolset that can be used to create lighter geometry. Modifying the
following settings may improve the quality of the simulation model in some cases dramatically:
1.Small Holes
Small holes add huge amounts of complexity to a geometry and are in general not essential
for part recognition and operations understanding. Suppressing or hiding these can make
the model much lighter.
2. Fasteners, such as nuts, bolts, screws and washers
Small geometry can usually be omitted without affecting the overall look of the final
component. Especially fasteners such as nuts, bolts and screws which are part of the
internal structure. It is recommended to replace the entire packet by a simple cylinder
geometry.
[email protected]
www.visualcomponents.com
The Visual Components logo 3DCreate,
3DRealize and 3DVideo are trademarks of
Visual Components Oy, Inc. All other brand
names, product names, or trademarks belong to
their respective holders.
3. Fillets, chamfers, Ribs and some of the sheet metal structures
These add often unnecessary complexity to the model and removing them can reduce the
weight of the model dramaticly without impacting the look.
4. Internal structures
To improve the simulation model it is recommended to delete anything that will not be
visible during simulation. For example the cogs, wheels and fans that aren't visible are
removed since they do not add anything to the end result.
tutorials | Add-ons | Solidworks Exporter
Tip:
Zoom the screen roughly
�����������
to
the size that
������������������
the conveyor will
�����
to be in a factory layout view.
All items that cannot be seen
properly are the items that
should be removed.
/7
Tutorial: A simple conveyor
Open the file Belt Conveyor Assy.SLDASM from Program Files\Visual Components\SolidWorks
Add-on 2009\Belt Conveyor, make sure you have the lightweight option turned off. This model
is the training conveyor for this tutorial.
There are four things which will be optimized from the model
•
•
•
•
the grooves on the motor
the holes in the legs
the fasteners for the legs
tesselation of the model
The first is the grooves on the motor��������������������������������������������������������������
�������������������������������������������������������������������
. To remove the grooves, zoom into the motor������������������
�����������������������
. Select anything
on the motor�������������������������������������
������������������������������������������
,click on the selection and choose 'Edit part'. Then select a face in a groove, click
again and choose 'Suppress'. This will turn the motor����������������������
���������������������������
to a smooth cylinder which
���������������������
is enough for
the detail of a simulation model.
Each leg has a number holes in them which need to be suppressed. The procedure is similar to
the one before. Select anything on any of the legs, click on the selection and choose 'Edit part'.
Then select a face on the hole and choose 'Suppress'.
[email protected]
www.visualcomponents.com
The Visual Components logo 3DCreate,
3DRealize and 3DVideo are trademarks of
Visual Components Oy, Inc. All other brand
names, product names, or trademarks belong to
their respective holders.
Repeat this same procedure for the other holes, then return to the assembly.
tutorials | Add-ons | Solidworks Exporter
/7
In the next step the fasteners for the legs are optimized. There are two options, hide them or rearrange the geometry. As before select one of the fasteners and edit it. Drag your history handle
up to just after 'Extrude'. This allows us to see the history at this point in construction.
Expand the 'Extrude' so you can see Sketch 1. Select the sketch and choose 'Edit sketch'. Then
remove the holes by selecting the lines of the holes and press 'Delete'.
The last step is to adjust the tesselation to the minimum. To do this select from the SolidWorks
menu bar 'Tools -> Options'. Then choose in the 'Document properties Tab' the sub-item 'Image
quality'. Activate the check box "Apply to all referenced part documents" which will make the
slider bar selectable. Move the slider for the 'Shaded and draft quality HLR/HLV resolution' to the
lowest possible value and confirm your selection.
[email protected]
www.visualcomponents.com
The Visual Components logo 3DCreate,
3DRealize and 3DVideo are trademarks of
Visual Components Oy, Inc. All other brand
names, product names, or trademarks belong to
their respective holders.
Tutorials | template | <0 tutorial - header small> | guidelines
/10
The geometry is now ready to be exported by clicking on the 'Export to Visual Components'
icon. If the software is not already running, this will open a new instance of 3DCreate and load
the exported model in the 3D-world.
Tutorial: Automatic cleanup of suitable features
The last model was reasonable simple and did not contain many parts which are suitable for
automatic simplification. Bigger models also increase the workload for manual simplification
and a more productive approach is required. Solidworks contains tools to assist with automatic
simplification. Prior their use, they need to be loaded, similar to the Visual Compontents Exporter
Plug-in.g in itself. In the menu bar open 'Tools -> Add -Ins'. In the dialog activate 'SolidWorks
Utilities'.
In this tutorial a model is used that ships with SolidWorks. The model can be found in the
SolidWorks installation directory under 'C:\ProgramFiles\SolidWorks\samples\tutorial\
advdrawing\motor casing.sldasm'. The file contains a exploded view of a blender.
The fact that the model is exploded is of advantage here, as it is easy to see what will belong to
the cavity and what will not. Start by turning the image slightly to a frontal view. This will make
the selection of parts inside the blender easier. The first step is to hide unneccessary parts. Select
all parts which are related to the red button but will lie inside the engine casing. Then control
right click and select hide. .
[email protected]
www.visualcomponents.com
The Visual Components logo 3DCreate,
3DRealize and 3DVideo are registered
trademarks of Visual Components Oy, Inc.,
registered in the USA, Europe and/or other
countries. All other brand names, product
names, or trademarks belong to their respective
holders.
Tutorials | template | <0 tutorial - header small> | guidelines
/10
Repeat this step for the cogs. So once you have hidden the internals. You are now editing this
configuration.
When all extra parts are hidden choose form the menu bar 'Utilities -> Simplify'. A simplification
factor of 0.08 works generally very well. Press 'Find now' which initiates a feature search in
SolidWorks that requires some time, depending on the mode.
After the search is finished, press 'Suppress All', and all features which were found in the feature
search before will be suppressed. Also this operation will take some time.
In the last step the tesselation needs to be set as low as possible as shown in the previous
tutorial. Once the modification is done, press the 'Export to Visual Components' icon and the
model will be exported into 3DCreate. The size of the imported model contains only 1/10
of the original data without namely affecting the visual presentation in a factory floor level
visualization.
Limitations
The exporter has following known limitations:
1. Lightweight models are not directly supported
Lightweight models need to be conveted to solid models prior export.
2. Limited material support.
Material assignments do not always work as expected.
[email protected]
www.visualcomponents.com
The Visual Components logo 3DCreate,
3DRealize and 3DVideo are registered
trademarks of Visual Components Oy, Inc.,
registered in the USA, Europe and/or other
countries. All other brand names, product
names, or trademarks belong to their respective
holders.
Tutorials | template | <0 tutorial - header small> | guidelines
[email protected]
www.visualcomponents.com
The Visual Components logo 3DCreate,
3DRealize and 3DVideo are registered
trademarks of Visual Components Oy, Inc.,
registered in the USA, Europe and/or other
countries. All other brand names, product
names, or trademarks belong to their respective
holders.
/10