Import Solidworks 2015 files

Is there any way to import yet besides going through STEP files?
when I try to import nothing happens :confused:

Cheers,
AB

I think the Rhino Solidworks importer is from a third party (Datakit?) - so maybe a new version is not available yetā€¦ Weā€™re still in 2014ā€¦

However, STEP should work - can re-import the STEP file you made in Rhino? Is everything there?

ā€“Mitch

Rhino -> SW works well.

SW -> Rhino is only possible by exporting STEP in SW and importing to Rhino.

Did SolidWorks update their 3DM import tool to support V5 files this time?
SW 2014 would only open Rhino V4 files.

Iā€™ve just tried it, apparently Rhino 5 -> SW does not workā€¦not as bad for me because i usually work the other way round.

So they didnā€™t update their tools yet.
If you save your V5 file as V4, then their old importer will work.

I wish the SolidWorks user community would raise a big stink about this. The development work to update this in SW is trivial. They just need to hear a loud user squeak to get a little love grease.

Iā€™ll see what I can do ^^
So do i get it right? The solidworks import plugin that is used in Rhino is not made by McNeel?

guess weā€™ll have to wait for an update then :confused:

If I remember correctly, we hired an outside development group to do that work since it was so completely compartmentalized. It was an easy way to spend a little money and keep our internal developers working on projects that could not be outsourced efficiently or cleanly.
Am I remembering that correctly @stevebaer?

This work happened just after Autodesk bought Alias and the folks over at SolidWorks were feeling like they needed a better industrial design integration tool.

I donā€™t exactly know how our Solidworks importer is written. @tim or @lowell would probably have a better clue about where we stand with respect to supporting this file format.

To the best of my knowledge the SW import into Rhino is done by DataKit (or possibly by us using a DataKit library, in the same way we use OpenDesign for dwg and dgn). @Lowell is the developer who would know this for sure. The .3dm into SW was done a long time ago and I really donā€™t know much about it, like if it has been updated at all since it was first written. I think a fellow by the name of Larry Hall did that for us.

Tim

The SW importer for reading SW files in Rhino is writer by us using a Datakit library.
Iā€™m behind a version on the Datakit libā€¦ They publish an update every quarter and I get about every other one.
I donā€™t think their current one supports SW 2015 but it might. Iā€™ll check on it when I get back to the office

Lowell - was there any update on when the importer will be able to import SW15 files into Rhino?

See this thread:

Just to confirm - Rhino v6 will have support for SW 2015 files.
We have the necessary library from Datakit now.

nice to hear :slight_smile: thanks for the follow up. For now iā€™m fine with using STEP.

I head a product design team with about 10 Rhino +10 SolidWorks licenses.
A good workflow/file exchange is critical for our work here. The combination is far from unusual/exotic. Both packages are always up to date (ok, we wait a year to update SW after their major releases). ATM we are on RhinoV5 and SW2015 and the import/export workflow came to a grinding halt.
RH -> SW worked until we upgraded to RhinoV5 like 5 years ago.
SW -> RH worked until we upgraded to SW2015 2 month ago.
We know everything about workarounds. I would like this stuff to work in both directions directly and fluently.

I was on the phone with our local SolidWorks reseller and asked about the perspectives if SW2015 will be able to import RhinoV5 file any time soon.
Answer: There is a feature request pending since 2013, current status ā€œcriticalā€ (highest priority) .
Might be a good sign or a bad: either it could be good since it is high in priority or it could be bad cos it is so difficult that even after two years there is no solution within reach.

Here is the Issue Number and the Title of the SW Issue Tracking System:
ā€œ678911 Support Rhino 5 files in SolidWorksā€

If you would like to join forces, give your SW reseller a call and add +1 to this ticket (to raise a big stink as @John_Brock put it).

Hope the RH -> SW pipeline will be reopened soon!

Hi @lowell,
as described in my post above, we are critically depending on the SW -> RH Import.
Is there any chance you could update the SW importer in RhinoV5?
Is it a licensing issue or why would you not update it before V6?
Waiting until V6 is officially released is a worrying perspective.

It would also be of great help if we could get hold on
the updated plugin and use it at our own risk.

Hi Frank,
We would also be happy to have Solidworks support Rhino 5 files, and soon Rhino 6 too.
I donā€™t see any reason why it would be a hard programming project for them to do that since our support for it would be better if any different than when they did the Rhino 4 version. They contracted that project out of the company and there may not be anybody left there who knows much about it.

As for our SW2015 support, thereā€™s no technical reason why we couldnā€™t support it in Rhino 5. Its a resource consideration. Itā€™s not just a matter of shipping a V6 plugin with V5, and giving you the V6 plugin wouldnā€™t help since it wouldnā€™t run in V5. The only option we have now for reading SW 2015 files directly is in the V6 WIP.

Greetings. I am opeing this topic again, as I cannot find anything to assist me with my problem of importing a Solid Works file.
Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance, Rob.