Hi
I am trying to export to a SolidWorks file that works as a solid. What are the steps to follow. model is a boat model in surfaces.
In theory STEP is best but in practicality IGES with the Solidworks ‘flavor’ seems to work better. Of course your model has to be a solid in the first place, preferably a very well-made solid…
First off, you have to make sure your surfaces are all joined together and create a proper closed polysurface (solid) model, with no visible gaps. Then, export the model as a STEP or IGES.
Upon importing models from other CAD programs Solidworks usually shows a pop-up window asking whether to run a diagnostics of the geometry to try to fix potential issues. It’s recommended to pick that option rather than ignore it.
Solidworks also offers to automatically detect features such like fillets and round surfaces. From my experience, sometimes Solidworks fails to reconstruct those properly and creates some inconsistent results, such like an unwanted deletion of simple surfaces that otherwise appear perfectly fine in Rhino. You can ignore that particular option.
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