I'm coming to you to get some advice on the optimal way to import Autocad files into solidworks, let me explain:
I received a factory layout plan from one of our customers on which I have to draw 3D production lines. Only the factory plan is a nice 30 MB Autocad file.
Of course, SW can't digest such a big plan, so I reduced the size of my plan by removing all the extra blocks, using the purge and _overkill commands to arrive at a 7 MB plan. Only the plan is still too big to be imported under SW with the classic DWG import method.
For the visual, I have already made screenshots of my autocad that I then recombined under peint.net and gimp in order to remove the black background to apply this image as a decal on a piece the size of my factory floor. It's pretty but it's still pixelated and you can't take a side on it.
To try to keep a sketch drinkable I am reduced to recording small pieces of sketch 1 by 1 in order to make small SW Blocks and group them into bigger ones, only it's VERY long. Especially when the size of my factory exceeds 500mX500m which is the maximum import size and therefore forces me to add ladders on large blocks which has a strong tendency to crash the bike.
Hello, having been confronted with this problem in the past, the simplest and most optimized solution we had found was to redesign the building into a long and tedious part file at the beginning turned out to be very fluid later on provided that the building does not change its design every two days;)
At the same time, a building like this, it was to be expected and unfortunately there is no real solution... Because even if you make a play as proposed in @MaD, there will be a good number of traits that will make a huge play in the end!!! with all the functions that the room will include....
Something has tried, rather than using the DWG function, use the Tools/Block/Insert function in a SOLIDWORKS part file and point to your DWG, much more fluid and in addition you can keep a link to the original DWG if it evolves, it will evolve in SOLIDWORKS.
@+
Edit: the idea being that your DWG is kind of a lightweight skeleton that you rely on to recreate your own sketch and volume.
I think I'm going to have to redraw everything by hand, using a nice JPEG background. Thank you @coyote for your method unfortunately it also crashes SW, I'll try to run it tonight to see if by letting the computer grind without doing anything it manages to do the block import.
It's a shame to have a software with so many possibilities and not to be able to work on this kind of plan. I can't wait for a 2D to 3D module from SW with the possibility of putting "backgrounds" in sketches without making our bikes crash (too much)!
The point that bothers me is that 7MB for an Autocad building plan is still very heavy, there aren't useless layers that you can remove? Like hydraulic HVAC power networks?
Thank you again for your answers. In the end I'm going to model everything with good old cubes, a decal on the floor, colors for the machines and voilà! It will allow me to have something rather fluid, manageable and with a family of parts I could reconfigure the factory in a few values on an excel spreadsheet.
@MaD The plan is heavy because of the machines I work on which are quite substantial and whose representation on autocad is too detailed (A view of the 3D Converted into a block, with all the screws....) By removing the inside of the machines and those that are out of my field of action I went down to 4 MB but it still continues to crash.
Thank you again for your answers! It's nice to see such a fast community!
(I actually think it's an import from another software, because by importing to SW I still have more than 300k elements with curves in 18 strokes and straight lines in 42 strokes)
As I recall, I had imported one layer at a time into a 2d sketch and then recreated a share for each layer. And all assembled in light. Make attension to scale (from basic to inch)
Above all, simplify the windows and door to death. and turn fluids and energy.
Hello and sorry to dig up an old post, but I'm desperate for a quicker solution!!
I'm always faced with this kind of situation, a 3MB 3D DWG that Solidworks 2019 opens in 2 hours while Inventor in 3 minutes, it's just a shame ... Is it not a problem for you to have to redraw an existing plan? It drives me crazy! Especially since the architectural plans change regularly. I'm sorry that I can't find a quicker solution.
Solidworks which uses one core out of the 12 available to regenerate an assembly or a drawing, but where are we there?! CPU usage at 7% maximum and so on.
We pay thousands of euros for such restrictive software... The years go by and nothing changes. For 15 years on Solidworks, I will switch to Inventor !!
