ARGV Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 Well, first of all, does anyone know if solidworks is able to export to .DWG with layers. As far as anyone knows at my work, it can only export onto one layer. So, also wondering if inventor is able to export a 3dDrawing with layers in tact? For our CADCAM nesting software, we need features on certain layers, and layers is how the machine tool paths and knowledges are defined. That would mean that a particular features (hole, cutout, body, etc) could each be on it's own actual layer once exported to a 2d flat. thanks. -ArgV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 i dont think so. SW can only export a drawing file to dxf or dwg which means 2d only(no layers). Same thing with inventor. I could be wrong on this but i believe you will need to export your parts and change layers in autocad. What are you using for CAM software that requires this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARGV Posted August 22, 2009 Author Share Posted August 22, 2009 i dont think so. SW can only export a drawing file to dxf or dwg which means 2d only(no layers). Same thing with inventor. I could be wrong on this but i believe you will need to export your parts and change layers in autocad. What are you using for CAM software that requires this? We use ROUTER-cim (made indirectly by KOMO/CIM-tech). It's a great program for what we do (which is alot of everything). I'm currently trying to get management to switch to Inventor. Not because I care what software we use, but more to save money on licenses (so maybe we can get MORE!). I do feel that the programmers at autodesk are a bit more talented than those at SW, but thats just a personal opinion. -ArgV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 im the other way around. I use both and I prefer SW on 99% of things. I use SolidCam and i love how well its integrated into SW. The issue here is that inventor and SW dont work on layers like Acad does. The export features of the two programs(inventor and SW) are relatively the same. You can export dxf/dwg from drawings or you can export faces of flattened sheet metal parts in the modeling environment. When you import dwg/dxf files from acad you can select layers to import but not the other way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARGV Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 im the other way around. I use both and I prefer SW on 99% of things. I use SolidCam and i love how well its integrated into SW. The issue here is that inventor and SW dont work on layers like Acad does. The export features of the two programs(inventor and SW) are relatively the same. You can export dxf/dwg from drawings or you can export faces of flattened sheet metal parts in the modeling environment. When you import dwg/dxf files from acad you can select layers to import but not the other way around. What do you make with SolidCAm? Do you do manufacturing? thanks, -ArgV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkFlayler Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Shift1313, you might have missed this in recent releases since you do prefer SW for 99% of your work, but Inventor CAN do this. You need to use Inventor DWGs instead of IDWs. 1. Edit your Layers to add which layers you need to map. 2. Put Individual lines of your features on your specified Layers 3. Export to AutoCAD drawing will then have this done already This has been part of the Inventor TrueConnect technology for 2 releases now. I would propose that it is just as easy to change the layers here as it is in AutoCAD, if fact it may even be more practical, but it CAN be done if you prefer the Inventor environment. For what it is worth, Inventor has the strongest Drawing Manager for design AND collaboration since it uses a more native DWG than the emulated SW DWG. And from the preview code I have seen, it is only going to get better. For some reason what a lot of 3D CAD vendors do not understand is that ignoring 2D altogether or disparaging it is a very bad practice, but if they do not offer a 2D package it is all they can do. The real power of design is 3D AND 2D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 After you mentioned that mark i went ahead and played with an inventor dwg file and sure enough layers is on the annotation tab. I also created an idw file and it was there as well with all the same functionality as far as i could tell. But i do have a question regarding this. I went through the edit layers menu and turned the visibility off on all layers and nothing changed in my drawing. Is there something wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkFlayler Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 Can you attach your drawing with an IPT and a screen grab? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 i didnt save anything but i will try and make one tonight when i get home and upload it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 The first picture is an .idw file. The second picture is an .idw file before i create a base view. You can see all the layer information but once the base view is create i can no longer see this info. the zip file of the .idw was too large to upload here so i put it on my filebox. http://filebox.vt.edu/users/maperez/Cad%20Drawings/UpperTriple2.zip it is an educational version of inventor 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkFlayler Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Matt, I still see layers even after placing the view in. The fact you do not is odd. I can't really do anything with your file since I do not have the IPT to reference in the file. Anything I do will be all for naught. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 That is odd mark. When i create a view and i hit the Edit Layers button i see all the layers, but they arent in the drop down box. Its not something i will be using so its not a big deal but it is interesting. Ill check all my add-ins again. maybe something isnt loaded that needs to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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