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Institute of Technology Technical Support Using Adams with Solidworks, Pro/E and other CAD Knowledge Base Programs Solution#: 1-36274281 Product Updates Product Feedback Product Line: MSC.ADAMS User Forums Product Name(s): ADAMS/View (2005r2) My Requests Platform: Intel IA-32 (32-bit compat) :All Windows

Did you know? MSC Adams allows users to import part geometry and from CAD (Computer-Aided Design) programs such as CATIA, I-DEAS, Pro/ENGINEER, Unigraphics, AutoCAD, , and SolidWorks. The most popular file format to import into Adams is (x_t) however you can also use STEP,STL,IGES, DX formats.

Technical Tip Understand geometry exchange of CAD formats. Compare file geometry of CAD formats. To export data from your CAD package for use with MSC Adams: 1. Create assembly 2. Select export from file menu 3. Choose file format 4. Click OK To import CAD data into MSC Adams: 1. Open Adams 2. Select Import a File radio button 3. Select OK 4. Select the file type that you exported 5. Right-click in the File to Read text field and select Browse 6. Locate file 7. Click Open 8. Click OK

File Formats Available with CAD Packages

The following table provides recommendations for the file formats in which you should export data from a CAD program so you can import it effectively in ADAMS.

For the CAD package: Recommendations in order of preference: Comments:

Unigraphics (UG) Exporting from the embedded motion products automates the Export from UG/Mechanism or Scenario for geometry export/import process. Only three-dimensional solids are Motion in these file formats in order of transferred. preference: Using (without the embedded motion products) is Parasolids convenient because one file contains all the geometry and ADAMS/Exchange creates a separate part for each solid. Stereolithography Stereolithography is dependable but requires you to output each part Or, export from UG in these file formats in separately. It only works on solid bodies. order of preference:

Parasolids

Stereolithography

CATIA Export using CAT/ADAMS in these file formats in order of preference: Exporting from the embedded motion product automates the geometry export/import process. It transfers two-dimensional and Quickshell three-dimensional geometry.

STEP IGES and STEP export is time consuming and ADAMS/Exchange can have difficulties reading the resulting files. IGES

Or, export from CATIA in these formats in order of preference:

Stereolithography

STEP

IGES

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I-DEAS Export using Mechanism Design or Mechanism Simulation export with shells. Exporting from the embedded motion product automates the geometry export/import process. Or, export from I-DEAS in these formats in order of preference: IGES geometry transfer is without colors.

Stereolithography Stereolithography only works for a part, not an assembly.

IGES

Pro/ENGINEER Export using MECHANISM/Pro in these formats in order of preference: Exporting from the embedded motion product automates the geometry export/import process. Render Render files contain color, while Stereolithography files do not. Stereolithography

Or, export from Pro/ENGINEER in these formats in order of preference:

Render

Stereolithography

IGES

Solidworks Export using Dynamic Designer with Shells (v2000) Exporting from the embedded motion product automates the geometry export/import process. Or, export from Solidworks in these formats in order of preference: Using Parasolid is convenient because one file contains all the geometry and ADAMS/Exchange creates a separate part for each Parasolid solid.

Stereolithography Stereolithography is dependable but requires you to output each part separately. It only works on solid bodies.

SolidEdge Export using Dynamic Designer with Shells (v2000). Exporting from the embedded motion product automates the geometry export/import process. Or, export from SolidEdge in these file formats in order of preference: Using Parasolid is convenient because one file contains all the geometry and ADAMS/Exchange creates a separate part for each Parasolids solid.

Stereolithography Stereolithography is dependable but requires you to output each part separately. It only works on solid bodies. IGES

Mechanical Desktop Export using Dynamic Designer with Shells (v2000). Exporting from the embedded motion product automates the geometry export/import process. Or, export from Mechanical Desktop in these file formats in order of preference: IGES transfers are complicated but are reasonably dependable.

IGES Stereolithography exports are unpredictable because the model has to be in a particular quadrant before exporting. Stereolithography DXF can be used to transfer two-dimensional information. DXF

Microstation Parasolid Using Parasolid is convenient because one file contains all the geometry and ADAMS/Exchange creates a separate part for each solid. back to to Comparison of CAD File Formats

The following compares the different CAD file formats for importing geometry using ADAMS/Exchange or ADAMS/View.

The file format: Has the advantage/disadvantage

IGES

When exporting geometry from a CAD program, the shapes are represented by triangles and rectangles. You can adjust th tolerance on the approximated shape when importing in ADAMS/View.

Volume information is not supported in ADAMS/Exchange if the geometry is imported as a polygon or if the original shape not a solid. Therefore, ADAMS/View cannot calculate the mass properties of the imported shape. You have to define them manually.

Color information is retained.

To import shells as solids, be sure to set the options Solids instead of Polygons and turn off Consolidat to shells. Also the originals have to be solid to be imported as solid. If something goes wrong during the import process, approximation will be tried and the imported shape will be represented by polygons. Note that if you import the geometry as a solid, ADAMS/View can calculate mass properties.

Render Volume information is supported in ADAMS/Exchange, within the given tolerance in the shape. ADAMS products, therefore can calculate mass properties.

Each render file can contain many shapes, but when you import it, ADAMS/Exchange attaches all its geometry to only one part.

Color information is retained.

Importing your geometry as Stereolithography (STL) or render geometry is more reliable than using other CAD formats, s as IGES or STEP.

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File format is very simple.

The files are much larger than IGES and DXF files.

Because the surfaces have been represented as polygons, you cannot change the accuracy of the surface representations ADAMS/View. You must specify the accuracy when you create the files in your CAD program.

STEP ADAMS/Exchange supports STEP AP203 and AP214. Note, however, as stated in the ITI PDELIB manual:

It is important to realize that AP 214 is still at the "Committee Draft" stage of its development and as such is a continuous changing and evolving beast. While it is our intent to update this subsystem as necessary, no guarantees are expressed or implied. i.e. use at your own risk!

ADAMS/Exchange does not support conformance class 5, which contains faceted B-rep shape representation. ITI explains that faceted B-rep shape representation takes up too much memory to exchange, and most vendors do not support it.

Volume information is supported in ADAMS/Exchange, within the given tolerance in the shape. ADAMS products, therefore can calculate mass properties. You may find a small difference between the mass properties calculated in Pro/ENGINEER a those calculated in MSC.ADAMS.

Each STEP file can contain many shapes, but when you import it, ADAMS/Exchange attaches all its geometry to only one part.

Color information is not retained

Stereolithography When exporting geometry from a CAD program, shapes are represented by triangles. Most CAD programs support the abil to specify a tolerance, and, therefore, the number of triangles.

Volume information of solid bodies is supported in ADAMS/View, within the given tolerance in the shape. Using that shape, ADAMS products can calculate mass properties. Volume information of thin-walled bodies is not supported, so no mass properties can be calculated for it.

Only one body for each STL file.

Color information is not retained.

Parasolid Currently, ADAMS/Exchange supports Parasolid version 14.0.

Using Parasolid files, you can import the whole model while you can only import part by part using STEP, IGES, STL, DWG, and DXF.

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Created on 07/10/06 Modified on 08/07/06

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