@ Chris: Thanks. I'm afraid that you've lost me with your level of detail there. I was simply following the process described above: use 3DWin to import a .DAT & export a .IGS or .STL, & then import the file in SolidWorks. Are there perhaps options in either of those 2 steps that need setting properly?
@ Philippe: Thanks. I downloaded & installed LDView. With LDView, I pened up parts 3001.dat & 3003.dat, & saved each as an .STL file, & opened them in SolidWorks 2009. I get the following error with both: "A facet normal problem was found with one of the facets in the file. Please check the STL file. OK". When I click "OK", the file does load & looks somewhat normal, but there is no selectable geometry that I can use for making mates & such. That is, I cannot select faces & lines & vertecies to mate parts together into an assembly. I further experimented by exporting one of my SolidWorks work parts into .STL format & importing it back into SolidWorks. Indeed, that part exhibits the same behavior: no error, but the imported model is essentially unusable to me.
So, I guess that rules out .STL altogether & leads me to focus on .IGS (which 3DWin is supposed to be able to do [and in batches!], though I have yet to succeed), or other formats. Other formats that SolidWorks uses are listed below. I just saved off one of my work SolidWorks parts into every format it that SolidWorks would allow, & then I imported each file back into SolidWorks. The list below shows all the formats that import OK & allow for feature selection & use in assemblies & such. If I could conver the .DAT LDraw part files into any of these formats, I'd be all set!
IGES: .IGS or .IGES
ProE: .PRT
ACIS: .SAT
STEP AP203: .STEP
STEP AP214: .STEP
SolidWorks: .SLDPRT
VDAFS: .VDA
Parasolid: .X_T
Parasolid Binary: .X_B
Thank you very much,
-Jason
@ Philippe: Thanks. I downloaded & installed LDView. With LDView, I pened up parts 3001.dat & 3003.dat, & saved each as an .STL file, & opened them in SolidWorks 2009. I get the following error with both: "A facet normal problem was found with one of the facets in the file. Please check the STL file. OK". When I click "OK", the file does load & looks somewhat normal, but there is no selectable geometry that I can use for making mates & such. That is, I cannot select faces & lines & vertecies to mate parts together into an assembly. I further experimented by exporting one of my SolidWorks work parts into .STL format & importing it back into SolidWorks. Indeed, that part exhibits the same behavior: no error, but the imported model is essentially unusable to me.
So, I guess that rules out .STL altogether & leads me to focus on .IGS (which 3DWin is supposed to be able to do [and in batches!], though I have yet to succeed), or other formats. Other formats that SolidWorks uses are listed below. I just saved off one of my work SolidWorks parts into every format it that SolidWorks would allow, & then I imported each file back into SolidWorks. The list below shows all the formats that import OK & allow for feature selection & use in assemblies & such. If I could conver the .DAT LDraw part files into any of these formats, I'd be all set!
IGES: .IGS or .IGES
ProE: .PRT
ACIS: .SAT
STEP AP203: .STEP
STEP AP214: .STEP
SolidWorks: .SLDPRT
VDAFS: .VDA
Parasolid: .X_T
Parasolid Binary: .X_B
Thank you very much,
-Jason