Autocad solids import in Femap?
Joost Spek
Can anyone help me with the following questions? I'm a Human Kinetic
Technology student at the Professional University of The Hague in the
Netherlands. At school we have Autocad R14 and two different versions of
Femap 5, Multiple student packages and one Pro package.
I've already read that Acad. solids only import in the pro version, but
are exceptions for the student version?
And how do I go about importing my solids?
Do I have to Modify > Boolean > Union everything, to make it as if it
were one piece?
Or could I just move the different parts until they touched? After that
save it as MyDrawing.dfx or MyDrawing.dwg?
And can I define all the specifications I have in mind afterwards or do
I have to or can I do that in autocad?
Our school moved to a new building, fairly recent, and we have new
computer facilities. The soft- and hardware is there but it lacks
support, due to the unfamiliarity of the faculty with all the features
available. So my apologies, if my questions seem a bit basic, but I kind
a have to teach myself.
I would greatly appreciate it if someone could give me some advice, even
advice that isn't directly related to any of my questions.
Many thanks in advance
Joost Spek
The Netherlands
Visit the web site of my school when interested http://www.sggm.hhs.nl
Philip Craven
note that I have version 6 Pro, but I think the file import commands are
the same as version 5. If things don't look right, post again.
Joost Spek wrote:
>
> And how do I go about importing my solids?
In FEMAP Pro make the menu selection File-Import-Geometry and the
Geometry File to Import dialog will pop up; it will display any
available .sat files (among other supported types) in the active
directory. Find and select your file for import. The next dialog shows
various options; the only one I'll touch on for brevity is Geometry
Scale Factor. This does just what the name implies: it applies a global
scale factor to the incoming geometry. The default setting here may not
be unity; in many cases you can set this to unity so your "FEMAP units"
will be the same as your "AutoCAD units". The reason for the scaling
option is that some analysis programs have a limit on the number of
digits a nodal coordinate may have. Note that this also means that
locating your part "very far" from coordinate origin can cause the same
type of problem.
> Do I have to Modify > Boolean > Union everything, to make it as if it
> were one piece?
No. Any AutoCAD entity or group of entities you can export to a .sat
file can be imported into FEMAP Pro. You can import entities into a .mod
file as often as you like.
> Or could I just move the different parts until they touched? After that
> save it as MyDrawing.dfx or MyDrawing.dwg?
Your post refers to solids. The appropriate export format will be a
.sat file. When you export the solid(s) from AutoCAD you will create a
new file FileName.sat. (Using DXF translation, you are limited to
entities such as lines, arcs, etc., and 3D faces, etc. IOW you cannot
export solids via DXF.)
> And can I define all the specifications I have in mind afterwards or do
> I have to or can I do that in autocad?
Don't know what you mean by "specifications".
I hope this gets you started. Your best bet may be to experiment with
some simple test cases to become familiar with the process.
Best regards,
PC
Joost Spek
Thank you very much for your swift reply. I will put it to the test
first thing monday morning and post the results. The thing I mean with
'specifications' is the type of connection between the different parts
and the types of materials used.
I should have probably explained it more extensively.
Much obliged.
Joost Spek
Philip Craven schreef: