#AutoCAD Tip of the Week = IMPORT Command

Last week I was pleasantly surprised by the Import Command's ability to import native Solidworks files, as shown in the screen capture below:

The command works in a somewhat peculiar manner that has already become familiar to me after using other similar commands for several years. The import operation does not happen immediately. It is processed through the cloud. AutoCAD lets you know when the file is ready in a manner that is not clearly obvious. In fact, it would be interesting to receive a notification that includes a time stamp recording when you sent the request, when it was fulfilled, and the duration between the two time stamps. After the translation is done, you must INSERT the corresponding new block.

The resulting entity is an AutoCAD block which you need to explode in order to edit. You might need to explode things more than once, depending on how the original assembly and parts are grouped. Most of the entities are translated as ACIS solids, which are not the easiest entities to manipulate. I usually use SOLIDEDIT > Face > Move. If that is impractical, I use SPLIT. I wish solid editing responded to the STRETCH command in a much friendlier and useful manner than it currently does. However, let's bask in the fact you can import many useful file formats directly. Years ago, before this feature was improved, I remember having to use an intermediate STEP file format, and I also recall having to use AutoCAD Mechanical Desktop or Autodesk Inventor, before I could get certain file formats converted to DWG.