DriveWorks Pro 21

File Formats

File Formats

Whenever a Part, Assembly, or Drawing is generated, DriveWorks can also save the Model or Drawing in a variety of other formats, for example, eDrawings and DXFs.

When DriveWorks generates the Part, Assembly, or Drawing, it will automatically create any of the file formats in the same directory, and with the same name.

For example, if a new file called "C:\DriveWorks\HydraulicCylinder\Results\Cylinder.slddrw" was created, and had PDF selected as a file format, then DriveWorks would also create a file called "C:\DriveWorks\HydraulicCylinder\Results\Cylinder.pdf".

When DriveWorks generates the Part, Assembly, or Drawing, it will automatically create the captured file formats.

The captured status of each available file format can be one of the following:

• No - The File Format is not captured.
• Yes - The File Format is captured and will be created each time the model is generated with the same name and location as its parent.

  For example, if a new file called "C:\DriveWorks\HydraulicCylinder\Results\Cylinder.sldprt" was created, and had eDrawings Part selected as a file format, then DriveWorks would also create a file called "C:\DriveWorks\HydraulicCylinder\Results\Cylinder.eprt".

• With Rules - The File Format is captured but rules can dictate if it is to be created and the location it is stored. For some file formats additional parameters can be applied.

Capture File Formats

File Formats can only be captured from Parts, Assemblies or Drawings that have been captured themselves.

To choose one or more file formats:

1. Open the captured Part, Assembly or Drawing in SOLIDWORKS.
2. Click the File Formats section in the capture assistant.
3. Locate the required File Format from the list.
4. From the Captured column, click the drop down icon and select the required capture status.

Multiple Drawings for a single model

Multiple master drawings can be captured for each model. This is useful when only one sheet is required to be exported as the additional file format.

Flat Pattern DXF output folder

DriveWorks has the ability to place and DXF file formats it creates into a common folder.

See SOLIDWORKS Settings for more information.

Multiple Sheet Drawings

When a multiple Sheet Drawing is required to be saved out as a DWG or DXF file the following options can be set:

• Export Active Sheet only - Use this option for creating a single Sheet DWG or DXF with the Rename Sheet method below.
• Export all Sheets to separate files - Each exported sheet will have the prefix 00_, 01_, 02_ etc.
• Export all Sheets to one file - Creates a multiple sheet DWG or DXF.

To set these options:

1. Open the master Drawing in SOLIDWORKS
2. From the File menu of SOLIDWORKS select Save As
3. From the Save as type field select the file format the Drawing is to be saved as (DWG or DXF)
4. Click the Options button
5. From the Export Options dialog in the Multiple sheet drawing section choose the required option for the export
6. Click OK to save the options, and cancel to cancel the Save As operation.

Rename Sheet and File extensions

In the Drawing Task Pane within SOLIDWORKS, the sheets can be renamed to match the file extension of a specific format.

DriveWorks will then export the sheets in this format. This drawing will have the same name and path as the original drawing.

Please note that the chosen format must be supported by DriveWorks, as seen in the following section.

Export Options

Options can be set for the following file formats:

• Adobe Illustrator
• .DXF
• .DWG
• eDrawing Drawing
• .JPEG
• .PDF
• .PSD
• .TIF

To set export options:

1. Open the master drawing in SOLIDWORKS
2. From the File menu of SOLIDWORKS select Save As
3. From the Save as type field select the file format the drawing is to be saved
4. Click the Options button
5. From the Export Options dialog choose the required format for the export
6. Set the required options and Click OK to save, and click cancel to cancel the save as operation.