I need to import hundreds no thousands of step file into Solidworks, set a custom coordinate system and export in parasolid format. Programming the process as a macro is no problem, but importing the step files takes a long time.
Therefore I am looking for a way to speed up the process.
I have already tried if the use of the command line arguments brings something, but this is not so. (My hope was that the parameter /b could have a positive effect).
I found another article that mentions that you can start Solidworks without UI.
→ CAD-System API without UI - Software Recommendations Stack Exchange
I would like to try this option and see if it gives a speed advantage. Does anyone know with which commands or parameters you can start Solidworks without UI?
There is a bit of info here of command line arguments.
This can be paired with a script to start Solidworks with the Solidworks application setting visible to false. There are additional things to set that can speed up performance.
The following article outlines a lot of this in detail.
Edit: setting the session “Visible” to false can cause some API functions to no longer work, so consult the help documentation for any API calls you may be using.
I wrote the article mentioned above. You make solidworks faster by disabling some of its features like feature tree updating, sketch relations etc. But I don’t think importing STEP files will get notably faster with those items disabled. Please let us/me know if it does, though.
But does that really import the STEP file or does it do a quick read or something? Because the link to the STEP file remains and needs to be broken later on.
I have recently learned that 3D Interconnect really uses a new importer, but the documentation is still very scarce.
I need to import hundreds no thousands of step file into Solidworks,
You mean hundred of thousands?
You’re stuck or at least it seems like it.
SOLIDWORKS API is bound to the SOLIDWORKS application so you get the whole thing with the good, the bad, and the worse. You also have a lot of IO operations to contend against.
Your best bet is to develop a distributed application and divide your files into small batches handled by each instance running your application.
You can probably process all of your files in a couple of days.
I’m not sure how does that work but yes it would be helpful and since @Hansjoerg need to export them to parasolid, break the link would not be required.