Part VII: Working with Specialized Functionality
from the Files Of Type drop-down list. That is one way to do it, but it is slow. I prefer to open a
translated file using Windows Explorer, and drag-and-drop the file onto the SolidWorks window.After you open the file, you will notice a couple of things. The first thing that stands out to me is
that the model displays in Shaded mode, regardless of how you have the display set. For example,
I like to use Shaded With Edges, but imports always set it back to Shaded.The next thing to notice is the Imported1 feature in the FeatureManager. In this case, the import
was clean, so there are no warnings (yellow triangles) or errors (red circles). This is not always a
good indication of the state of the part, though, because some errors that SolidWorks knows about
are not displayed on the Imported feature icon. To investigate closer, right-click the Imported1 fea-
ture and select Import Diagnosis, or click Import Diagnosis from the Evaluate tab of the
CommandManager.
In this case, the model really is clean. Running Import Diagnosis is the only way you can really
know this. Figure 30.6 shows the FeatureManager, the Import Diagnosis, and the part itself.FIGURE 30.6
Clean imports from Parasolid have the tendency to be fast and trouble-free.Next, open the Parasolid file called bad face.x_t. This one also imports without an error or
warning on the Import feature, but there is clearly a missing face. It is easier to visualize the sepa-
rate faces of the part if you change the display mode to Shaded With Edges. If you examine the
part closely, you can see that several faces are not lined up square with the rest of the part. Notice
also that there are small sliver faces. This may be intentional, or it may be part of the problem.
Triangular faces and sliver faces (with very sharp corners, usually long and narrow) are often the
source of errors in translated parts.