DesignSpark Mechanical Online Help
Importing and exporting
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Use the Open command to open files created with DesignSpark Mechanical (.rsdoc)  or any other modeling application. Use the Save As command to export parts to formats read by other applications. Your license type determines which of these actions are supported.

If you work frequently with non-DesignSpark Mechanical files, we recommend that you set your file options to optimize the importing and exporting process for your needs.

Object IDs for edges, faces, and bodies are now stored within the SCDOC file. Object IDs are preserved when other files are opened or inserted into DesignSpark Mechanical, and the IDs can also be exported. For example, if you export a design to an analysis company, and they tag geometry with load positions, boundary conditions, and so on, then when you re-import that design, make changes, and re-export to the analysis company, they will not need to recreate their tags on the new design.

If you import a file and it fails, the reason for the failure is reported in the Status Log on the lower right edge of the DesignSpark Mechanical window.

You can Import the following file types:

You can Export the following file types:

To import a design

  1. Select Open from the Application menu or click in the Quick Access toolbar, or click the Insert tool in the Insert ribbon group on the Design tab.

    Depending on the selected file type, additional elements appear in the Open window. For descriptions of these options or to set their default values, click Options.

  2. Select Check geometry to run the geometry check after the file is opened or imported. See Checking geometry.

  3. Navigate to and select the file you want to open or insert.

    If you are opening a file, it is displayed in a new Design window. If you are inserting a file, it appears as an external component within the active design.

    If there is an invalid character in the path of a file you are trying to open or insert, that character is replaced with a valid character to avoid errors.

    Click Stop in the status bar to cancel an import while it is in progress.

    The name of the imported file is displayed in the Status Log when it is successful.

To export a design

  1. Select Save as from the Application menu.

    You can also press F12 or Ctrl+Shift+S.

    Your design must be saved as a DesignSpark Mechanical document before you can export it in another format.

  2. Select a file type from the Save as type drop-down.

  3. Depending on the selected file type, additional options appear in the Save As window:

    • Save as copy if you want to save copies of external components referenced by the design with new names or replace external components with other external components. You must click Resources to do this.

    • References to display all the external components referenced by the file. Select one or more external components and click Browse to rename or replace the components.

    • Override Units is available when you export some file types. Select the units from the list.

    • Options to also set your default export options for the selected file type.

    • Improve exported data to clean up imprinted edges and split curves when you export data.

    Hidden lines are exported with the default line weight. Components maintain their mirror relationships when they are exported.

    For CATIA, Parasolid, STL, and STEP files, you can select which version or protocol to save as. You can also set your default export options by clicking Options.

    You can save documents that only contain sketch curves to ACIS binary (.sab), ACIS text (.sat), Parasolid, CATIA, IGES, STEP, and VDA formats. You can import and export free points for Rhino, PDF, ACIS, IGES, JT Open, Parasolid, STEP and VDA formats.

    Imported designs with identical file names are given unique file names when you save your DesignSpark Mechanical design. For example, if you imported name.prt and name.asm, these files are saved as name.scdoc and name2.scdoc.

  4. Browse to a folder and type a file name in the dialog.

  5. Click Save.

To import a design by dragging and dropping

Drag the file icon to anywhere in the title bar and ribbon area. You can also drag the icon into the design window if no design tab is open.

This will open the design and all of its drawing sheets, annotations, etc.

You can also cut and paste data from certain applications. See Copying and pasting from other applications.

To export a design as an image

  1. Select Save as from the Application menu.

    You can also press F12 or Ctrl+Shift+S.

    Your design must be saved as a DesignSpark Mechanical document before you can export it in another format.

  2. Select an image file type (GIF, JPG, PNG, or TIFF) from the Save as type list.

  3. (Optional) Click Image size to change the size of the image.>

  4. >Browse to a folder and type a file name in the dialog.

  5. Click Save.

To copy the contents of the Design window to Windows clipboard

Right-click in the Design window and select Copy Scene to copy an image of the contents of the Design window to the Windows clipboard. You can then paste the image into a document.

To open a the parent document of a design

Right-click the top level component in the Structure tree and select Open root part to open the parent document of a design that was saved after its parent was closed. This problem may exist in files that were created with previous versions of DesignSpark Mechanical.

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