Import Mesh from SolidWorks, Is There a Way to?

Development Asset Creation
1

Hi all,

Does anyone know if it is possible to create an object in SolidWorks and import it as a mesh in UE4?

2

You can probably export a .obj from Solidworks, but usually that type of software doesn’t create very good meshes.

3

What makes the mesh not good?

4

You might end up with more polygons than are needed, or edges that aren’t welded, or smoothing issues.

5

Hmm alright. Thanks! Maybe it’s still worth a shot, but I’ll see what I can come up with.

6

I use Solidworks a lot for Arch Viz and Product Viz. It typically doesn’t work out well for Realtime Frame Rates, due to the density and quality of mesh. So I only use Solidwork files for Recording out Matinee Videos or Still shots in Unreal, hardly ever for actual games or interactive experiences. The other issue is UV’s don’t come out of Solidworks very well, so it can become annoying trying to apply any materials that use textures. For instance a Woodgrain, or a textured plastic.

I use 3DS MAX as the inbetween from Solidworks to Unreal. Typically I save out .SAT file from solidworks and import that into MAX. (I think the newest version of MAX allows you to bring in Solidworks directly). In 3DS MAX I will do all my UV setup and Material Setup. Then I export as FBX to unreal.

Hope maybe that helps with your decisions. Good Luck!

7

Yeah that seems really helpful! I’ll go check out 3DS MAX. Thanks!

8

How effective is this pipeline? I have been a CAD designer using SolidWorks for about 10 years and use 3ds Max but have had a lot of trouble trying to get my models to import correctly. Tons of flipped faces way too many tri’s ect…I literally have thousands of models ranging from engines to fully working guns. The best process I have found is to use my SW models as reference to remodel them in 3ds but if I could just find a way to use them that would be awesome.

Edit: After doing a google search I found some methods that seem to work a lot better than the older methods I was using.

9

Could you please explain how you do it? Have huge amount of solidworks files that i need to import into UE4 properly…