FM 8 and SolidWorks drawings

[Kimberly_Williams]

Hello:

Graphics are not my strong point and I've been tasked with updating some 2-D drawings for one of my manuals. I've spent an afternoon trying to re-create a rather simple figure without much success and I was wondering whether there is a way for me to be able to edit figures drawn in SolidWorks. I can get drawings from the designer but I'm not sure about which format to request them and what intermediate steps I might need to take. I am using Frame v8.0p277 and SolidWorks v9.0.0.706.

I'm learning so much from reading these posts and I'm hoping that not only can I find a solution but that someone else benefits, too.

TIA,

Kimberly

[MichaelKazlow]

You will need to edit the drawings in SolidWorks. You can hopefully print or save to eps or pdf for importing into FrameMaker, unless Solidworks exports to a format that Frame can import (for printing, not editing).

[flapitino]

Kimberly,

Assuming that you have access to "real" Solidworks (and not eDrawing viewer) and Adobe Illustrator:

1. Arrange/rotate the desired 3D view of the model in SW.
2. Create a SW drawing file from the view (there are 2-3 steps to do this which I can't elaborate on right now as I don't have SW on this PC).
3. Save the drawing file in DXF format.
4. Open the DXF file in Illustrator (right-click the file and do "Open with..." or do "File/Open" within Illustrator)
5. Clean up and edit the drawing as necessary (add callouts, etc.).
6. Save the Illustrator file as either AI or EPS depending on your publishing environment.
7. Import the graphic file into FM.

Fred