Mastercam 2019 Update 3 was the 1st version to support import of SolidWorks 2019 files. (SW2019 was released AFTER MC2019).

The wireframe comes in as splines for me (not arcs) in MC2019, MC2020 and the Tech preview of MC2021. I have no explanation for why they would come in differently for someone else. They look like arcs, but are truly splines as Analyze will show.

The holes ARE splines (at least according to the STEP file). There are no arc or circle entities, but several splines.

You might want to either report this on the mastercam.com forum or email it to support. I've never heard of that happening. If/When you do so, please supply as much info as you can, including hopefully a file and some steps to reproduce it.

Glad we figured it out. Thanks for letting us know.

Do all the computers have MC 2019 Update 3 installed? Only U3 will import SW2019 files.

Are you downloading the files locally first or accessing them directly from the server?

One reason features might be missing is if cuts are applied to the assembly and not to the individual parts. The software SolidWorks provides us with to access their data does not support assembly-level features. Can you attach or email a file to [email protected] (tell 'em Pete sent you)? Remember that if its an assembly you need to include all the component part and sub-assembly files as well.

We received the DXFs and I confirmed that yes, this is the same problem we are aware of. Every effort will be made to get that fix (since its been reported several times now) into the next update of MC2020.

We've seen this reported a couple times in MC2020. It has been logged as Request R-20783. It has to do with importing complicated splines. Can you attach one or more of the DXFs so that I can verify this? You could also email it/them to [email protected] and tell 'em Pete sent you.

No - it just launches Mastercam with the current SolidWorks part.

This is scheduled for inclusion in Mastercam 2021 for SolidWorks. This is a shortcoming that we've heard about many times since the development of MCforSW began. The biggest reason C-hooks have not been allowed in MCforSW is that the selection and graphics is all done via SolidWorks, so there would have to be some sort of collaborative re-write to get an existing C-Hook up and running. Vericut has pretty much developed their C-Hook without very much collaboration with us, but I will do a little research to find someone there that we could potentially work with. See the above answer re: C-Hook development. You could potentially do some of what you want with the SW API, and would probably need access to ours for some of it. Having said that, we have added Mastercam's ATP functionality, which was developed with that sort of automation in mind, to MCforSW.

Metallic, Are you referring to the functionality in Change Recognition? If you have a part open with toolpaths already programmed you can run CR and select an update model. CR lets you compare the two part's geometry and selectively update the toolpaths. If you're referring to MCforSW, associativity to SolidWorks geometry is built in.

Mastercam Direct opens the current Solid\Works/inventor/SolidEdge part in a new session of Mastercam. it does let you import operations from an existing MC file, but it won't populate those operations with the geometry being passed in. It's up to you to run Change Recognition and re-wire any necessary associativity changes.

It sounds to me like there's more of Mastercam in MCforSW than some people are aware of and I wanted to clarify a bit. First, MCforSW is an add-on for SolidWorks that allows access to (almost, yup, I'll admit that) all of the Mastercam Mill, Lathe, and Router functionality. MCforSW does not support Mill-Turn machines like Mastercam with a Mill-Turn license does. It does not support Wire machines. It does not support the 3D Wireframe (2D Swept, 3D Swept, Loft, Ruled) toolpaths. No C-Hooks or Net-hooks. Everything else is in there. Dynamic 2D and 3D toolpaths, check. Simple pockets, holes, and contours, check. Multi-Axis, check. Direct associativity to the SolidWorks geometry, check By using it you have access to SW CAD functionality that does not exist in Mastercam. I think that list is pretty long, but lets start with Design Tables : You can do Family of Parts work in MCforSW... carry all the parameters in an Excel spreadsheet ... every different part (SolidWorks calls them Configurations) is saved inside the single SLDPRT file ... any changes to the spreadsheet automagically mark your toolpaths dirty, requiring just a 'regen' of those dirty ops ... or ... put toolpaths on one Configuration and using that first Configuration, spawn additional ones with different design paramters but use all the same toolpaths, tools, and parameters ... open that resulting SLDPRT in MC and everything's there. Anyone here ever deal with assemblies in Mastercam part data? Whole different ballgame in SW (and therefore, in MCforSW) As far as some of the comments above go: "... Try Mastercam Direct for SW instead ..." : this doesn't do anything except open your SolidWorks file in Mastercam, saving a couple clicks, That's it. "... Would it be accurate to say that Solidworks with a Mastercam add-on is a stripped down version of Mastercam? ..." and "... standalone is a million light years ahead of the add-in ..." : Neither is accurate, at least to me. See "Everything else is in there" above. "... the configuration setup for the add-in version is neutered ..." : Configuration is stripped of items that do not apply. For instance CAD-only, or graphics-only, functionality that is SolidWorks-specific that you control in the SolidWorks settings. I do realize that it's not for everyone : long-time MC users might be averse to learning to model in SW, and you DO need a seat of SolidWorks ... but there are a lot of people around the world using it every day because it works for them.

MC has always searched for evidence of piracy including, among other things, Hasp emulators. In MC2020 we added that yellow bar if we smell something fishy. Emulators are the most common reason we're seeing so far for the appearance of that yellow bar. I encourage everyone who sees the bar to please use that 'genuine' mastercam email address. We are still working to get the word out to our resellers about how to eliminate that evidence we're finding. (d40fusc - if you email me ([email protected]) your Hasp # I can investigate a little bit and perhaps tell you what you might be able to do to get rid of the bar)

What Jay said...

Look on our mastercam.com forum for possible solutions. If you're importing models into SolidWorks with their '3D Interconnect' functionality turned on, and then saving as .SLDPRT or .SLDASM, we can't import those due to a shortcoming in the SolidWorks-provided software we use to open them.

In this post and the previous one, GCode has pretty much summed up the truth about getting SolidWorks files into Mastercam. Well done. I only want to add that using Mastercam for SolidWorks will eliminate some of that grief.

As far as I know, we still do not have the ability to import the result of those cuts when bringing the SLDASM into Mastercam. This has been a known issue for a while and is do to a technical limitation in the libraries SW provides for importing their native files. Yes - if its exported to Parasolid (.X_T or .X_B) they'll come across to Mastercam, but not from the .SLDASM.

You've got mail....

If it's a .PRT, it probably is from NX. ProE/Creo parts will usually (but not always) be .PRT.# (where # is a version number) The Mastercam NX importer should bring in the tolerances ... but it is an extra-cost addon (since we pay royalties on it). If you want, I'd be willing to open one here for you and send it back to you as a .MCAM so you can see the data in Mastercam. Email it to [email protected] and make sure you let me know what MC version you want the file for (otherwise I'll assume MC2019).

Perhaps - maybe not in the case of network licenses of both SW and MC. If that becomes an issue, then using that 'MBD' option to output to STEP AP242 will get the data into your standard Mastercam session. If you've already got a seat or two of SolidWorks, I'd recommend experimenting with it. There are definitely benefits as far as associativity to the model, working with 'family of parts', and the use of SW 's annotations and tolerances.

If you've got a Mastercam license (Mill, Lathe, or Router) then you can run Mastercam for SolidWorks using that license. You don't need a separate license for it. The installer is available as part of the Mastercam installer. Once its installed, open SolidWorks and go to Tools/Addins to load it. The biggest difference you'll notice in MCforSW is in selection, since it uses SolidWorks selection techniques. But the Operations Manager and all the Toopath Parameter dialogs are the same. Having said that, there are a couple functions missing - most notably the old-school Wireframe toolpaths like 2DSwept, 3DSwept, Coons, etc.

If the seat of SolidWorks has the MBD addon, that ribbon bar has a button where you can export to STEP AP242. Mastercam will bring in the model and all the features/tolerances from that STEP file. If you do use Mastercam for SolidWorks, then everything you need will be right there in the SolidWorks session.