IGES importation Woes!

Here's a strange file translation situation that has me puzzled:

I've attempted repeatedly to read a 15Mb IGES file (from Alias w/
surface data) into SolidWorks 2005 and simply crash to the desktop each
time.

At first I was afraid there might be a SolidWorks bug; however, the
same file translates successfully in 2005 on two other seats of
SolidWorks (another like mine running under Windows 2000, SP4 and the
other under XP Pro, SP1). (All three seats are 2005, SP0.1)

On my system the "offending" file reads into SolidWorks 2004 which I
have 2005 installed alongside. I have experimented with other IGES
files of various sizes and some translate into 2005 (on my system) with
no trouble and some cause the same desktop crash.

There may be a subtle hardware, software or settings difference between
my system and the others on which there is NO failure reading IGES
files into SolidWorks 2005, but I'm at a loss as to what it could be.

I've read the "offending" file into programs other than SolidWorks
2005, then exported it as IGES to re-read into 2005 (on my system) with
no difficulty. The resultant geometry is correct and the same as what
2004 sees in the original IGES file.

Why should my seat of 2005 hiccup on the original IGES data when others
do not?

Please shed some light on this troubleshooting issue.
Thanks in advance,

Per O. Hoel

 

I had some problems with IGES files myself. I have a question for you.
Do the machines that the IGES files reads in have a dual install with
2004 and 2005? If they don't there is a problem with the dual install.


I was crashing reading certain IGES files and I decided (because I was
satisfied with 2005) that I would just wipe all of SolidWorks and
reinstall 2005 fresh. After that i had no issues. It was an easy
intall since there aren't any effin' service packs to have to worry
about. What a waste of money maintenance is turning out to be this
year.

In the next week SW will be previewing 2005 plus and yet we don't have
a service pack for 2005 yet. (0.1 doesn't count)
Ken M.
yes I feel better now.

 

Ken,

All (3) seats have 2005 installed alongside 2004. In fact, on the one
running XP, both 2004 and 2005 were running and I even opened a second
instance of 2005 with which to read the IGES file. The XP seat
translated the IGES file with no sweat.

I'm beginning to wonder if the problem could be that I happened to
install 2005 first with a pre-release download rather than via the
production CDs the others used.

It may be time for a refresh...

Thanks for your input,

Per O. Hoel
__________________________

 

At first glance I was going to send you to TESIS. But then I read on.
Seems like you want to send the file in and use the built in
diagnostics.

 

Ken,

Here's an addendum:

I re-installed SolidWorks 2005 as a "fresh" copy (using the production
0.0 CDs and then applied the 0.1 Service Pack) but the IGES failure
persists...

The cause lies elsewhere.

Per O. Hoel
___________

 

The objective is NOT to diagnose the contents of the IGES file, but
rather to understand why one out of three seats of SolidWorks 2005
fails to translate it!

 

Something is odd. My 2005 was a fresh install on XP and I know I did
it correctly, and I still had problems. You are an experienced user so
I am sure you did the install ok as well. A fresh install will
probably fix it.

 

I don't know then. Good luck.

 

Ken,

It turns out that I spoke too soon.

After the "fresh" install completed, I should have rebooted; however,
the SolidWorks installation routine's own dialog box appeared with the
option checked for "Run SolidWorks Now" (or something to that effect)
and did NOT even suggest that it might be a good idea to reboot.

I should have followed good software installation practice to then
ignore the offer to run the program right away and reboot first.

Anyway, after the reboot, the IGES file translation problem
disappeared.

I need to make it a practice to purge pre-production installations of
SolidWorks, since the program doesn't seem to be totally reliable in
updating itself.

Can you imagine having to reinstall the Windows O/S from scratch each
time a major service pack or hotfix is issued?!

Thanks again for your fresh install suggestion. Case CLOSED!

Per O. Hoel
__________________________

 

I spoke too soon in stating that I'd spoken too soon...

After continued troubleshooting I have confirmed on (3) different seats
of SolidWorks that the failure to import IGES files can be caused by
having the PhotoWorks Add-In enabled.

Repeatably, with PhotoWorks enabled, the IGES importation crash to the
desktop occurs. With the PhotoWorks Add-In disabled, proper importation
capabilities return.

Can others out there confirm this frustrating behavior? With the same
results on (3) different computers, this is surely not just a
coincidence.

Per O. Hoel
_________

 

I wish I could have tried that with the old install. I have my
PhotoWorks turned on all the time since I render everything for
presentation. Working at a product development firm
www.muderlakdesign.com.

All I can say is that the IGES problem I had before is gone now. Maybe
you can send a part to me that is giving you trouble and I will try it
here.

Ken M.

 

Ken,

Thanks for your translation offer; however, with the PhotoWorks Add-In
disabled, there is no problem with the IGES import on any of the
computers I have experimented with...

So it appears necessary to toggle PhotoWorks ON/OFF as a workaround
until the apparent DLL clash is corrected by the SolidWorks
programmers.

Per O. Hoel
__________________________

 

Repeatably, with PhotoWorks enabled, the IGES

Is it possibly data set dependant, or seem to happen with an ol' IGES?

 

Jeff,

I'd say it has nothing to do with the file "flavor" - a legacy IGES
file or one output from another program.

I've reproduced the crash to desktop with a new IGES file from ALIAS as
well as with ones newly created (natively) in SolidWorks 2005.

Per O. Hoel
_________________

IGES?

 

Use the diagnostics available in SW to find out what the problem is.

 

I've reproduced the crash to desktop with a new IGES file from ALIAS as

Hmm... I guess if it's not widely reproducable outside your office (?) one
might look for similarities in hardware, drivers, software version , sp's,
etc. (Not a clue, myself; just a random thought.)

 

Jeff,

I reproduced it on my home office computer last night and my VAR did
the same today on a system at their headquarters. A report of the
condition has been sent on to SolidWorks Corp.

I had been going crazy looking for hardware and software (other than
SolidWorks) problems on my primary computer but think that the
repeatable crash on (5) different systems in (3) different geographic
locations with multiple types of Windows O/S software (2000 and XP) and
many hardware/software configuration differences points the finger at
the SolidWorks code.

I'm just surprised that there doesn't seem to be a rash of complaints
given the many seats of SolidWorks 2005 (with PhotoWorks enabled) that
must be out there reading in IGES files...

Per O. Hoel
_________________

 

Maybe a lot of folks are like me and turn PhotoWorks off except when we need
it. Also, a lot of folks importing IGES files may not be using PhotoWorks.
Mold makers and designers may not need a lot of pretty pictures, for
example. Still, I have to agree that it's odd it wasn't found till now. Good
catch!

Jerry Steiger
Tripod Data Systems
"take the garbage out, dear"

 

Ummmm ... does PhotoWorks ALSO import IGES? If so, that might
pose a conflict .....