Hello all,

Pardon me if my question has already been asked and answered. I tried searching but with no luck.

I have a 3D solidworks model of a crane that I want to export to ANSYS APDL (ANSYS classic). At the moment I am only after the geometry export.

The problem I am facing is, in ANSYS I need a line model and not a 3D solid/surface model. Is there anyway I can create a line body model in Solidworks or export to AutoCAD?

To explain in detail - say in solidworks I have a rectangula hollow section member. In ANSYS I need only a line representing the member (i.e. a line through the centroid of the cross section of the rectangular hollow section).

If I can create the line body in Solidworks or ecen export to AutoCAd and create it there, then that's all I'd need.

At the moment, I have exported the soldiworks model as STEP file, imported it to AutoCAD and creating the lines going through centroids of members manually. It is painstakingly slow process, and I was wondering if there is a quicker way.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Sifte