Image Transfer © Copyright William Rowan 2007

Objective By the end of this you will be able to: Transfer images from CAD software to ICT packages as an aid to compiling a document, making a presentation or producing a photo-real representation of a model (export/ insert, render to file)

Image transfer It is possible when you have finished a drawing in SolidWorks to insert the image into an ICT package such as Word or PowerPoint

Image transfer How is this done? To transfer the image into an ICT package it must be in a format that is recognised by the ICT package SolidWorks allows you to save your drawing in a JPEG format and this can then be inserted into the ICT package

Image transfer In the “Save As” dialog box in SolidWorks click on the drop down menu for “Save As Type”

Image transfer A number of different file formats that are supported by SolidWorks is shown Select JPEG from this list Press “Save” once the selection is made

Image transfer

How is this inserted into an ICT package? To insert the image into an ICT package such as Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint you will use the Insert menu

Image transfer Open up Microsoft Excel Click on the “Insert” menu Select “Picture” Select “From File”

Image transfer When the “Insert Picture” dialog box opens choose the picture you want and select “Insert”

Image transfer The same method is used when inserting a picture in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint

Image transfer An alternative method: You can also insert a SolidWorks document such as a part or an assembly into Microsoft Word, Excel, etc… using the following method

Image transfer Select the “Insert” menu and click on “Object” This will open the following dialog box

Image transfer In this dialog box there is a list of all the possible objects that you can insert into the document Select the “Create from File” tab You can now search for the document you want to insert by clicking on “Browse”

Image transfer Once you have located the object you want to insert click “Insert” Click “OK” to now complete the task

Image transfer

The procedure described above for inserting an object is similar to that used in SolidWorks if you want to insert an excel table, chart, word document You can also select “Create new” if you want to insert new information and select the object you want

Export/ Insert To export a document follow the same procedure as before for saving a document as a JPEG Select the document type from the “Save as type” drop down menu in the “Save As” dialog box

Photo-real representation It is possible to create a photo-real representation of your drawing and insert this also into an ICT package

Photo-real representation

When you have rendered your file using PhotoWorks in Solidworks it is possible to save this also in a format that can be inserted into an ICT package

Photo-real representation On the PhotoWorks toolbar select “Render to File” The “Render to File” dialog box appears In this you can select a file type that is suitable to save the image as e.g. JPEG by clicking on the drop down menu for “Format”

Photo-real representation

Once you have selected your format click on “Render” Here again the procedure is the same for inserting the file into an ICT package as before

Now you try! Using a drawing you have already completed in SolidWorks, save it as a format that can be inserted into Excel or Word Once this is done insert it into Excel or Word

Now you try! In SolidWorks insert an Excel worksheet with a list of dimensions for the drawing you have completed