Have you ever felt the burning compulsion to export an OBJ file from SolidWorks, only to find out it’s not possible? Well, now it is. Neil Larsen and macro-maker Karpena have released a macro to make it happen. Absolutely free and exports both .obj and .mtl files.
Free SolidWorks OBJ Export
I came across this little gem in the SolidWorks Forums. It’s a crazy awesome SolidWorks Macro with tesselation and export options and built-in automation to open in Blender or Octane. You can download it there or download it here, in case it ever goes away.
Set up and usage is easy. You can’t run it via Tools > Macro > Run, so just set it up as a button in your Toolbar via Tools > Customize. From the Commands tab, drag the New Macro Button from the Macro section to one of your toolbar areas. Then, proceed through the setup.
It was created with SolidWorks 2009. I was able to run it in SolidWorks 2012 no problem. If you are having issues, you may have to open the macro, Tools > Macro > Edit… and update the references – In Micorsoft Visual Basic select Tools > References. It’s all explained in the Help notes that are packaged with the Macro zip.
Bonus? It’s a SolidWorks Macro, so if your VB savvy, you can extend and customize to your needs. Neil does request one thing though, “All we ask, aside from not to sell it, is that you make sure any variants in the wild have some distinction in the name so that its clear which macro is for which apps. Its sort of in keeping with the spirit of open source because both Roman (karpena) and I make use of Blender.”
Model: Mobius strip via GrabCAD.
