SOLIDWORKS VIZid Bridge

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The VIZid Bridge toolbar in SOLIDWORKS.

The SOLIDWORKS VIZid Bridge is a COM add-in that streams the current part or assembly to VIZid Suite, where VIZid Mesh tessellates it. Each part is exported as an exact STEP file and sent over TCP; VIZid Suite does all of the meshing from its own quality preset.

The add-in provides three commands, available from the VIZid Bridge toolbar, a VIZid Bridge ribbon tab where supported, and the menu:

Export to Blender

Send the whole current part or assembly as a full scene.

Update Blender

Send only what has changed since the last send.

VIZid Bridge Settings

Set the VIZid Suite server host and port, and the up-direction.

The add-in ships separately from the Studio installer because it installs into SOLIDWORKS rather than into VIZid Suite.

Installation

  1. Extract the VIZid Bridge-SolidWorks-Setup package.

  2. Double-click Install.cmd and approve the administrator (UAC) prompt. The installer copies the add-in to C:\Program Files\VIZid\VIZid Bridge\, registers the COM add-in, and adds an entry to Apps & features.

  3. Restart SOLIDWORKS.

  4. If the add-in is not already active, enable VIZid Bridge under Tools ‣ Add-Ins.

A single registered build is loaded by every installed SOLIDWORKS version on the machine.

Usage

  1. In VIZid Suite, start the VIZid Bridge server from VIZid Mesh ‣ VIZid Bridge ‣ Start Server.

  2. In SOLIDWORKS, open VIZid Bridge Settings and set the host and port to match the server in VIZid Suite. The defaults are host 127.0.0.1 and port 8765.

  3. Click Export to Blender to send the whole part or assembly.

  4. After editing the model, click Update Blender to send only the changes.

Progress is shown in the SOLIDWORKS status bar. Lightweight or suppressed components without loaded geometry are skipped; set them to Resolved and re-export to include them.

Uninstall

Double-click Uninstall.cmd, or remove VIZid Bridge from Apps & features.

Requirements

  • A 64-bit SOLIDWORKS installation.

  • .NET Framework 4.6.1 or newer, present on all modern Windows.

  • VIZid Suite, with the VIZid Mesh VIZid Bridge server started.