The Complete Solid Edge to Inventor Conversion Guide
Table of Contents
- General Information
- Converting and Optimizing Solid Edge Files to Inventor
- What are Solid Edge and Inventor files commonly used for?
- Comparison of Features Supported by Solid Edge and Inventor
- Limitations of Solid Edge Files to Inventor Conversion Workflow
- What's the best way to get Solid Edge files into my 3D applications, and are there alternatives to using Inventor?
General Information
This guide is part of the RapidPipeline 3D Formats Knowledge Database. It shows how to convert Solid Edge to Inventor, if you'd like to know more about the formats, please check out the following links:
Converting and Optimizing Solid Edge Files to Inventor
There are various ways to convert between Solid Edge and Inventor. With RapidPipeline, you can easily convert and and optimize Solid Edge files, at scale. It supports Inventor, as well as many other file formats (examples: 3dsMax, AutoCAD, CATIA, Creo, FBX, glTF, Navisworks, OBJ, PLY, Revit, SolidWorks, STEP, STL, USD, USDZ, VRM), at high quality.
Below you can find a video explaining how to convert your files:
What are Solid Edge and Inventor files commonly used for?
The Solid Edge file is a format mostly used for Comprehensive 3D CAD software with synchronous technology for mechanical design and product development.
The Inventor file is a format mostly used for Professional 3D CAD software for mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation.
Comparison of Features Supported by Solid Edge and Inventor
| Feature | Supported by Solid Edge | Supported by Inventor |
|---|---|---|
| Morph Targets | No | No |
| Rigid Animations | Yes | Partial0 |
| Skinned Animations | No | No |
| Animations | Yes | Partial1 |
| Free-Form Surfaces | Yes | Yes |
| Geometry Compression | No | No |
| Quad Meshes | Yes | Yes |
| Basic 3D Geometry | Yes | Yes |
| PBR Materials | Partial2 | Partial3 |
| Transparent Materials | Yes | Yes |
| Vertex Colors | Partial4 | Partial5 |
| Materials | Yes | Yes |
| Scene Composition | Yes | Yes |
| Hierarchical Scene Graph | Yes | Yes |
| Scene Nodes | Yes | Yes |
| Standardized Format | Partial6 | Partial7 |
| Embedded Textures | Partial8 | Partial9 |
| Multiple UV Channels | Partial10 | Partial11 |
| Normal Mapping | No | No |
| Procedural Textures | No | No |
| Texture Compression | No | No |
| Texture Transforms | Partial12 | Partial13 |
| Texturing | Partial14 | Partial15 |
Limitations of Solid Edge Files to Inventor Conversion Workflow
The following limitations should be taken into account when converting Solid Edge files to Inventor format:
| Solid Edge Feature (not supported by Inventor) | Limitation Details |
|---|---|
| Animations |   Animations: supported in Solid Edge, but not in Inventor. Animations are an important part of many interactive 3D assets, for example in real-time rendering (including games, XR training, assembly instructions, product demos, and other use cases). There are various kinds of animations that can be used on 3D models. In this example model, a rigid animation is used to make the gears spin. Without support for this feature, in this example, the gears won't move. |
| Rigid Animations |   Rigid Animations: supported in Solid Edge, but not in Inventor. Rigid Animations are typically used to animate mechanical parts. In this example, the door of this 3D model of a microwave can be interactively opened or closed, using a rigid animation that gradually changes the 3D transformation of the door. Without support for this feature, in this example, the door will just stay in place and won't move. |
What's the best way to get Solid Edge files into my 3D applications, and are there alternatives to using Inventor?
Doing 3D conversion right, especially at scale, can be tricky, as 3D data is in general a rather complex (yet very powerful!) medium. This also applies to Solid Edge and Inventor files - the conversion guide above provides a rough first idea about that. Once you know what you would like to do, tools like RapidPipeline can help you perform the necessary steps, and to even automate the process for thousands or even millions of files.
Especially when introducing pipelines and workflows at scale in an enterprise context, it is usually good to rely on dedicated tools and expertise, making sure you do not introduce any steps into your 3D workflow that are detrimental to the final output's quality, or that take your team too much time (and money).
If you're interested to hire dedicated expertise from the best in the field to help your company reach your goals fast and reliably, please do not hestitate to contact DGG. Being the creators of RapidPipeline, and ambassadors for open 3D standards for more than a decade, we have been building some of the world's most advanced 3D pipelines, having processed many millions of 3D assets.
Therefore, our expertise will help you to reach your goals faster, at scale, and with the least possible friction, since we are focused on maximum interoperability.
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