CAD Connections

CAD Connections are the connection between CAD tools and Autodesk® CFD. During the Autodesk® CFD installation, the Connection is automatically configured for the most recent installed version of the selected CAD tools.

To add or remove a CAD launcher, run CFDConfig.exe from the Autodesk® CFD installation folder. Note that if you are using Windows 8 or 8.1, you will need to run CFDConfig.exe as admin.

For more about CAD connections

Manual Installation

These steps describe how to install the Connection for each supported CAD tool. Use these if the Connection does not appear in the CAD interface or to configure the Connection for a different installed version of the CAD tool:

Autodesk® Inventor

Supported versions: Inventor Professional 2014, 2015, and 2016

Note: Drawing mode is not supported.

Autodesk® Sim Modeler

Supported version: 2016

Autodesk® Revit Architecture / Revit MEP / Revit Onebox

Supported Versions: Revit 2014, 2015, and 2016: onebox, Architecture, and MEP

The Revit launcher is installed automatically if the installer detects any of the supported versions of Revit.

To manually configure the Revit CAD Connection

The file CFD2016.Addin configures the addin for Revit.

To manually configure the launcher, open CFD2016.Addin in a text editor. Change the value in the <Assembly> line to contain the correct path to the Revit launcher dll in the Autodesk CFD installation folder.

For example, if Autodesk CFD is installed in C:\Program Files\Autodesk\CFD 2016, replace the current value in the <Assembly> line with C:\ Program Files\Autodesk\CFD 2015\Launchers\Revit\CFD2016Revit.dll

Note: Be careful not to delete the </Assembly> end tag.

To finish configuring the launcher, copy CFD2016Addin to the appropriate folder, based on the installed version of Revit

  • For Revit 2014: Copy CFD2014.Addin to C:\Users\All Users\Autodesk\REVIT\Addins\2014.
  • For Revit 2015: Copy CFD2015.Addin to C:\Users\All Users\Autodesk\REVIT\Addins\2015.
  • For Revit 2016: Copy CFD2016.Addin to C:\Users\All Users\Autodesk\REVIT\Addins\2016.

SpaceClaim

Supported version: SpaceClaim 2012+

Pro/Engineer and PTC Creo

Supported versions: Pro/Engineer 5 (higher than F00), Creo 1.0, Creo 2.0, and Creo 3.0.

Note: Mechanica launch is not supported for CFD Flex.

To manually configure the PTC Creo CAD Connection...

If the CFD launcher does not appear in the Creo user interface, you should add it manually:

Either append to or create a protk.dat file in the C:\Program Files\PTC\Creo X.X\Common Files\MXXX\text folder. (Note that MXXX is the date code, and you should use the appropriate folder for your system.) The file should contain the following lines, but you should modify the paths as necessary:

name CFD Desktop 2016

startup DLL

exec_file C:\Program Files\Autodesk\CFD 2016\Launchers\ProEngineer-Wildfire\Creo2\CFD_2016_Creo20.dll

text_dir C:\Program Files\Autodesk\CFD 2016\Text

revision 20

end

Note: When using Win 8 or 8.1 and plan to launch with the Mechnica option, you will need to install Pro/Engineer (Wildfire 5 or Creo) as an administrator.

UGNX

Supported versions: 8.5, 9.0, and 10.0.

The launcher is configured by editing the custom_dirs.dat file in the UGS\NX #.#\UGII\MENUS folder. Edit this file by appending the location of your Autodesk® CFD NX launcher file. For example, if your Autodesk® CFD installation folder is C:\Program Files\Autodesk\CFD 2016, and you are using UGNX 9, then add this line to the end of the file:

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\CFD 2016\Launchers\UGNX\NX9

Note: Be sure to remove any references to older versions of Autodesk® CFD if the UGNX launcher was enabled with a previous version.

SolidWorks

Supported Versions: 2013, 2014, and 2015.

For more about launching from CAD