Upchain's dedicated CAD plugins for SOLIDWORKS, Catia, NX, Inventor, PTC Creo, and AutoCAD, as well as the Generic plugin, bridge the gap between your CAD applications and Upchain. The plugins are managed through and launched from the Upchain CAD Connector. Once launched, you'll use the plugin to capture, manage, and share CAD data through Upchain — all without leaving your CAD environment.
To begin, you'll need to install and set up the CAD Connector.
Once you've done this, spend some time exploring the CAD plugin UI to familiarize yourself with when and how you would access each area of the plugin. You should also ensure you understand the concept of the item and the different types of BOMs.
Before you begin working with CAD data, you'll want to select a project in which to work. This sets the context in which you interact with the data and narrows the focus of the CAD plugin to just one project.
Then, you can access your CAD data that is stored in Upchain for that project from the Project BOM , quick or advanced search, or from your assignments , if you have any. Once you locate the data you wish to work with, you can download a read-only copy or check it out. Save your data back into Upchain by saving or checking in.
If your company is new to Upchain and you do not yet have any data within Upchain, you'll want to register new data into Upchain by creating a new item or associate a CAD file with an existing item.
The above links only scratch the surface of what the CAD plugin can do for you. Spend time exploring the Upchain for Mechanical CAD section of the Help Center to learn more.