Solidwork Assembly - Issues with Orientation

[Yarcich 2]

I am attempting to bring in a Solidworks assembly into Cura.  When I bring the assembly in, all the components lose orientation and I need to manually realign them.  For simple models this is achievable, but for complex models it will not be.

 

I watched the demos I saw on-line about importing assemblies and how to use the "Arrange all models" feature but this results in all the models being placed side by side. 

 

Is there a way to import the components of an assembly into Cura and have them retain their orientation relationships?  Is there a work around or can Cura not handle Solidwork Assemblies?

[mastory 42]

You could save the *.asm as a single *.stl, review the options before hitting save.  Select "save all components of an assembly in a single file".  It may differ on other versions.  I am referencing my 2012 version selections

 

Open the stl from the file menu within Cura

[Yarcich 2]

I have tried this and it merges the components together.  I wanted to have the components made out of different materials but having a single STL model exported does not allow this as the software sees it as one piece.

[mastory 42]

If your models are so close in size/fit, that the slicer combines them, I doubt that any common printer will print accurately enough to get a result with separate bodies, even if the slicer recognized the boundary surfaces.  Can you live with a little more clearance?

[P3D 46]

What about the "merge models" option? That is the standard workflow for multi-material prints... you import the models, select the materials, select all the models and then right-click and select "merge models". Cura then should arrange the components as you had done in the assembly.