Importing Aircraft from 3D CAD

[legochuck]

I am part of a research group that has modeled several different experimental aircraft in SolidWorks. We want to perform flight testing with the different models in flight simulators such as flightgear or Xplane. I've read that ac3d file formats are best for importing models into flightgear. I've also read most people use blender for this, however it appears the newest version does not support exporting to ac3d. In your experience, what is the best way to convert a file from SolidWorks to work in flightgear? We are all quite new to this portion of the design process, so any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Alant]

If you can get your 3D model into Blender, there is a Blender to AC3D converter at https://github.com/majic79/Blender-AC3D.git.
The distribution includes instructions for installing it in Blender.
Be aware that Blender has a rather odd-ball GUI which takes a bit of getting used to.

Alan

[wlbragg]

There is also a fork at

https://github.com/NikolaiVChr/Blender-AC3D/commit/16082b46c888a8d1420e14bdd8e0d9c5350f3448#diff-588d539e43eb15948d472a3b5a3783dd

and see:
https://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13442&start=375&hilit=blender+ac+import+export