Converting legacy drawings into 3D models is the most requested and most underestimated job in CAD automation. Here is why geometry is not enough, how design intent gets recovered, and where AI actually fits in the chain.
There are three routes on the AutoCAD side: AutoLISP, .NET/ObjectARX, and AI-assisted generation. Here is when each is the right call, with a decision table based on team size and maintenance load.
AI tools genuinely accelerate scaffolding and API discovery when building SolidWorks add-ins. They also produce confidently wrong code around COM lifetimes and silent failures. Learning to separate the two is the whole skill.
SolidWorks 2026 hands drawing generation and standard hardware recognition to AI. Here is which minutes of the working day those features actually give back, which ones they don't, and what it means for add-in developers.