.DWG importing

[Sbokdesigner]

Greetings all, which program if any is the best choice to download, extract and then import pda files and dwg files into CA, other than autocad @ $10,000 or even autocad lite @ $850.00 So far all my attemps require lots of modifications, such as line weights, colors, text size etc... because they contain so many cad blocks. Or perhaps I'm missing some critical step in the import process. All tips/links/suggestion are greatly appreciated.

Thanks Sean

[Ray C]

Sean
Take a look around the web,,,, there are a few free ones out there, CAD appl's that will explode the blocks
Why not post the problem you're having importing DWG into Chief,,, someone may have the answer
Ray

[slatta]

i use autocad lt because I need it for some of my work, if i was looking to cheaper solution, i may look at turbocad next

[Tim O'Donnell]

there are certainly cheaper alternatives to autodesk products, turbo cad products are reasonably priced and very capable, especially if you look at ones one or two versions down from the current release(v12 i believe)...what do you want to do?

accutrans my work for you, it is only $20 US and a small download for the shareware version you can test for free:
http://www.micromouse.ca/

[HumbleChief]

Sean and I share an office and hence the same problem. We just got an irrigation plan sent to us by a landscape architect. It was created in ACAD and sent in .DWG and imported into Chief kinda-sorta OK.

Meaning it ALMOST looks like an irrigation plan when viewed in Chief. The colored layers and multiple blocks are an easy but time consuming change we have to apply to every ACAD drawing. Would love to avoid that.

The line weights are arbitrary and we have to change each line through chief to match our standards.

The symbols for the irrigation valves which are very standard in the industry don't shape and fill properly so we need to re-create the valve symbols.

The text in many places is stacked and sized incorrectly so that needs to be modified as well.

When sent in PDF it looks great but if we don't tell the architect, and there can be many different ones that we deal with, to send in all black or we need to edit the PDF then we are stuck unless we purchase Acrobat Pro or another program to modify the PDF files.

So what we would like is a simpler more accurate way to import .dwg files so we don't have to spend 3 hours modifying each one to look good in Chief.

Is ACAD the only solution or will it even help as eventually we will come across the same problem with .dwg files? Is TurboCad an option? Is there a way, if we had ACAD that we set up the .dwg file in a way to avoid all the changes necessary?

Is there an importing step we are missing to get the colors garbage turned off and line weights and blocks handled so we don't have to modify everything?

Thanks Very Much

[Allen42acj]

Larry can you post it?I will try to open it in CA and Turbo cad..I have not had much experience importing but will give it a try...

[Tim O'Donnell]

what version of acad are they using? is it a version of acad newer than 2004? are they saving it down to a acad v2004 or earlier format? does the landscape architect use a plugin to acad to create the files? if so even acad does not read them correctly without the plugin...

unfortunately, much like another 1000 lb gorilla in the software industry, autodesk messes with the file formats in each new release to try and force users to upgrade and stay with their product, so you are 'compatable' with the rest of the 'cad' world(aka ACAD's newest and greatest release)...they simply have no desire to make their products play well with other vendor's products


the designer should be able to explode blocks and such and save it backwards to a file format that was in existance when chief 10 was written... to try and make it work better...it may take some tests to see...i believe autodesk also may have some free software to do the file conversions as well...you might want to check their site

line wts and such are setup by the creator of the file..you should be able to mimic them in chief...

for example: if they are set as pen wts...(which are metric units) in your page setup, set the line wt 1=1/100mm then a line wt of 25 will be pen wt .25mm...but it is up to you and the landscape guy to decide on how you want these things

w/o a sample plan to see what you are working with...that is about all i can do to try help

[slatta]

if it is going to be an ongoing issue, i would get autocad lt, i have lots of imports now with surveys and it always comes in flawlessly, it is the simple no hassle solution

[Ray C]

Larry
I feel your pain! :-)
I take in site plans from several different engineers. Some of the plans have so many layers is takes forever to sort out into Chief. Others only use a half dozen layers which can be even more frustrating. Some with Z access and some without.
Here is how I handle it, may work for you
Open a blank plan (not the plan your working in), import the DWG, let Chief map the layers, use the DWG's layer names.
Open the LDB, click the name col. , click the 2d col., then select all, uncheck material list, now check the material list next to each layer that has an item on it. (this helps keeping track of the import items)
Now select all, uncheck all the 2D, now turn on one layer at a time / rename to your liking / set attributes to your liking.
Now if you copy paste the whole mess into your plan, arch mode or cad detail, things should be fairly straightened out.
Also, don't forget the layer painter tool, very helpful

Simple hey? :-)

I don't believe there is an easy way,,, if you find one,,, let us know! :-)

Ray

[HumbleChief]

Larry can you post it?I will try to open it in CA and Turbo cad..I have not had much experience importing but will give it a try...

Thanks Allen but out of time for today. I'll post next week if it hasn't been resolved.

[Allen42acj]

Your welcome any way..From the other post,might not have helped..
Have a good weekend.

[HumbleChief]

Thanks Tim but I think the questions you asked, though relevant and coherent, are just the thing we are trying to avoid. Our calls back and forth between multiple clients/architects to get THEM to adjust their way of creating ACAD files the way we need them has proven to be frustrating for both them and us.

At this stage if a copy of ACAD LT will simplify things we may go that route.

Thanks as always

Larry

what version of acad are they using? is it a version of acad newer than 2004? are they saving it down to a acad v2004 or earlier format? does the landscape architect use a plugin to acad to create the files? if so even acad does not read them correctly without the plugin...

unfortunately, much like another 1000 lb gorilla in the software industry, autodesk messes with the file formats in each new release to try and force users to upgrade and stay with their product, so you are 'compatable' with the rest of the 'cad' world(aka ACAD's newest and greatest release)...they simply have no desire to make their products play well with other vendor's products


the designer should be able to explode blocks and such and save it backwards to a file format that was in existance when chief 10 was written... to try and make it work better...it may take some tests to see...i believe autodesk also may have some free software to do the file conversions as well...you might want to check their site

line wts and such are setup by the creator of the file..you should be able to mimic them in chief...

for example: if they are set as pen wts...(which are metric units) in your page setup, set the line wt 1=1/100mm then a line wt of 25 will be pen wt .25mm...but it is up to you and the landscape guy to decide on how you want these things

w/o a sample plan to see what you are working with...that is about all i can do to try help

[HumbleChief]

if it is going to be an ongoing issue, i would get autocad lt, i have lots of imports now with surveys and it always comes in flawlessly, it is the simple no hassle solution

Yeah we came up with that same idea and may not really have a viable option.

Thanks

Larry

Any way to get ACADLT cheap?

[HumbleChief]

Ray,

We have never had Chief map the different layers but will try your suggestion. It does seem though that anything less than some version of ACAD is going to create the same problems we are dealing with now. unless TurbCad is truly a viable substitute?

Larry

Larry
I feel your pain! :-)
I take in site plans from several different engineers. Some of the plans have so many layers is takes forever to sort out into Chief. Others only use a half dozen layers which can be even more frustrating. Some with Z access and some without.
Here is how I handle it, may work for you
Open a blank plan (not the plan your working in), import the DWG, let Chief map the layers, use the DWG's layer names.
Open the LDB, click the name col. , click the 2d col., then select all, uncheck material list, now check the material list next to each layer that has an item on it. (this helps keeping track of the import items)
Now select all, uncheck all the 2D, now turn on one layer at a time / rename to your liking / set attributes to your liking.
Now if you copy paste the whole mess into your plan, arch mode or cad detail, things should be fairly straightened out.
Also, don't forget the layer painter tool, very helpful

Simple hey? :-)

I don't believe there is an easy way,,, if you find one,,, let us know! :-)

Ray

[lbuttery]

Larry:

Maybe Ebay ? Maybe get a copy that is 1 or 2 versions back from the current version ?

Lew