Importin dwg - viewports!

[Minna]

Is there any way to import the dwg plans sent by the architect into vectorworks other than as viewports.  It's pretty hard to try to open these in big projects where images are updated 1-2 times a week.  Can anyone give me some guidance on how to import and open such plans in the most sensible way?  One option is of course to import it into AutoCad first, use the explode command there and then import only VW. Or is there a guideline one could give the architect on how to send the dwg?

 

Using VW2023

[bjoerka]

I think it´s best to ask the architect not to export the data as viewports to dwg.

That´s what i do when i get viewports after importing dwg...

[Jeff Prince]

This depends on what you hope to receive, what you hope to accomplish with it, and how the .dwgs are structured.

 

Most of my projects involve .dwgs that are composed of multiple External References.  I am generally not interested in CAD for the architect's sheets in my case, but I am highly interested in their site and building geometry.  Most of the architects I work with have these as separate xrefs which I then REFERENCE in Vectorworks and place on a Vectorworks Design Layer.  Each time they update one of their xrefs, I simply replace the .dwg and my files update.

 

Now, if I want to use their geometry for my own purposes, I will create a new VWX file, import the file(s) I am interested for harvesting geometry, and then copy and paste their stuff into my actual project. I can align it to the aforementioned references before I get to work on editing it.  I find this is the best way to keep my vwx files free of any problems from .dwg import.  It also gives me a visual way to compare when my work and theirs have deviated and need to be re-coordinated.

 

That's the workflow I use for frequently updated project and those projects where the collaborator says "this is my final layout, it's not going to change".  Why? Because the latter person is living in an alternate reality... nothing is ever final until it is.  It's like washing your car to get it to rain.

 

Sometimes, I actually am interested my collaborator's sheet layouts because we need to match for a city review or something.  In that case, I will ask them to send their sheets with bound xrefs.  Those will import into Vectorworks just like I'm in AutoCAD and make life pretty easy because the viewports are already setup and everything is aligned nicely without effort on my part.  I will still ask for their individual XREFS and attached them to my VWX project as previously described.