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VW 12 DWG/DXF Problems


jfmarch

Question

I am having a bear of a time trying to get my DWG export to work with VW 12. I have two consultants I am trying to send backgrounds to: 1 uses AutoCad 2000 and another uses 2004. The file I am exporting from is VW 12.5.1, and I have exported to VW 11 & 10. I have tried DWG's from VW 12, 11 and 10. The ACAD 2000 guy has been able to open 1 DWG from VW10. The 2004 guy has not had any luck with VW 10 DWG or DXF. I cannot figure out what the problem is as I have never had these issues occur before with any version of VW. I export as layers only, map colors to line weights and to 1/4" scale in all cases. When they try to open they say the file is empty and nothing is visible. Can anyone give me some tips?

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this is a message i received from my consultant. i sent him a DWG export with classes exported as layers:

'I got the file, but when I open it, there is nothing in it. I can see layers..but they are empty .....but there is no drawing , only autocad black background.'

i have asked him what happens when the background is changed to white...

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Jim, I'm having similar problems(although I'm in 11.5.1) and wondering if Katie was able to resolve any of these issues. My export is showing up in AutoCad, like yours, with a black background and white lines. Also similar layer issues.If you don't mind I'd appreciate any info you might have found out. Thanks.

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In Jim's case, there was an object that stretched thousands of feet away. Everything was actually in the dwg file, but was so small because of the erroneous object.

Set everything to be visible. Use Fit to Objects. If everything gets really small - you have an object floating in outer space somewhere.

Although, if your associate is at least seeing something, it's unlikely the situation is the same.

You are welcome to send the file over and I'll take a look at the file.

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Katie, I did send the file over to you earlier. I had "Fit to Objects" and, although there is one quirky thing showing up, I don't think that's responsible. At least for the black background. I'm using the title block from my client's office, not my usual one. When you pull back from the drawing, an odd bold line extending into space shows up in that layer (not so far away though). When you magnify in, it disappears. I have no idea what that's all about. I'm assuming you'll see that. Thanks, Katie....I appreciate the help.

Steven

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These problems seem to have been magnified with newer versions of autocad. Importing and exporting is a drama most of the time. Also converting to pdfs create huge files which are too big to email. By comparison autocad 2008 creates cross referenced files under 500k. These files wont import into vectorworks.

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I have had a bear of a time importing a file from AutoCAD users as well. I unzip the file from the consultant and it appears as a VW dxf file icon on my desktop. When I click on it, it begins to open VW and then when it gets to a certain point, it simply shuts VW's done and I'm back to square one...I never get to see the open file.

I have also tried importing from within an already open VW file and while I am able to open the files, it seems like so much is lost in translation.

any sense on how to fix this problem...it has happened with several different consultants.

Mucho Gracias

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You can't open a dxf file in Vectorworks, it must be imported. There is no such thing as a VW dxf file, you must have associated .dxf files with Vectorworks.

Import dxf files into a blank file through File menu > Import > Import DXF/DWG.

What exactly is lost in translation? I have never had a problem with missing data.

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Ryan - the same answer that Ray LIbby gave above applies. You have to import the file into VW. It would be nice if the Open command automatically invoked the DWG/DXF translator but it doesn't.

PS: If you are having problems with DWG or DXF drawings use the free eDrawings DWG viewer to check what is in the DWG drawings before you import them. There is both a MAc and a PC versions available: http://www.solidworks.com/pages/products/edrawings/eDrawings.html

Edited by mike m oz
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