DWG import engine

[MartyC]

I have to import drawings from other sources on a regular basis, into Vectorworks 12.5.1. This leaves me with a great deal of work to do, just to get the drawing into shape to use. Virtually everyone in the construction business is using Microstation(DGN) or AutoCAD(Dwg). Naturally, I am not in a position to require that a project change software to suit me. Is there any hope that a better, more accurate engine will be included in an upcoming version of Vectorworks? If I open a DWG in Microstation it opens fast and looks beautiful. Why is this so difficult to achieve in Vectorworks? I know that the other programs cost much more than VW, but I cannot bear the thought that I might have to abandon the time I have invested in VW, and have to learn AutoCAD. Is it possible that an 'extra-cost' import engine could be made available?

[Ray Libby]

There is no "import engine". VW engineers have to reverse engineer .dwg, a very difficult task as AutoCad doesn't release any specs on .dwg. Import has improved leaps and bounds with recent versions and probably will impove in the future, barring any wholesale changes by AutoDesk. My 2 cents.

[MartyC]

My apologies if I mis-spoke. As I understood things from tech support, there is an 'import engine' which is purchased from a third party. Maybe they're wrong...

On the subject of difficulty of reverse-engineering of AutoCAD's format, we must admit that other software, such as TurboCAD and Microstation, seem to have been able to accomplish this rather handily. I am not intending to imply that this is not a difficult task, nor am I volunteering to take it on! I just have to be able to edit DWG drawings and send them back to other users. In one case recently, my editing added so many 'proxy objects' that the entire drawing had to be re-drawn from scratch. People were not happy with me about that one!

Has anyone had good results in importing complex 3d drawings? Are there any clever tricks? I have spent some time on the tech support line with David and Jim, trying to work this out. Any additional help would be most welcome.

Thank you in advance.