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AutoCAD .dwg/.dxf import


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I have had a periodically recurring problem when importing .dxf's or .dwg's from AutoCAD (any version).

I will import an AutoCAD drawing (.dxf or .dwg ) into a new VW drawing. This seems to work fine. I will then try to copy elements from the imported drawing to an existing drawing. When pasted, these copied objects are visible but untouchable (can't grab 'em or select 'em), and when grouped, they disappear completely. Scary.

I have tried having the AutoCAD drawings exported as previous versions, exploded to lines...everything I could think of. I have also ungrouped everything, converted to lines, and purged all in an effort to make it work. Unsuccessful.

In the Architectural (or any) building design field, interaction with AutoCAD is a necessary (and unavoidable) evil. This must work! Don't know where the problem lies, but I suspect misunderstood ACAD objects...

Anyone experienced this? Ideas...?

My config. is as follows:

G4/400, 192ram, OS 9.0.4, VW 8.5.2

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Your problem is in the classes! the items are going onto a class which is visible , but unusable. Change to Snap/see all classes. When you group, the grouped object is going to an invisible class, Probably "none" or "import". The classes are a little confusing - good luck!

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rob@rojoarchitecture.com

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I've experienced the same problem with grouping elements of a .dwg/.dxf import and having the group disappear within a VW document when AutoCad imports are broken-down by Classes instead of Layers. If you make all classes show/snap/modify you can see and select the "missing group". The info panel will then tell you which class the "missing" group is located in. However, if you then show active class only and select the class the info panel indicated the "missing" group is in, the group is not visible. I get around this problem by never using the original import document as my working document. The original import document is simply a holding place until I then cut and paste the useful information into my actual working VW doucment. Even then I still test groups I suspect may have been AutoCad symbols (or whatever they call them) just to be sure the elements have lost any "intelligence" they may have once had.

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  • 1 year later...

In order to see the objects in a group or symbol, they must be in a visible or active class, and the group or symbol itself must be in a visible or active class. If they are set to different classes then the "active only" menu option for classes will make them all invisible.

To make sure the objects are visible, make sure all the necessary classes are set to visible in the class dialog, and make sure you are not in "active only" mode.

If you suspect there is a bug making things be set to invisible when they are really not, use the Custom Visibility command to show "all objects".

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quote:

Originally posted by jodawi:

In order to see the objects in a group or symbol, they must be in a visible or active class, and the group or symbol itself must be in a visible or active class

Jodawi,

This is generally true; however, when you paste an object into a saved view context in which its class is invisible, the object does appear on the screen. You just can't select it.

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You're right. I'll add this to the buglist if it's not there already. To make it have the proper visibility you can just open the class dialog and click ok on it without making any changes. This will go through the document and reset the visibilities of everything.

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quote:

Originally posted by jodawi:

I'll add this to the buglist if it's not there already.

Thanks for responding. It is not entirely a bad thing that the entity shows up on the screen under these circumstances. At least you know that the paste was executed! If I may suggest, the way to improve the situation would be to launch a dialog box that says, "You are pasting an object whose class is not visible. Do you wish to make this class active? -> Yes, or Cancel." Automatically activating the class, as you point out, would make the object selectable. Then, we would have the ability to assign a different class to the object, which is often what you end up wanting to do.

[This message has been edited by P Retondo (edited 08-05-2001).]

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  • 3 years later...

Is there any way to temporarily make all classes visible? I sometimes lose objects, cant remember the class and have a devil of a time locating the thing. It often happens when copying and pasting from other drawings. I know its just because the class of the object is set to invisible but its still a time waster. There has to be a fst way of finding stuff thats disappered?

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