Jump to content

IMPORTING HELL


Recommended Posts

I've found, espically with surveyors, that their files can be huge, my suggestion is to push you VW memory allocation up. start around 50 Mb and go up from there.

Also, see if your surveyor can delete some information that may not be revelent to you in order to reduce the file size.

Also, Have the surveyor save the file in version 12 or 13 formatt, I don't know if it will help, but after a while you end up trying everything.

Also, try to get a copy of the file on disk, we have had problems with document being E-Mailed, especially big files.

Good Luck.

Link to comment

As I am new to the Import/Export business I would appreciate some simple instructions. A local surveyor has been trying to email me a plan, both as a DXF and as DWG file, but whenever I try to open them my screen freezes and I have to shut down my computer. He is using Autocad 14 and I am using VectorWorks 8.5.with a G3 Mac. What are we doing wrong?

Link to comment

to import and export.....

importing is much easier than exporting. something to keep in mind is that most AutoCad work is done using Model Space and Paper Space. Read an AutoCad book to understand tham :-) my experience is that VW reads model space quite well and paper space rather poorly. which is no big deal since the primary use of paper space is for borders and titleblocks.

before starting an import process, allocate as much Ram to VW as you can.

start out with a blank document to import the DWG into. set the layer scale to 1/8.

you you probably get a message about drawing extents and layer scale not being compatible so it will ask you if yu want to set the layer scale, and of course you want to to do this. important step here; notice what scale is the default (it will be something wackey like 1"= 4.9576'), at this point, resassign the layer scale to the nominal layer scale. in this example it would be 1"= 4' or, 1/4 scale.

the line weight translation is next and you are prompted to assign line weights which i've found it easiest to do once the file is imported.

now that the file is imported, chances are that it will be really small on the 1/4 scale layer. determine what the scale of the drawing is supposed to be and reassign the scale to the layer. this will probably make the entities even smaller and may appear as a speck or be so large as to be off the page in the drawing. at this point all the entities will need to be scaled in oder for the drawing to be to scale. chances are the the entities will need to be scaled by a factor of 12. if the difference in scale is significant, do the scaling in 2 parts (i.e.- scale once at 6 times and again at 2 times) to achieve 12 times.

hope this helps.

Link to comment

Well put, thank you CADD Nark.

Also, Alora, for more information I have a link to the bottom of the message board that has Tech Support posts directly regarding .dxf querries.

http://www.nemetschek.net/cgi/ubb/forumdisplay.cgi?a ction=topics&forum=DXF(Read+only!!)&number=9&DaysPrune=1000&LastLogin=

Just click on the link above, or go to the main board page and look for the .dxf (read only) section at the bottom.

------------------

Brian O

Nemetschek North America

Technical Support Specialist

[This message has been edited by Brian O (edited 10-24-2000).]

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...