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Autocad 2010 dwgs


teaguejb

Question

I am working on a project with a design company that just upgraded to Autocad 2010. Naturally, I wouldn't be able import a dwg saved in AC2010 format. However, when the company sends me older formats (2000, 2004, 2009) saved from Autocad 2010, VW2009 will not recognize the file. When I try to import one of these, I either get the OpenDWG Error 8, or VW just crashes during 'preprocessing.' I even tried converting the files myself using Autodesk's free TrueView utility. Same problem. I've tried restarting windows (...if in doubt...). The really puzzling thing is that I've received files from this company before and never had problems. According to them, every file they have ever sent to me was created with Autocad 2010. What's going on here? I'm going to post the files I was sent. Maybe someone can have a look at these.

Jason Teague

P.S. using Vectorworks 2009 SP4

Edited by teaguejb
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19 answers to this question

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Thanks to all who responded to this post. Thanks especially to Darrell, aka Ozzie, who was able to open the files in Autocad 2006 and convert them to dxf files.

Does anyone have an idea why this might have happenned? Is Autodesk intentionally making things difficult for users of other CAD systems? Does this problem indicate that there is something wrong with the way OpenDWG works? Is this just something VW users are going to have to live with?

I figured this would be a good time to open this can of worms. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts about this.

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Jason - Ray is correct - it is not a can of worms - probably just a strange file

We import AutoCAD files all the time and rarely have problems

So all is good

Ray - I imported them both again - the trick

To start the import you have to hold your left ear lobe with your right thumb and left pointer finger, press the left mouse button with your nose and exactly at that moment shout 'VECTORSCRIPT' really loud

Try it and tell me if it works for you

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I am on a Mac.

Okay,so now that Vectorworks 2010 is available, how does one import autocad 2010 files? Apparently, VW 2010 does NOT yet have that ability. I work in an office that uses AutoCad 2010 and need to be able to easily import those files. It's too much of a chore and not practical to ask that all the latest files be saved in an older format.

I now have to use DWG TrueView 2010 under a Windows Virtual machine, which does work, but is a royal nuisance, and very slow.

Any help on this would be appreciated. I would love to buy DW 2010, but hesitate unless there's a simple way to import those new autoacad files.

Thanks...

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You need to have them save down to an older DWG version. There is a setting in Acad where you can set the default DWG save version to something older than 2010. That way they won't have to save a special version for you. I've had good luck with 2004.

FYI- Only last week the ODA released a beta version of the DWG2010 spec for the rest of us non-Autodesk users (VW included). ODA Announces DWG 2010 Support

So it's no surprise that Vw2010 cannot import DWG2010 files, yet.

Regards,

Tim

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I now have to use DWG TrueView 2010 under a Windows Virtual machine, which does work, but is a royal nuisance, and very slow.

Do you use True view only to view the files...in that case I found this which I now use in Leopard instead of Trueview on my old PC.:

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/downloads.htm

Won't help in exporting/importing though :)

Edited by Vincent C
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Thanks, Tim.

All of the AutoCad files (old and new) are on a company server that I have access to. The expectation is for me to access the files for further modification. It's simply not practical to have the files saved in current and "older" versions just because I'm not using AutoCad. So, I guess for now I'll need to convert the file via TrueView 2010 for at least next few months. I just wish the process was faster, but at least it does work so I should not complain too much. Now, if AutoDesk would produce a Mac version of TrueView...

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Vincent,

I use TrueView to CONVERT the file, which at this time (I think) is the only application that allows the conversion. As I said, a Mac version would substantially simplify the routine, but I don't think this is a priority for AutoDesk. Although, I understand they're working on a mac version of AutoCad (or so it's rumored). If they support the mac platform, I suspect their peripheral apps would be written for the mac, as well (maybe)...

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OK then this program is of little use......however have you considered Parallel Desktops? (I'm quite sure there are commercial converters for Mac too) Should be worth the money if you frequently change between the 2 programs/os's........ I still use Bootcamp but then i rarely use AutoCAD. I'm sure SP1 for 2010 will include conversion from AC 2010 ;)

Edited by Vincent C
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I should have mentioned that I do run Windows XP Pro on my mac under VM Fusion. Like Parallels, I can have have both Windows and Mac applications running. However, on my MacBook Pro, I find that having Windows open (running in the background) takes up lots of memory causing applications to slow down at times. Unfortunately, my 14 month-old computer will only hold 4 gig of ram. The new ones will hold 8 gig, which would be more efficient for those of us that need to run two operating systems and some memory-heavy applications simultaneously.

I think you're correct in that SP1 will support the importing of AC 2010. I'm sure there must be others that are working in offices that are dominated by AutoCad and need an efficient way to exchange files between AutoCad and Vectorworks. We all want (and sometimes need) the latest and greatest software, but it can be pretty disappointing when the newest versions don't work as hoped.

Look at Snow Leopard in that it supports VW 12, but not VW 2009 (or so I have read). I've been using 12.5 for some time now, but look forward to upgrading to 2010, which I'm sure is happy under Snow Leopard, right?

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I was able to import both files easily and had no real trouble with any crashing or anything like that. I opened a new standard drawing and went to file > import > import dxf/dwg... I selected the autocad drawing and set up custom import options. The custom options i set up were fit to 1:1 scale, center after import, map colors to line weights, set colors to black and white, and convert dimensions to groups. It took maybe a minute or so but it imported succesfully and I moved everything to fit with in the paper space with no problems. The only issue is that the files are too large to post.

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