Razzman Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 I live in a 99.99% AutoCAD world and can't figure this out, or get help from my manufacturer. One particular factory send me DWG drawings which will not scale. If I bring in a piece of equipment from one of these to a 1/2" or 1/4"th scale plan, these show up as little postage stamps. I have tried to create symbols, copy and paste, but still get the same thing. They have sent me DXF format and it's the same thing. They design everything in ProE and convert to DWG, so it's something in that process. Their answer is "it works in AutoCAD", but I can't import these successfully. Is there something I can adjust in the Import process? Is there something they can do in the Export? Thanks. Quote Link to comment
Guest Wes Gardner Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 Hey Razzman, Can you post up one of the smaller files to see if some of the folks here can have a go at it? Quote Link to comment
brudgers Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 Feet as the default unit? Quote Link to comment
Ray Libby Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 brugers is correct, you are most likely importing with incorrect units. Measure something you know the size of and do the math to find the correct units. It would help to answer if we knew your version of Vectorworks. It's best to create a signature with that info. Quote Link to comment
Razzman Posted November 19, 2009 Author Share Posted November 19, 2009 I have updated my signature. I do have a very small file to post if someone was going to review. How do I post this? Sorry. New to this forum. Quote Link to comment
Ray Libby Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Click on the Switch to Full Reply Screen button below, then use File Manager to upload files. Quote Link to comment
monkey Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 i have this all the time, usually its to do with what units you import in, i have had things in decameters before! on occasion i get a dwg that will not import correctly no matter what units i try, the solution to this is to find something you know the length of (may have to make a call to the person who sent you the dwg), find out what it is actually measuring once you import it, and then select all and use the scale objects command to either increase or decrease to scale. Quote Link to comment
Jonathan Pickup Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 when importing DXF/DWG, always ask for a PDF file so you can compare what you get in your Vectorworks. ASk for a few dimensions, so you can check the imported dxf. Never import into an existing document. that way, you can use the scale objects command and scale the entire drawing quickly. Quote Link to comment
Ozzie Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 All a bit confusing especially for newbies It is not really Scale that is being discussed Scales are things like 1 to 1, 1 to 10, 1 to 100 etc Or a thing you stand on to tell your weight What is really being discussed here is size or real size from known dimensions and resizing to them Makes me wonder if Scaling should really be called Resizing in this context Quote Link to comment
Razzman Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 Here is a sneeze guard structure that is 12 feet. If you see anything, it would really help me get this into 1/2" scale. I have dozens of files from this factory that I use to design cafeteria counters. Quote Link to comment
Ray Libby Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 I can't tell what the units are in the drawing, it doesn't seem to match anything. The closest that I could find is importing with the units as Feet. The sneeze guard measures 108", not the 144" as noted in the drawing. Opening in Autocad shows the same. In a blank file import the drawing. In the DXF DWG Import Options dialog box under Model Space Units>Units Settings In File: set to Feet. Under the Graphic Attributes tab I like to Set Colors to Black and White. Once the drawing is imported, dimension the same points as the 144 existing dimension. I have my drawing units set to inches so it reads 108". If your drawing units are set to feet it will read 9'. Select anything then go to Menu Bar>Modify>Scale Objects. In the Scale Objects dialog box check Symmetric By Distance. Enter 108" as Current Distance and 144" as New Distance. At the bottom check Scale text and Entire drawing. The sneeze gaurd will now measure 12' (144"). Quote Link to comment
Razzman Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 Ray: Thanks. I can now see by just changing my import setting option from "automatically" to "feet" right there improved the import quality. I also had struggled with Scale Object, so this was helpful tutorial. Thanks, Bill Rzasa Quote Link to comment
WhoCanDo Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 I find that scale objects works best after selecting all and changing symbol to group since symbols won't scale and many drawings I receive have symbol components. Quote Link to comment
Ray Libby Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Symbols will scale if you check Entire Drawing in the Scale Objects dialog box. You would not always want to scale the entire drawing, but in the case of a new .dwg import it works great. Quote Link to comment
monkey Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 i never ever trust VW to import things and choose the units automatically, NEVER, it always comes up with the wrong units, i receive lots of surveys from various companies, all of which use meters as their units, i know this because i have asked. VW seems to decide that things are in feet, inches, mills etc etc, it very rarely gets the meters unit right. Quote Link to comment
Kool Aid Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 My understanding is that for ?automatic?, VW reads the (optional) unit information of the file. Many applications include this in their DWG/DXF files; the most notable exception is AutoCAD?? Quote Link to comment
Kool Aid Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Here is a sneeze guard structure that is 12 feet. If you see anything, it would really help me get this into 1/2" scale. I have dozens of files from this factory that I use to design cafeteria counters. I scaled the entire drawing by 16 and seemed to get dimensions right. The factory obviously does not draw in real world dimensions. Find a better supplier. Quote Link to comment
brudgers Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I scaled the entire drawing by 16 and seemed to get dimensions right. The factory obviously does not draw in real world dimensions. Find a better supplier. 1:16 is 3/4" = 1'-0" A common scale for detailing. Releasing CAD files which exactly match paper documents to third parties is a sensible step toward reducing liability exposure. Quote Link to comment
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