Christiaan Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 (edited) Can Strucad export to 3D DWG or IFC? I've asked a steel fabricator but he says he can't. Well he says they DWG files he sent me are in 3D but they're flattened graphics. Are there instructions on the net somewhere I could point him too? Edited November 5, 2012 by Christiaan Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 I don't have time to model them myself. I've checked them in conventional way, by manually checking levels and dimensions. But it would be nice to be able to insert them into my model. I don't need the connections, can't he turn them off before exporting? Do you know if Strucad can export 3D DWG? Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 So you don't know if Strucad can export 3D DWG? Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 Sure, except we're not doing BIM. We're modelling a project in 3D and deriving traditional 2D documentation from the model. That's about it really. The structural engineer is providing 2D DWG files, which we reference in and check the traditional way. It just so happens that the steel fabricator uses Strucad so I was hoping to get 3D steelwork off him. That way I can double-check his output and don't have to model the steelwork myself. Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 I hope they do. Right now, however, we're at a point where we're introducing the concept of BIM to them. Quote Link to comment
Chris D Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 I've just got a package of 2D DWGs from StruCAD too...along with a tantalising PDF version of the 3D model that the fabricator has built. Now we don't have a 3D model to insert it into anyway...but it just seems such a waste that I have to check the steel fabrication design manually by importing every single DWG export of theirs... BIM will be a better way! I don't think StruCAD is going places though. I think Trimble bought it for the subscribers rather than the software. Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 I've just got a package of 2D DWGs from StruCAD too...along with a tantalising PDF version of the 3D model that the fabricator has built. Exactly! Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 So what's the verdict on 3D output from StruCAD? If it's available how can I explain to the steel fabricator how to output 3D model geometry as opposed to flattened 3D isometrics? Anyone know? Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Phoned Tekla and they said v16 will output IFC and any earlier version can output 3D DXF. Now, just to convince the fabricator that it's possible and how to do it! Quote Link to comment
din Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Christiaan, I've received 3D DXFs via Strucad from steel fabricators previously which I've been able to import into VW2009 and it's worked ok. The only issue is that the steel imports as heaps of 3D polygons which makes the file size pretty large. To reduce the impact on my master file, I referenced the steel structure in from a separate VW file, but the section viewports in the master took a long time to regenerate - this was probably a combination of all the 3D polygons and referencing in the steel model. Maybe 2013 might handle this better. Quote Link to comment
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