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Multidiscipline office with VW and ACAD stations... advice please :)


TDWrks

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Just started working in an office with both ACAD engineering and VW design stations and I'm struggling a bit with interfacing. I'm being tasked to help set up new office standards.

For now I'm concentrating on one-way communication (no back and forth, tho that would be nice).

Our ACAD drafters are willing to revamp they way they organize there workflow, but as is typical there are long term habits, CAD conventions, opinions, etc. Im guilty too: long time minCad/VW user with my own workflow.

If anybody has good experience with this, I'm all ears :)

Some specifics I'm trying to tackle:

--line wt. by color vs object

--discrepancies in intent of class/layer workflow

--xrefs

--vw layers

--3d data

--symbols/PIO/groups to blocks (and how they interact with acad layers)

Thanks,

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I'm not going to say much, as you are looking for "good experience". :/

Definitely have the VW operators use a dwg viewer to check what they are sending BEFORE confusion ensues. I prefer eDrawings from Solidworks. Also Microspot, progeCAD, and ACADViewer (for PC based), and new browser viewers...

Also, keep it simple, simple, simple...

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No others with "good experience?" ;)

I've got ACAD on my machine via parallels so I can check translation easily enough.

Really looking for first hand advice regarding workflow. My acad drafters prefer (insist) on color/lineweight by layer (read vw class).

I've played around with setting up a script to run just before export that will custom select/custom modify all objects by linewt. and convert to std acad colors. Issues:

--it seems that these tools (even though they say search within group, pio, symbol etc) won't convert items within "containers" unless exploded first, which causes a nightmare of line segments in acad.

--PIO's, e.g. a window, has multiple classes within and multiple linewts (by object in my case, but could switch to by class). I personally put all of this within a std door/wnd class by one color for organizational purposes. of course this scenario is completely counter-intuitive to my acad peeps... and generally ridiculed-- they with black screen and no line thkness ;)

-- what about linewt to color in dwg export dialog box? can ACAD easily select by color and dump into acad layers? If i keep my number of linewts down, its seems this might be the solution. how would hatches, groups, pios, symbols be effected?

Linewt by color is just one of many, many hurdles to cross. In the past I have never had any issues working with consultants on acad, tho sometimes some grumbling about layer org. (hey, I do the same grumbling when I import a survey). but honestly, while I'm anal about my drawing aesthetics, I'm not picky about the way the struct or mech engineers' work looks. Now I'm looking to create in-house drafting standards (linewt, text, materials graphics, det bubbles, callouts, titleblocks etc) as well as logical workflow (layer/class/viewport/x-ref organization) that work across both cad platforms and it seems nearly impossible.

One other item: what about effective use of the layer/class mapping tool? Or customizing the auto classing feature. I wish I could easily add a prefix (like "A-") to all import or exports. that would help. I have spent lots of time reassigning names to surveys for instance that could have had a simple "survey-" prefix so that all classes nest within.

Aarrgh.

Any, and I mean any suggestions greatly appreciated!

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A search of these forums for 'autocad' will give you a multitude of previous threads related to this topic. This is a perennial topic of conversation and one that doesn't yield simple answers or any consensus 'best practices'.

You may find that you need to simplify your Vw workflow in order to maximize compatibility with AutoCAD.

As Gytis advised, keep it simple.

  • Assign colors and lineweights per class, not per object.
  • Use only an AutoCAD standard color palette

Previous related threads:

Exporting to DWG with referenced files

exchanging files with Autocad DWG... and back into VW

Best Practices for organizing a Vectorworks file for export to AutoCAD

Trouble with Export to DWG (best practices with referenced files

Good luck.

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Thanks Tim, I'll review those threads...

I often draw linewt. by class anyway tho there are always overrides-- my drafters say fine as long as those items are in 0 class (acad layer). Haven't even attempted that, if its possible.

There's no way I'm going to start drawing in cyan and yellow ;)

Which is why I'm going to try and set up a series of scripts to automate a pre-export sequence.

pio's are a piece I'm still baffled by.

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Line weight by colour was necessary in the days of pen plotters in the last century but that need has long gone and Autocad moved to line weight by Layer a long time ago.

Classes are Vw's equivalent of Autocad's Layers and should be used to define the graphic attributes of objects. The exception is the None Class which is Vw's equivalent of Autocad's 0 Layer.

Vw's Layers are the equivalent of Autocad's Model Space. Autocad has only one Model Space whereas Vw can have as many as you like. This provides the ability to model and draw in separate environments that can be viewed as a whole when required. For example floors of a multi storey building that are assembled on top of each other as they would be in the built building.

Many years ago Robert Anderson (VP of Integrated Practice) suggested the best way to understand this is to think of Classes as being the what and Layers as being the where.

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Thanks Mike!

Yes, understood. Old habits die hard... all the acad drafters I know (many) may use linewt by layer, but individual layers are represented by a single color.

That's why I'm exploring class/layer mapping as a tool.

Robert is a great source! I miss his frequency on these forums... BTW I've been around on these boards since the 90's (just under different handles).

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Thanks Mike!

Yes, understood. Old habits die hard... all the acad drafters I know (many) may use linewt by layer, but individual layers are represented by a single color.

That's why I'm exploring class/layer mapping as a tool.

Robert is a great source! I miss his frequency on these forums... BTW I've been around on these boards since the 90's (just under different handles).

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Thanks Mike!

Yes, understood. Old habits die hard... all the acad drafters I know (many) may use linewt by layer, but individual layers are represented by a single color.

That's why I'm exploring class/layer mapping as a tool.

Robert is a great source! I miss his frequency on these forums... BTW I've been around on these boards since the 90's (just under different handles).

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I have worked with numerous outside consultants using Autocad and have developed CAD standards for Autocad and VW Landmark. I did want to address one item directly that you wished there was a way to add a prefix to imports. There is within the single DWG import dialogue. Additionally if you are using the Autocad files as background only have you considered importing them as a reference file. The resulting workflow could be something like, reference Autocad file with stationary name e.g. job#_mech.dwg and each time an update comes along simply overwrite this file. Place a copy of the CTB in the folder with the reference file that way the line weights will map to the desired setting.

Best of luck.

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