import DWFx and oda platform error

[markymarc]

Can Vectorworks import DWFx at all ? It seems there is only a DWF import option, and when using that on this file (it's a basic 3D model) it gives me an ODA Platform error. If it can't import this file type, is there a way to convert it online somewhere ? 

Cheers 

Marc

 

(Vectorworks Architect 2020 on Mac Catalina

iMac 2017 4.2 GHz QuadCore i7, 32 GB DDR4, Radeon Pro 580 8 GB  Retina 27")

[Art V]

 

8 hours ago, markymarc said:

If it can't import this file type, is there a way to convert it online somewhere ? 

 

VW can only import DWF at the moment.

 

You can get ODA Drawings Explorer from the ODA website, it can open DWFx files and then save them to DWG or export then into another format e.g. DWF or whatever other supported format you prefer.

It can open and save/export other file formats as well (e.g.to convert DGN to DWG)

(save and export are two different options in the file menu with different support of file formats)

 

The ODA Drawings Explorer can be found at the following link for the ODA website

https://www.opendesign.com/guestfiles/oda_drawings_explorer

 

ODA Viewer and ODA converter can be nice to have as well, ODA converter to e.g. batch convert DWG files from one version to another version of the DWG format.

 

It's available for Windows and Mac and Drawing Explorer also for Linux. And it's free too.

Edited September 26, 2020 by Art V

[markymarc]

Thanks @Art V

That's great to know. 

I downloaded the ODA drawings explorer, and it opened the dwfx but wouldn't let me save it or re-format it, unfortunately  - so an issue way outside Vectorworks. But hopefully for the next one this may work 🙂 Cheers

[Art V]

Hi Markymarc,

 

Too bad it didn't work. After all if it can read the file it should be able to resave it as DWF. I tested with a dwg file (because I didn't have a DWFx file at hand) to see if it could save as DWFx and it could, so I assumed it would then be able to resave a DWFx as DWF.

 

Just tested with the exported DWFx and the really weird thing is that the Drawing Explorer can read any DWG file and export it as DWFx, and it can read the exported DWFx but then it cannot re-export or save it into another format. That is something that I didn't expect, so hopefully ODA will find a way to solve this.

 

I did a quick search for a converter and apart from Autdesk products this Mac program showed up:

https://www.file-extension.org/associations/mcdwiff-for-mac but it seems the website is no longer functioning. Maybe you can find it is some online Mac software archives.

 

Other options could be:

https://www.reaconverter.com/convert/dwfx_to_dwf.html

https://products.aspose.app/cad/conversion/dwfx-to-dwf which is an free online converter. You may want to read their terms and conditions first to see what they do with your file.

 

What I haven't tried but might work is to get Autodesk DesignReview (and the required DWG TrueView) installed in the Windows virtual machine if you have one and DesignReview may be able to resave the DWFx to DWF.