Autocad can't use PM9 dxf files???

[Rick Thompson]

I am moving the comments/questions below as they were originally under the topic Vectorworks, (http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=4406) but this has to do with Autocad and answers are still needed. He is trying to use AC9 dxf files saved with the PM9 default translator. If anyone knows how to solve this issue we would appreciate any suggestions.



Hello from Austin,

What Rich, the other Austin user, has been experiencing is the same I am with AutoCAD 2005. I just zoom extents out of habit. The drawing does only open in the paperspace window with no reference to it in model space. Once I cut and paste it into the drawing window, it is only a block. I have to explode the block to manipulate it but doing so explodes the entire drawing into about a billion 1/8" lines.

This doesn't serve the purpose intended. I would rather open a dwg drawing and work from that format than the dxf format.

Does this program have the capability of saving or exporting to dwg formats?

I can read rich's drawings from vectorworks in my autocad. I should think I could do the same for ArchiCAD.

Thanks for the input.

James Gobel

[Eduardo Rolon]

Does this program have the capability of saving or exporting to dwg formats?

Yes

All the other situations you are having can be fixed with the proper setup of the translator. The default one was created by graphisoft so you have to modify it to your particular situation. Also it is advisable to coordinate with the people you are sharing your data with to establish the best options and standards to share the drawings, this is true even if everybody is using AutoCAD.

As a starting point if you are exporting from PM09 these are some of the settings that you need to keep track of:
_ in the translator check units -inches, meters
_ in the translator check the save in paper space with full drawing content if you want to save the page layout to pspace and the drawing viewports to mspace.
_ in PM change the view settings to Hairlines- AutoCAD users are not comfortable with lines having width.
_ Send one file first to the person you are sharing the info with. Tell him to change the settings for the color of the layers, linetypes, fonts, units, viewres (do not change the layer names) to what he is used to. Then he can erase all the layouts and lines from the dwg. This file after you get it back will be set in your translator as the template file for all other settings for this project.
_ The only setting I have not being able to figure out is how to get the dwg lines to be exploded instead of having them as a group, but that is easily remedied in AutoCAD

Your problem with exploding dxf's and the millions of lines created is because of the dxf file format in which all fills or hatches are not one object but a collection of lines the same happens for plines, splines, circles and arcs since they are approximations of very short straight segments.

Hope this helps