Convert to dwg - empty model space ?

[Achille Pavlidis]

i'm having a problem when convering from plotmaker to dwg. When i set the publisher to "export to paper space with full drawing content" i get a correct file with the layout in Autocad paper space and the drawing in model space. But, when i use the "paper space with cropped drawing content" i get the correct paper space as before and the model space is empty. Why is this happening?

[Aussie John]

It appears to be a bug

[Eduardo Rolon]

Actually I think it is working as it is supposed to. Paperspace views are "Windows" to the drawing located in ModelSpace. When you select the "Cropped Drawing" option you are choosing that the translator only include the specific Pspace view and that it should not include anything else so PM places all the lines in Pspace and Mspace is empty. With the other option the translator includes all the info.
OTOH I think the problem is the names of the options, if the first one was "paper space with full drawing content on model space" and the other was "all layouts to paper space only..." then we would not get confused.

[Achille Pavlidis]

so you to get an empty model space if saving with the first option "model space with cropped drawing content"? If so this is a serius bug because in paper space all the dimensions are alterated by the scale you set the placed drawing in plotmaker, which means that who gets the file has to rescale every time. The third option is also a problem because we often use huge drawings that we need to publish only a part, and to do so, i would have to manually open each plotmaker drawing and erase the unwanted part... extremely annoying!

[Aussie John]

Unfortunately saving with cropped model space give you nothing that can be imported back into plotmaker or Archicad so if it is a feature it is pretty worthless.

[Eduardo Rolon]

Achille wrote:
so you to get an empty model space if saving with the first option "model space with cropped drawing content"?...

This option will put the PM layout in AutoCAD's model space and there will be nothing in PaperSpace. This was the traditional way of working in AutoCAD R10 - R14 because even though AutoCAD introduced PSpace in R12 it did not start to get widely used until AutoCAD 2000. Dimensions will work fine the difference is that when you plot from AutoCAD with everything in MSpace you have to choose the drawing scale. The problem with this approach is that the drawings on this sheet all have to be at the same scale if not some drawings will have to be rescaled and the dim settings for those dwgs will have to be configured properly to reflect this (which the AC translator does). The AC equivalent for this option is when you do everything in AC and do not use PM for plotting or view handling.

The option of "paper space with cropped drawing" is the same as "MSpace with cropped..." except it puts all the info in PSpace so that when you plot from AutoCAD instead of choosing the scale of the drawing you plot at a 1:1 scale and all dims have to be configured correctly for different scaled drawings in the same PSpace sheet (which the AC translator does). The AC equivalent for this option is when you do everything in PM in 2D and never use AC.

"PaperSpace with Full drawing Content" corresponds to the standard way you should draw in AutoCAD where you create your drawing in Model Space and your Layout Sheet in Paper Space and you create "Viewports" from Pspace to different areas of the Mspace. Each viewport can have different scale settings and in R2006 different layers turned ON/OFF (without altering the original in Mspace) and you print the layout at a 1:1 scale. The idea behind this approach in AutoCAD was to make it easier to handle text and dims in AutoCAD so that all the fonts would have the same height which is/was one of the major problems of AutoCAD's drawing plus the ability to Xref a single Layout Sheet to multiple Pspace layouts and to avoid having to rescale parts of the MSpace drawing for details. The AC equivalent for this option is when you use AC to model and create different viewsets and you link the AC file to PM to create the drawing set as you should.

To answer Aussie John's import prob... You can actually import back regardless of the drawing being in Mspace or Pspace only, the trick is that if everything is in Pspace you have to use PM and if it is in MSpace then you use AC, the problem is that until you try and get an empty "Import" you don't know which one to use. The concept for this (as far as I have been able to figure out) is that AC links to Mspace and PM links to Pspace the prob is knowing where the info is in the AutoCAD drawing.

[Achille Pavlidis]

Achille wrote:
so you to get an empty model space if saving with the first option "model space with cropped drawing content"?

...sorry i meant paper space, and if i get it straight, the answer is "no". So the option "paper space with cropped drawing content" (the first of the three) doesn't exist... or it should be renamed "paper space with empty model space" and it is absolutely useless as it can be used only for plotting, were pdf is by far more a better option.

[Djordje]

Achille wrote:
So the option "paper space with cropped drawing content" (the first of the three) doesn't exist... or it should be renamed "paper space with empty model space" and it is absolutely useless as it can be used only for plotting, were pdf is by far more a better option.

It does exist in the 8.1 Translator, that is included in the 9 installation. You have to activate it manually.

[Achille Pavlidis]

please Djorge tell mh how!?!?!?!

[Djordje]

Achille wrote:
please Djorge tell mh how!?!?!?!

Load it as an AddOn. Go to AddOn Manager, find it in the C:\Program Files\Graphisoft\ArchiCAD 9\Goodies\DXF-DWG 2K In-Out folder, load it.

Mind you, AutoCAD 2000 only ...