DWG/DXF Font Conversion File?

[Thomas Holm]

I usually Import or Merge DWGs, but this time I'd like to Place it as an external drawing. Thus I run into the font issue - I don't like seeing the Autocad TXT font that's too thin on the Mac, so i want to exchange it for Arial Narrow.

Since the placed Drawing is an uneditable entity, i need to do this at translation time. So I read the Help file about the Font Conversion File:

"A default version of this dictionary is installed during ArchiCAD installation. It is country- and platform-dependent but otherwise standard. You may wish to duplicate and alter the default dictionary."

Now please tell me: Where the f is it???

[Thomas Holm]

Lasercad's eminent support person Ben Odonnell gave me the solution, see the attached image that I take the liberty to reproduce, since I can't find this location in the Archicad Help.

[Thomas Holm]

Houston, we have a problem!
I was a bit hasty in my last reply in this self-conversation. Didn't test before posting
The font conversion function needs an .xml flie (as stated in the Help section).
But the file supplied is a .txt file. And the dialog refuses to let me select a .txt. Its the same in the AC11 INT and the SWE versions.

What gives?
Is nobody using this function?

[Eduardo Rolon]

Have you tried just changing the extension to XML intead of txt. AFAIK a XML file is just a text file.

[Brad Elliott]

I'm on 10 and I don't know about the txt file but can't you just set the font in the Font-style conversion window in the DXF-DWG Translation Setup? I've done it before with success.

[Thomas Holm]

ejrolon wrote:
Have you tried just changing the extension to XML intead of txt. AFAIK a XML file is just a text file.

At home now, I'll test that tomorrow. I know it's a text file, but like HTML I thought it had to be formatted in some special way to be interpreted as XML.

Whatever I think it's a shameful error to distribute the program with a template conversion file in the wrong format! Somebody should have noticed this before, AC11 has been in circulation for 6 months now.

On the other hand, if a text file will do, why ask for an XML? This reeks!

[Thomas Holm]

Brad wrote:
I'm on 10 and I don't know about the txt file but can't you just set the font in the Font-style conversion window in the DXF-DWG Translation Setup? I've done it before with success.

I thought so but it didn't work when I tested. It seems Autocad Styles are not equivalent to Fonts. (But then, why have the ability to translate styles to fonts? Or is it fonts to styles that's meant?)

It's fully possible that I did something wrong though. But when I entered TXT as the Autocad "style", and Arial as the Archicad "font", nothing happened.
Another source of confusion might be that I don't know if this option works both ways (although "Font conversion file" does according to the Help text).

This is one of the important reasons for separating the import and export translators - some options only work one way, and it's not always clear which case applies. (Wish poll posted).

[Eduardo Rolon]

Software make our life easier… perish the though.

As I tell my students in software A+B is not necessarily equal to B+A and if it is it may be a coincidence.

[Thomas Holm]

Software make our life easier… perish the thought.

What I'd really like is the person at Graphisoft who is responsible for this chapter to come forward and explain. Or at least point to some more thorough documentation of the process.

[Anonymous]

I never thought that INT or USA users with standard western encodings would have such a problem. I found back in ArchiCAD 7 there were in the Greek version some conversion files (XML? I can't remember) character by character for the DWG/DXF translator so the encoding was right and you could change the font manualy later. There are no such files after AC7 and I could not make the old ones work with newer versions. Everything usefull here is in my full interest.
PS. XReadcfg.txt in the addons folder has to do with the conversion of text codings in texts, part names, even dialogues inside archicad UI between MACs and Windows. I am in Greece so when I work with some greek libraries when this txt is wrong I see cyrillic Chars instead of the greek ones or the dates (in greek as my system) show ?????/???? etc.
PSS. I can find the old files and attach them here. They are not my work I think it is the greek translator of ArchiCAD that owes the copywrites but if anyone interesting in these I will call and ask him.