Getting drawings from ArchiCAD project

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I need some drawings for a project that I'm writing. I contacted the architect, and it turns out he is using ArchiCAD, I think it was v6.5.

Now he gave me some "layout" files, (.LAY) on a CD, and though I don't use ArchiCAD normally I figured I could load it on the school's computers and export to PDF, for instance.

Now it seems like there is no actual drawing info in the files, the drawings just show as placeholders when I open the LAY files in PlotMaker.

I suppose I will have to go back to the office, but can anyone explain to me how i easily can get the drawings from their computers into some other format, because they won't give me the complete project for the building, of course. How to convert .LAY files into, for instance, PDF or some other, handy format?

David

[Anonymous]

It really is somewhat hard to help you without knowing what your capabilities are. One thing I can tell you for sure is, that unless you have PlotMaker, the .LAY files will be useless to you.

The architect with whom you are dealing is using old software and in all probability, old hardware as well. He could give you PDF's if he owns Adobe Acrobat. He should also be able send you EPS, PRN or PLT (plot) files, DXF or DWG files. Most of these you could open with a program like Adobe Illustrator and some with AutoCAD or most other CAD programs. You should be able to find a way to do this.

So... check out which of the file formats listed above, software that you own can open.

Woody