Importing topo drawings

[Anonymous]

Is there a way to import a topo/contour drawing into archicad to create a 3d/slab drawing ?

I'm working in Archicad 8. I know it's a dinosaur, but I haven't updated yet.

[Anonymous]

As I recall back in AC8 the best way to import DWG was to open it by itself first in ArchiCAD. Then clean it up (civil drawings typically have a huge abundance of layers) and merge it into the working project file.

The clean up usually amounts to throwing out or hiding all the unwanted stuff and putting the rest onto a single layer. This can then be copy/pasted into the project model or saved as a module and merged/placed that way.

For referencing you can have it on the same story and lock the layer, or put it on another story shown as ghost (assuming AC8 has the ghost story feature - I can't recall for sure).

Of course placing the DWG onto a referenced worksheet is much nicer but that requires an upgrade from version 8.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply Matthew,

I have the file in DWG, and PDF formats, but when I try to open the DWG file the "unsupported file format" box comes up on the screen. Is there a set of directions you recall for opening a DWG ?

Hoping to upgrade in a couple months, this last year has been a b%$#h, and I'm just getting a steady flow of jobs back in the office.

[Karl Frost]

The DWG file format is probably too recent for AC8 to handle - you might have to ask your consultant to supply the DWG in an older format (2000 or earlier).