Layout 2015 to DWG Export Issue List

LayOut
1

Hi Everyone,

I am no fan of DWGS but in the real world I still have to support other consultants who use them and cannot use only PDF’s.

So I have been stepping thru converting Layout pages to DWGS and you will find a list of issues I have uncovered in the process. I hope this helps any of you also trying to create DWGS and also any of the SU development team who can attend to some of these problems.

My own conclusion is just keep everything as simple as possible, and remeber that LO has some commands to simplify the drawing elements more simple before exporting.

I look forward to LO having RUBY scripts so that the brilliant SU Plugin developers can also ramp up the usability of Layout.

Sketchup Layout 2015 [LO] to Draftsight [DS] [Autocad] Exporting Issues

  1. LO export does not respect text justification – all exported text is left justified in DS
  2. LO autotext is not respected – exported text shows the autotext tag. Not the text
  3. Linetypes not respected – random scale and linetype changes
  4. Groups/ components in LO are individual entities in DS
  5. Dimensions are exploded into individual lines and text
  6. Fine lines in LO [.1pt] do not appear correctly in DS
  7. Exporting to dwg 2013 modelspace has problems
    a. Dimensions invisible in Modelspace [could not fix, but visible in Paperspace and when printed]
  8. Exporting to dwg R12 modelspace has problems [but seems better than 2013]
    a. Dimension text now visible - good
    b. Scale is 2 times to big [eg 1:100 comes in as 1:200] - manageable
    c. Dimension layer colour seems arbitrary – manageable
    d. Linework respects colour from LO, this can be used to filter in the dwg to select specific entities – good if LO structured accordingly
    e. Solid Fills convert to solid hatches - manageable
    f. Linework respects Linetypes but linetype scale will have to be edited [global linetype scale in DS] - manageable
    g. Curved leaders convert into complex polylines – not good
    Note – LO has simple command to convert back to straight leaders before exporting
    h. Circles convert into complex polylines – not good
    i. Some diagonal dashed lines in LO become complex polylines in DS – not good
    j. Text in LO becomes standard textstyle in DS – ie style is lost [manageable]
    k. Text height in LO is maintained in DS – good
    l. Labels with Autotext in LO convert to attribute blocks in DS and looses data – not good
    Note- LO can convert autotext to normal text before exporting
    m. Labels in LO convert to blocks in DS – maintain text style but formatting corrupted, tabs etc
    n. Italic Text in LO looses formatting and becomes standard text style in DS.
  9. Need to be really careful drawing lines in LO, it is easy to create curves, 3d polylines etc which only become obvious when exported

Hopefully others will also table their gotcha’s and workarounds here

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