We all know the limitations of importing and exporting DWG files. However, I can generally import DWG drawings successfully, the main limitation being the stripping out of text entities. Similarly, when I have been asked for DWG exports, they have usually been accepted. But this time things are different.
The saga starts with a topo survey produced in DWG. I imported that and overlaid it with new elements. An arboriculturist, who is not an able CAD user, imported the topo and overlaid it with his tree data. He exported that, again in DWG.
We need to amalgamate all three drawings into one master drawing with layers switchable. Easy enough when everyone works in Autocad.
When I try to open the arboriculturist’s drawing in QCad, I have difficulty revealing anything other than part of the titleblock. If I open his drawing in SU, I get much the same. And yet all his layers import.
If I send him my overlay in DWG exported format, he seems to have difficulty importing it. Whichever way we turn, we both hit roadblocks. AI has failed to find the problem.
I would upload drawings here but there is client confidentiality involved.
Thanks for that. But that is just a viewer. I can look at the drawing in QCad or import it into SU. The issue is that the DWG is very odd. You don’t see everything when you open it, just the title block (and only part of that). You have to fiddle around to see all of it. I think that may be the result of the arboriculturist’s input overlaying the drawing and then re-outputting it. He accepts that he is not fully CAD capable. I will upload what that viewer shows, which is similar to, but a slightly garbled, version of what I can already view with software I have. What I need is either for him to be able to import my export or for me to be able to manipulate his export. Neither seems to work at present.
I think the problem has been found. That titleblock was in Model Space and was wildly distorting the scale of the plan, making it hard for SU to handle. The site can just be seen in the screenshot as a tiny dot in the bottom left hand corner. I think the problem was that the originator, who is not a seasoned CAD operator, must have imported the block in the wrong place. That was also creating a problem for him when he imported my exported drawing as he couldn’t make the two marry up. Thanks to @adam for helping resolve this.
As an addendum to this saga in case it is of use to others, I found that exporting from Layout and from SU in 2D were not very useful to another CAD user. Using 3D export on SU retained all layers and colouring. It is not immediately obvious that you should use 3D for a 2D drawing.
