Are there any mac users out there that use a program like PowerCADD or Vectorworks that have to communicate with PC users on Autocad? What is your experience? Is this an old topic? Why am I finding it harder and harder to not have errors in file conversion? On MY end, the MAC end, files usually work, but it seems on the other end, the PC user, the autocad user, the DWF reader, THEY have problems. Why do i always find myself getting eff-ed in the @ss to make the DWFs, the DWGs, (not so much the PDFs, but sometimes) work for the "other side"!??
i deal with dwg/dxf imports all day long, and then have to export for all the other team members to read back in dwg/dxf format.
one thing that you might want to try, if possible, is to have a copy of autocad2004LT running on someones machine somewhere in the office. that way you can check all of your files BEFORE sending them out.
the big issues for me involve getting autocad objects that come in as symbols with embedded symbols inside them. make for challenging corrections because the symbols need to be declassified and regrouped before i can change the lineweights/colors/etc.
in general though, i'm regularly blown away at how seamless the translations CAN be if they're done cleanly. takes some effort though to get them to work, especially with text blocks, schedules, etc.
I'm having 2 major conversion issues. PowerCADD to DWG and PowerCADD to DWF.
We work on PowerCADD. We have to convert our drawings to .dwf for our clients to print and archive. So we've been converting our powercadd drawings to .pdf, then on a PC converting from .pdf to .dwf. This would be for an entire CD set. Once we compile all the sheets together in one DWF, the DWF file becomes this HUGE file. The people receiving this file have consistently come to me with issues that its not able to print, open, or it crashes.
So I want to try and convert from PowerCADD to DWG to DWF. Since it seems most Autocad users are able to convert to DWF no problem. But now I need to create a clean clean conversion from powercadd to DWG maintaining all the lineweights, layers, ect. I have the same problem as Mighty, symbols embedded with symbols needing to be degrouped and regrouped in order to control the lineweights.
To check our dwgs we have a PC running Autocad 2006 and 2007. Is 2004LT more universal or something?
So far, it seems like we have to be tedious in the way we use PowerCADD, with grouping, and layering, and using fills... which sucks, cuz that's part of the beauty of the program. And to have to worry about how its going to convert while drafting, just adds to the already maddness of making nice drawings.
one solution that might work is to save the file as DWG and open it in Illustrator, dont scale the drawing or do anything to it and save the file as a DWG from illustrator that might keep the file size smaller but still it is a two stage process until a better plugin comes out for PowerCADD
DWF, DWGs, conversion from Mac Drafting Programs
Are there any mac users out there that use a program like PowerCADD or Vectorworks that have to communicate with PC users on Autocad? What is your experience? Is this an old topic? Why am I finding it harder and harder to not have errors in file conversion? On MY end, the MAC end, files usually work, but it seems on the other end, the PC user, the autocad user, the DWF reader, THEY have problems. Why do i always find myself getting eff-ed in the @ss to make the DWFs, the DWGs, (not so much the PDFs, but sometimes) work for the "other side"!??
I dunno, we use PowerCADD (Producing DWG files) without too much trouble. What exactly is going on?
there are always translation problems.
i'm a vectorworks user who works on a mac.
i deal with dwg/dxf imports all day long, and then have to export for all the other team members to read back in dwg/dxf format.
one thing that you might want to try, if possible, is to have a copy of autocad2004LT running on someones machine somewhere in the office. that way you can check all of your files BEFORE sending them out.
the big issues for me involve getting autocad objects that come in as symbols with embedded symbols inside them. make for challenging corrections because the symbols need to be declassified and regrouped before i can change the lineweights/colors/etc.
in general though, i'm regularly blown away at how seamless the translations CAN be if they're done cleanly. takes some effort though to get them to work, especially with text blocks, schedules, etc.
are you a VW user?
I'm having 2 major conversion issues. PowerCADD to DWG and PowerCADD to DWF.
We work on PowerCADD. We have to convert our drawings to .dwf for our clients to print and archive. So we've been converting our powercadd drawings to .pdf, then on a PC converting from .pdf to .dwf. This would be for an entire CD set. Once we compile all the sheets together in one DWF, the DWF file becomes this HUGE file. The people receiving this file have consistently come to me with issues that its not able to print, open, or it crashes.
So I want to try and convert from PowerCADD to DWG to DWF. Since it seems most Autocad users are able to convert to DWF no problem. But now I need to create a clean clean conversion from powercadd to DWG maintaining all the lineweights, layers, ect. I have the same problem as Mighty, symbols embedded with symbols needing to be degrouped and regrouped in order to control the lineweights.
To check our dwgs we have a PC running Autocad 2006 and 2007. Is 2004LT more universal or something?
So far, it seems like we have to be tedious in the way we use PowerCADD, with grouping, and layering, and using fills... which sucks, cuz that's part of the beauty of the program. And to have to worry about how its going to convert while drafting, just adds to the already maddness of making nice drawings.
have no fear Rhinoceros is on the horizon
one solution that might work is to save the file as DWG and open it in Illustrator, dont scale the drawing or do anything to it and save the file as a DWG from illustrator that might keep the file size smaller but still it is a two stage process until a better plugin comes out for PowerCADD
Are the problems related to 2d or 3d files?
2-D files, w/ text multiple fonts, fills, multiple lineweights, hatches, dimension lines, polygons, pdfs placed in the dwg, allathat.
2-D files, w/ text multiple fonts, fills, multiple lineweights, hatches, dimension lines, polygons, pdfs placed in the dwg, allathat.
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