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Home / Open Cat Drawing in Autocad

Open Cat Drawing in Autocad

This task lets you quickly see how to import or to insert the 2D geometric data
contained in a DXF file into a CATDrawing document.
Once imported, the data can be handled and edited just as if they had been created
in a Drafting session using 2D geometry creation commands.
The table entitled What about the elements you import ? provides information on the entities you can import.
You can find further information in the Advanced Tasks:
  • Trouble Shooting,
  • Best Practices,
  • FAQ,
  • VBScript Macros
  • and in the Customizing DXF/DWG Settings chapter.

Statistics about each import operation can be found in the report file created.

Open your session (Open your CATDrawing document if you want to insert a DXF file.).

  1. To import an existing DXF/DWG file, select the File > Open items or
    To insert a DXF/DWG file in an existing CATDrawing document, select the Tools > Import From File.
    The File Selection dialog box is displayed:

  2. Select the .dxf/.dwg extension from the field called Files of type.
    All .dxf/.dwg files contained in the selected directory are now displayed.

  3. Click the .dxf/.dwg file of your choice.

  4. Click Open.

    • In import mode, a CATDrawing is created in session which contains all the geometry converted from the DXF/DWG file. This CATDrawing becomes the current document.
    • In insertion mode, the geometry of the DXF/DWG file is created in the current drawing.

Import of multiple viewports and layouts

If the model is referenced, at least partially, by one or several viewports, the model is not created in a sheet of its own.
Only layouts are created. They will contain eventual viewports.
In this case, select the option Keep model space to force the creation of the model space in its own sheet.
V5 does not create empty viewports or layouts.

In insertion mode, the first layout (or the model space) is inserted in the current sheet but it cannot be inserted in a detail sheet: if the current sheet is a detail sheet, new sheets are created.

Viewport with a not null twist angle (group code 51) are not correctly handled during import.

Format

V5 determines systematically and automatically the most suitable format (A0 ISO, A1 ISO, etc.)
for each sheet (layout) i.e. V5 chooses the smallest format in which the drawing can be totally included, in conjunction with the unit either chosen or automatically computed depending on the import options:

  • If the standard is ISO, V5 chooses the format among A0, A1, A2, etc.
  • If the standard is ANSI,  V5 chooses the format among A, B, C, etc.
  • If no standard format fits the sheet, the format is set to the largest one i.e. A0 ISO and
    made invisible with a message "No standard format can be applied to this sheet" in the report file.
  • If you are not satisfied with this automatic result, use the Page Setup command to modify the format.
  • The resulting views are automatically centered in the sheet and take the format into account.

Information on what has been determined automatically is written in the report file:

For more information on Formats,
see the Defining a Sheet chapter in the Generative Drafting User's Guide.

In insertion mode, when new views are inserted in the current sheet, this sheet will take the name of the corresponding DXF/DWG layout and the format of the sheet will be modified. So it is recommended to insert DXF/DWG files in a new sheet.

Code pages

DBCS (Double Byte Character Set) Supported Code Pages are:

  • 932 (Japanese)
  • 936 (Simplified Chinese)
  • 950 (Traditional Chinese)
949 (Korean) is not supported.

Customization

Import of a DXF/DWG file can be improved by customization:

DXF/DWG specific import settings are:

  • Standards. The lists of attributes are not the same in V5 and AutoCAD.
    A DXF mapping standard file is used to come as close as possible to the AutoCAD attributes,
    or to switch them to V5 attributes.
  • Unit of the file
  • Papers Spaces and Model Space
  • Create end points
  • Convert dimensions as

The definitions of dimensions are not the same in V5 and AutoCAD.
This option is used to give priority either to the graphic closeness or to the re-usability in V5.

To make sure the elements you need to handle in your session are those you expected,
here is a list presenting the DXF/DWG data supported  when imported into a CATDrawing file.

DXF/DWG element DXF/DWG sub-type  V5 element Notes

Geometry

point Point line Line ray None xline None circle Circle arc Arc ellipse Ellipse polyline/2D polyline/
lightweight polyline non adjustable width,
made of line segments Polyline Not editable in V5 non adjustable width,
made of line and arc segments segments and arc
with no structure Structure is lost adjustable width Filled area (pattern) Structure is lost fit curve Polyline mline Lines Structure and closing attributes are lost spline NURBS Not editable in V5 3D face none 3D solid none UCS none USER CO-ORDINATE SYSTEM is not taken into account

Annotations

text Text Mirrored text is not taken into account. mtext Text Changing fonts, changing attributes and
line break are not taken into account.
Text alignment is not taken into account.
Mirrored text is not taken into account. Arc aligned text none rtext none dimensions aligned,
linear and rotated,
radius and diameter,
angular,  ordinate (x or y) According to option:

dimension or

details or

geometry+texts

See dimensions

In a few "dimensions" cases, the text of the
dimension can be a text with an associative link

In all "dimensions" cases, the geometry support is
in No Show

leader Line + text DXF Leaders are imported as simple lines.
The arrow head and the line under the text are lost tolerance none hatch non-associative Filled area (pattern) associative Filled area (pattern) The contour of the hatch is created in the No Show
and the associativity is created with this hidden contour. solid Filled area (colored) block attribute Text Structures block Detail
(2D component) The details are created in a new Detail Sheet
named "Imported Details". insert (Block Reference) Ditto
(instance of 2D component) If the insert is defined with different scales,
on x-axis and y-axis, no detail instance is created
but only the geometry is transferred. external reference not supported group none The structure of the group is lost whereas its contents
is transferred viewport View see  above Layout (paper space) Sheet see  above OLE frame none proxy Detail The proxy is converted into standard elements (lines, arcs, texts, …) that are imported at the place of the proxy.
The proxy must contain its graphic representation.
The graphic representation must be consistent with the proxy. region none Attributes color Color see Standards Line weight Line thickness see Standards line type Line type see Standards point markers Point type Markers may be different since V5 and
AutoCAD do not have the same markers. layer Layer Invisible layers are gathered in a filter
named Invisible Imported Layers.

Visible layers are gathered in a filter
named Visible Imported Layers.

layer name When an AutoCAD layer has a name that corresponds to a number between 0 and 999, this layer will be imported as a V5 layer with the number associated:
  • if a V5 layer with the same number already exists, the AutoCAD layer is imported in this V5 layer, without changing its name.
  • if there is no V5 layer with the same number, the AutoCAD layer is imported in a new V5 layer, with the same name as in AutoCAD.

If the AutoCAD layer has a name that does not match any number in the available range, the layer is mapped on the first existing V5 layer that has the same name, or a new one is created on the first available V5 layer number with the AutoCAD layer name.

font Font see Standards Pattern Pattern Automatic mapping BYBlock attribute Attribute The value of the attribute of the block is
set to a default value BYLAYER attribute Attribute The value of the attribute of the layer is
applied to each element imported

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Source: http://catiadoc.free.fr/online/itfug_C2/itfugbt0301.htm

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