Help! Importing .DWG Files in Inventor Doesn't Work For Me

[Anonymous]

Hello:

Being a total newbie to Inventor, I find that drawing splines is very clumsy with this program (at least compared to 2D vector applications like Adobe Illustrator).

I looked up the file formats that both programs could export to/open so I already knew about DWG files, DXF and IGES as well as a few others that 3D Studio Max (another program I use) could export to.

But each time I tried to import them into Inventor (as in the helpful video here: http://youtu.be/R792lFPnCjc  ), I got the following two error messages one after the other:




Error message 1:

A copy of the DWG is being made. Unsupported AutoCAD imnformation may be removed when saved as an Inventor Fusion document.


Error message 2:

The file does not contain any Inventor Fusion entities.




Then nothing appeared in the Inventor window.


And these files were just simple shapes (a circle and a square) to test out whether this would work, so it was nothing too complex by any means.

I also loaded them into 3DS Max and then re-exported them to various files types that Inventor is supposed to read just to see if it was an Illustrator-specific problem but still... nothing appears in Inventor.


So... does it look like my Inventor copy is broken somehow and needs re-installing?

Some other thing I am doing wrong?

Just totally lost, here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Tom

P.S: I am using:

Adobe Illustrator CS 5.1

3DS Max 2011 32-bit

Inventor Fusion 2013

[JDMather]

Attach file here that exhibits this behavior.

First it should be tested to make sure it will open on other installs of Fusion.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for replying, JD:

 Here are the files I exported directly from Illustrator to DXF and DWG as well as the same formats exported from 3DS Max.

None of them opened up in Inventor Fusion.



 I hope that you (or another person) can tell me what I am doing wrong or if it is a bug in my version of Inventor.

Thanks again.
Tom

PS: The one remaining file will be in the follwing seperate post following this one.

[Anonymous]

...

[Macro.Liu_Autodesk]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for all the information you shared! I assume you're working on Inventor Fusion.

When importing DWG file in Inventor Fusion, only 3D Solid/Surface/Block will be remained and copied to the new created Fusion DWG file, while all the other unsupported geometries, like 2D sketch objects, will be removed. The prompt message you see is actually indicating that.

So it means you can only import the DWG file which contains 3D Solid/Surface/Block to Inventor Fusion. If there's only some 2D sketch objects in that file (and that is the case for all the files you attached), nothing will be copied to the new Fusion file and the Fusion file will have nothing.

BTW, if you want to reuse some of the 2D sketch objects from those DWG files, you can:

1. Open that DWG file in AutoCAD

2. Select the 2D objects, Ctrl + C to copy

3. Launch Inventor Fusion and new a document

4. New a sketch on the plane you want

5. Right click in graphic window and choose the last item 'Paste AutoCAD Geometry'

Hope this could answer your question.

Thanks,

Macro Liu

Inventor Fusion QA Team

Please make this response as "Accept as Solution" if it answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hello, Marco:

Thank you for replying to my question.

 Again, being a newbie - but especially me being an "art guy" -  a lot of what you said went over my head. But I did understand that basically, I can't do what this video said would apply to all Autodesk applications:  http://youtu.be/R792lFPnCjc

 What I did not try was opening up  the DWG file in AutoCAD. Maybe that would work.

 Could I then copy the imported DWG file from AutoCAD into Inventor Fusion? I will try doing that and see if that will work.

 If you have any other suggestions, I would love to hear them because because as good a prpgram as I have heard that Inventor Fusion is,  I really cannot work with its spline drawing tools.

Thank you again, Marco!

[Anonymous]

Well, I was able to open a DWG file exported from 3DS Max into AutoCAD but copying and pasting it into Inventor only worked when I extruded the DWG splines into an object.

THEN I copiedthe obkect and pasted that into Inventor Fusion.

 Is it supposed to be that difficult?

 I had a thought - could this DWG failure be due to the fact that I have an educational version of Inventor Fusion?

 IF not, could someone please get back to me as to why opening a DWG file isn't working?

Thank you.

[Macro.Liu_Autodesk]

Hi Tom,

As I described in my first reply, you can copy 2D objects from AutoCAD to Inventor Fusion directly. The steps are as below:

1. Open that DWG file in AutoCAD

2. Select the 2D objects, Ctrl + C to copy

3. Launch Inventor Fusion and new a document

4. New a sketch on the plane you want

5. Right click in graphic window and choose the last item 'Paste AutoCAD Geometry'

And, you can go to http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/fusion/downloadform to download Inventor Fusion 2013.

BTW, Spline is in our future plan!

Thanks,

Macro Liu

Inventor Fusion QA

[Anonymous]

Hello Marco:

 Thank you again for your reply but I did follow your steps exactly as you described them the first time you replied but:

copying and pasting the 2D objects from AutoCAD does not work. Nothing appears in my Inventor Fusion window when I try to paste them. Nothing.

 The only way anything shows up in my Inventor Fusion window is:

1.  I FIRST extrude those 2D objects in AutoCAD THEN

 2. copy those extruded objects (now 3D objects) then paste them into an Inventor window.



 If I try to just copy and paste the non-extruded 2D objects exactly as you described, nothing appears in my Inventor Fusion window.

 So again, I think there may be something wrong with my copy of Inventor Fusion if the steps you described are supposed to work.

 Please let me know your thoughts on this as I am at a loss as to why this is not working for me.


Thank you,
Tom

[Macro.Liu_Autodesk]

Hi Tom,

Copying 2D objects from AutoCAD to Inventor Fusion Sketch environment should be working.

If possible, please go to http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/fusion/downloadform and download the latest Windows version.

When you install this version, there should be a 'plug-in for AutoCAD' along with Inventor Fusion on the install page. Please install that as well (it'll be checked by default as the attached video shown)

Then you can try to do Copy/Paste 2D objects again. If it still doesn't work for you, please record a video and share with me.

Thank you for your time!

Macro Liu

Inventor Fusion QA Team

[Anonymous]

Hello Marco:

 Thank you for your reply once again, but:

 Even though I downloaded my previous version of Inventor Fusion only one week ago, I uninstalled it (along with the Autodesk DWG plug-in that came with it) before I downloaded the latest version from the link you provided.

 When I launched the Autodesk_Inventor_Fusion_2013_Win_32bit.exe installer, I did not see the Inventor Fusion plug-in option that was on the screenshot that you provided - only the Autodesk Inventor Fusion 2013 was there.

 Now, I have the latest version that still has the same problem (I tested it twice just to be sure) and I also noticed that now I don't have the Autodesk DWG plug-in that I removed before installing the latest version from your link.

 Can you provide a solution as to why this is happening?

Thank you.
Tom

 

[Macro.Liu_Autodesk · Accepted solution]

Hi Tom,

That's my fault. I thought there would be a plug-in for AutoCAD in that installer, while it turns out that's not the case. My apologize!

Are you still able to get the previous installer(contains the plug-in for AutoCAD)? If yes, you can just run to install the plug-in again, and then please share a video of what you did with me. I'll look into that.

You can attach it here or mail to me at: LiangDOTLiu@autodeskDOTcom directly if you want.

Thanks,

Macro Liu

Inventor Fusion QA Team

[Anonymous]

Hello, Marco!


Thank you again for sticking with me through this problem. I really appreciate it.

Well, I am glad that is was not something I did wrong. Unfortunately, no, I don't have the previous installer. Would it be possible if you were to email that plug-in directly to me or post it here?

 I will send you a copy of this post with my email included.

 As for posting a video, I don;t have the software to make videos so I can't send you one, unfortunately.

Thank you!
Tom

[Anonymous]

Thanks to your help in your email to me, my problem has been solved.

Thank you very much, Maro! 

[Anonymous]

Hello Maro or Tom,

I got the same problem, maybe you can post the solution here?

Thank you

Martijn

[Anonymous]

Hi Martijn:


 I have tried to attached a video that Marco was kind enough to email to me but unfortunately it is in a .SWF format and for some bizarre reason, this forum can't accept that file type. Maybe if you contact Marco, he can send it to you.

 But here are the steps that are shown in the video:


 If you open your DWG file in AutoCAD:

1. select the shape

2. COPY the shape to your clipboard

3. Go to Inventor Fusion

4. Choose the Create New Sketch command

5. Then paste the shape  and it should appear.

 I didn't do step number 4. (Create New Sketch) and because of that, when I pasted the shape into a totally blank Inventor Fusion window, nothing appeared for me.

 In every other software application I have used, if you paste something that is on your clipboard, it will appear but that isn't the case with Inventor Fusion.

 Maybe there is some reason that the tech people have set it up this way but it was quite frustrating that you have to go through this very non-intuative step to paste something.

 I hope this helps, Martijn. Good luck!

[Macro.Liu_Autodesk]

The size of the video is a little large for the forum and it can't be attached here.

While you should be able to do that if you follow the 5 steps in Tom's reply. And as indicated by Tom, 'Create New Sketch' is a key step here. This is to ensure you to copy the objects to the plane you want.

Thanks,

Macro Liu

Inventor Fusion QA Team

[Anonymous]

hello macro, i also having the same problem as tom here...please help me...