The Break Room (Non-Technical Discussions)

[#1]

Just tried downloading a drawing file for a pump to be used on a project. Only formats available were pdf or rfa. Last time the format was Inventor. I am tired of having vanilla Autocad unable to open other Autodesk file formats. Autodesk should offer a free conversion tool so that any product could use at least the geometry from another autodesk product. I shouldn't have to get a vertical product just to open and convert files.

[#2]

Who created the Pump drawing?

[#3]

Bell & Gossett

[#4]

They should provide you with a DWG: if not, there is probably a very good reason why they don't. Ask them to help you.

Same with REVIT for the rest of us: many in the AEC industry have started only providing them as symbols.

These newer blocks have more info in them than AutoCAD can use, it would mean they have to compromise which I suspect why they don't offer these DWG blocks and why there are no free conversion tools. No one wants to try and explain what got compromised and why to an end user for free.

My 2cents.

[#5]

More than likely it's because the mfr doesn't want to provide file formats for each and every cad program. The file is only 180KB so I can't imagine it has much info in it. I realize Bell & Gosset caters to the commercial bldg industry which has picked Revit as it's preferred choice and so they provide the file it the most requested format. I can and probably will request a DWG once the engineers decide exactly what pump they want. It's just fustrating that it can't be dealt with like the old proxy stuff. Any drawing should eventually boil down to some geometry...

[#6]

And in most cases they do. Revit wants to be its own beast.

EXPORTTOAUTOCAD is a "conversion" tool used from platform to platform to render "smart" drawing entities into dumb ones that can be used in 2D applications for instance.

[#7]

*quietly points to forum title*

YO!!!  LETS TAKE THIS OUTSIDE!!!

[#8]

Amen to that, brother!!

I am having the Devil's own job opening legacy AutoSketch drawings. My IT department purchased a copy of AS10, which so far has failed miserably to even open my old SKD files, let alone convert them into anything useful.

I have to add that a number of fellow forum members have been offering their advice and assistance, for which I am extremely grateful, but am waiting for any suggestions and/or advise from Autodesk (a less-than-subtle hint for them to contribute SOMETHING to the discussion).

Good luck sorting out your pump problem, by the way!!

[#9]

Back in the day, at a client's site, we had to work with a MAC CAD system they insisted we use. No exceptions, no conversions from AutoCAD, it all had to be native to the program and on MACs. I insisted our guys export to DXF (and PDF) every file they completed/issued at the end of the day, put it on a disk, label it, and deliver it to me whenever a package was coming back to the office.

One of my earliest CAD Manager decisions that I never backed down from even in the face of pressure from higher ups about wasting time and resources.

Needless to say, client went away along with our remote presence. Recently, two company purchases later, the newer client was willing to pay us for backgrounds if we had them. Sure I said, PDF or DXF or DWG? $ per file and everyone is happy we took the time to find neutral formats to archive drawings instead of only holding on to only the original CAD format.

So...  think beyond just easy archiving, think of a day when you might be using another program and find a neutral format that will survive the ages as best you can. No one is immune to the problems experienced by others in this thread.

[#10]

Good call, Dean.

I keep getting comments around here that I should be using Navisworks and accept any format that will work with it. But, sorry, thinking long-term, we need to not only have access to, but, also the ability to edit, every file that gets turned over to us (we archive by project, but, then we reuse information quite a bit over the lifetime of the building).

We've got paper archives dating back to 1912, and DWG/DXF archives going back to 1989, and most of the companies originating the drawings have closed by now, so they must be in a format we can use natively.

If we have to pay a contractor or sub to convert something from a different format, that's just fine by me, it needs to be done for the long-term.