Export to acad - keep layer description

[baenebo]

Hi all

I am currenttly on a project where we are required to deliver data as acad 2007 format. The export from civil 3d 2011 works fine with one major limitation: the Layer Description gets lost in the process. I need the Layer Description to fulfill project standards.

Is there a workaround on this?

[jmayo-EE]

I have not tried any of this but if I was looking to do this I might see if a layerstate can be exported/imported or if the layer translator (laytrans) would do the trick.

[baenebo]

John,

Thanks for your quick reply. Unfortunately none of these do the trick. The layer description is not included.

Any other ways to achieve this? I cant see any logical reason why the description is deleted on export..

[jmayo-EE]

I have nothing else up my sleeve.

I might think this could be done with a custom routine but not out of the box.

[dibr0804]

Make a copy of the .dwg for a backup and try exploding what isn't coming through, I have to do this with alignment labels.

[sboon]

**** - I had not noticed this before.  This is going to become a real problem for us soon, as we have to provide drawings to more and more clients and others not using Civil 3D.

If your drawings all use the same layering then you could export your current layer information to a text file.  You could then do some text editing to create a script file from that data, and use it to reapply your layer descriptions to the exported drawings.

[TerryDotson]

Why an inside AutoCAD product needs an Export to AutoCAD function is beyond me.

Anyway, we added import & export functionality to our free LAYERDES tool.  You will find it in the Free Stuff section of the site below.

[ssm-jt]

i dont understand why i would need to export an acad to an acad either. Company has one civil 3d seat and 3 acad seats, that draftspeople use, designer has to export civil 3d objects out for them to manipulate/make pretty, for tender, very frustrated...sorry alittle off topic.

[sboon]

Do the ACad users have the Civil3D object enabler installed?  They should be able to at least see and do basic manipulation of the C3D objects with it.

[Sinc]

Do older OEs help?

I was under the impression that an OE would only help with files that were current version or older.  In other words, the 2012 Civil OE should allow people with Vanilla Autocad 2012 to open files created in C3D 2012 and earlier.  However, someone with Autocad 2009 can't use the 2009 Civil OE to open C3D 2012 files.  You must still use Export to Autocad 2007 in order to share drawings with them.

Or am I mistaken on that?

[ssm-jt]

they do, but like you said, limited manipulation, and alot of times, when under the gun, they need to do alot more...i really dont understand the thought process of making the objects so bounded, i cant manipulated with lisp, draftspeople can manipulate very little....honestly i just dont get it.....so very frustrated....

[sboon]

Thanks Terry, this will help a lot.

Would it be possbile to expand this tool to include export and import of all of the layer attributes.  It would be nice to be able to export all of the layer information to a text file that can be edited and then import those changes back to one or many drawings.  Even better would be the ability to specify during import which attributes are used, so that I could force it to replace only the layer color or description.

I know that Layer states can be used to do something similar but I'm not familiar enough with them to know if they could do this.

[GTVic]

Hi Steve,

The other method might be using the CAD Standards features in AutoCAD. You can specify a template drawing that has the correct layer properties. The default plug-ins that Autodesk provides do not check layer descriptions but I created one that does based on some sample code from AU and it works well.

Greg

[sboon]

Hi Greg,

The CAD standards feature is not really part of my expertise.  Can it be used to change only some attributes for a layer or will it force all of them to match the standards file?

In the scenario I am thinking of - I have several design files which have been worked on by different staff.  All of them started with the same template and they have maintained the layer naming but for various reasons some of the designers have changed layer colours and linetypes, and some layers have been changed to a no-plot state.  Before I start referencing these drawings into my sheet files I have gone through one design drawing and made sure that the layer settings are correct for my purposes.  I want to export these settings and then quickly use a text editor or Excel to pare the list down to the layers that must be corrected in all of the files.  When I import this file into each of the other drawings I only want to ensure that the plot style and linetype are correct - I don't want to change the colours that the other designers are using to organize their data, and I don't want to affect any other layer settings.

If the Dotsoft tool could be expanded to include these features then it would be really useful imho.

[baenebo]

Hi .. Sorry for the late response, it's been a busy week.

Thanks to all for valuable input.

I need the "Export to acad 2007" to extract 3d faces from a tin surface. The tool which is used for collaboration and visualization on our project (Novapoint Virtual Map) will only read basic 3d faces, not civil 3d surfaces. (It will read landXML on later versions, but the project is not using it.)

I am well aware of the Object enablers, but given the end product required this will not fix my problem.

I need those 3d faces (just the way they are exported pt), and I need the Layer Description to follow through the export to comply with project standards.

Terry: I will check out your tool in the weekend, I had a brief look the other day but couldn't find my way. Is it like a lisp routine?

I have been in touch with our reseller / support, and they were not aware of the problem. It would be nice with a response from Autodesk on why the export function has this limitation.

-BA

[GTVic]

---

The CAD standards feature is not really part of my expertise.  Can it be used to change only some attributes for a layer or will it force all of them to match the standards file?

I want to export these settings and then quickly use a text editor or Excel to pare the list down to the layers that must be corrected in all of the files.  When I import this file into each of the other drawings I only want to ensure that the plot style and linetype are correct - I don't want to change the colours that the other designers are using to organize their data, and I don't want to affect any other layer settings. 

---

The plug-in can be programmed to adjust any properties you want and I suppose you could create a DWS containing the layers you are interested in. You can also fix layers one-by-on or auto-fix. I'll check to see if it could be user customized for specific properties at run-time.

Greg

[baenebo]

I can not get the CAD Standards feature to include Layer Descriptions. It checks everything else though.

LAYERDES imports the layer description nicely from a previously exported text file, and I believe this will be my solution.

However, Terry, there are a few issues:
- I get an "; error: Visual LISP command document mismatch: LAYERDES" when i load LAYERDES in the second drawing. I can only get this to work by shutting down autocad (?) (I tried on C3D 2009)

- Is there a way to have the script NOT creating non-existing layers on import? Currently, if I try to import descriptions to non-existing layers, layers get created with default styles. This is not desired form my point of view...

I appreciate the effort!

-BA

[baenebo]

Greg,

Would it be possible for you to make your plugin available?

-BA

[nicolas.menu]

Workaround I would suggest is :
1) Export to AutoCAD "drawing1.dwg" to "ACAD-drawing1.dwg".
2) Select _ALL and delete everything from drawing1, Save as "Temp.dwg"
3) Open  "ACAD-drawing1.dwg" and INSERT "Temp.dwg".
Save this new drawing...
You should now have layer descriptions as well inside "ACAD-drawing1.dwg".  

Objects inside the drawing will be vanilla AutoCAD objects...
A little complex,  but that may help...

 

[GTVic]

Hi BA,

I've attached the plug-in. It has been tested with AutoCAD 2011 32-bit on Vista and AutoCAD 2012 64-bit on Windows 7.

Extract the attached zip file to any folder on your hard drive, two sub-folders are included, one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit.

There is a file called RegisterAutoCAD.reg which adds registry entries for AutoCAD to recognize the plug-in. There is a file called RegisterWindows.vbs which is a VB Script that creates a RegisterWindows.reg file that is specific to where you placed the DLL files.

These are the complete instructions in case you haven't used CAD Standards before.

• Run the RegisterWindows.vbs script to create a second REG file
• Double-click both REG files to add information to the registry, this completes the installation of the plug-in
• Start AutoCAD
• Load the drawing that contains the proper layer descriptions
• Use the application menu to Save As to an AutoCAD Drawing Standards DWS file
• Close the DWS file
• Open the drawing with the missing descriptions
• Go to the Manage ribbon tab
• Click the Configure button in the CAD Standards ribbon panel
• Click the Plug-ins tab in the Configure Standards dialog
• There should be a new plug-in called Layer Descriptions, look on the command line for any errors if you don't see it
• Uncheck the other plug-ins
• Click the Settings... button to adjust the Automatically fix non-standard properties option
• Go back to the Standards tab in the Configure Standards dialog
• Click the + button to add the DWS file that contains the proper layer descriptions
• Click the Check Standards... button

Greg