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-EXPORTTOAUTOCAD resulting DWG size

18 REPLIES 18
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Message 1 of 19
GTVic
816 Views, 18 Replies

-EXPORTTOAUTOCAD resulting DWG size

We had a 4MB drawing using -EXPORTTOAUTOCAD is now an 80MB drawing. The command seems to have combined all C3D converted objects into a single block and then repeated that for each viewport. So, for example, we have 20 duplicated pipe objects converted to a polyline embedded in 20 blocks, each of which is 4MB.

 

AutoCAD 32-bit can no longer open the drawing. Also impossible to edit even if it could be opened.

 

Are there any known solutions? I don't have access to the drawing to test but would removing all the layouts to a sheet set drawing work? The solutions I can think of all involve recreating all the layouts and viewports and possibly a lot of labelling work.

 

Thanks,

18 REPLIES 18
Message 2 of 19
tcorey
in reply to: GTVic

Go to the Model tab and Wblock the objects to another drawing. Open that drawing and ExporttoAutoCAD.

 

 



Tim Corey
MicroCAD Training and Consulting, Inc.
Redding, CA
Autodesk Gold Reseller

New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. -- Kurt Vonnegut
Message 3 of 19
GTVic
in reply to: tcorey

Thanks, what would be the effect of any custom labelling (moved, rotated) they've done in all the layout viewports? I'm guessing all that work would have to be re-done.

Greg

Message 4 of 19
Lisa_Pohlmeyer
in reply to: GTVic

I've got to ask, if you don't want them to have access to the Civil 3D objects, then why do you want to export out a P&P drawing?  Are DWF or PDF not options?



Lisa Pohlmeyer
Civil 3D User
Website | Facebook | Twitter

Message 5 of 19
troma
in reply to: GTVic

If C3D labels are moved/rotated in a viewport, they are moved/rotated in model space, so that's not the issue.  The issue is that the labels and objects are ususally designed to scale per viewport and rotate per view, or at least maintain plan readability.  What happens when you export from model space with one scale and one view?  Obviously that scale and that view (twist) is what will be applied to all the annotative objects.

 

If you end up with a load of blocks called something like *U12345, I have a useful lisp for exploding them.  (You can't select them with quick-select.)


Mark Green

Working on Civil 3D in Canada

Message 6 of 19
Neilw_05
in reply to: GTVic

In the exported file do you see layers that start AECProxy..., or something similar? If so then you likely have encountered an issue with the product. It occurs when the source file has multiple scale viewports on a layout. The software creates numerous blocks in the export file to accomodate the annotation scales for those viewports. Those blocks are what causes the bloated files. The solution is to explode and purge those blocks.

 

This issue has prevented us from being able to use the exported files in our documents.

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 7 of 19
GTVic
in reply to: Lisa_Pohlmeyer

They are not supposed to use Civil 3D, they are required by contract to supply AutoCAD drawings. As usual, we have to deal with the problems when they don't follow the requirements.

Message 8 of 19
Lisa_Pohlmeyer
in reply to: GTVic

A better solution might be for the recipient to install the Object Enabler for Civil 3D, that way the Civil 3D objects would be a proxy state but you wouldn't have the issues associated with Exporting (exploding).



Lisa Pohlmeyer
Civil 3D User
Website | Facebook | Twitter

Message 9 of 19
Neilw_05
in reply to: Lisa_Pohlmeyer

Be aware that object enablers won't work if the end users have an older version of Autocad.

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 10 of 19
GTVic
in reply to: Neilw_05

Yes, the problem occurred when they switched to Civil 3D 2012, we have AutoCAD 2011 with the Civil 3D OE which is now suddenly useless for those files.

Message 11 of 19
Neilw_05
in reply to: GTVic

Welcome to the interoperability issues of Civil 3D.

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 12 of 19
Neilw_05
in reply to: troma

Could you post your LISP routine? That might come in handy.

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 13 of 19
KirkNoonan
in reply to: GTVic

Have you tried exporting via etransmit? Also, is the 'maintain visual fidelity' box un-checked

Message 14 of 19
troma
in reply to: Neilw_05

All credit for the lisp goes to Kent1Cooper and hmsilva over on the Lisp forum.  I found the selection method in one discussion, and then started a new conversation on how to get it to work.  I got these two playing ideas back and forth off eachother with me trying to explain what I wanted.

Basically it keeps exploding the *U blocks however many times they are nested in each other.  It won't explode the regular block or Mtext that comes out.

 

It asks for a selection set, so you can window an area, or obviously type ALL if you want to just clean up the whole drawing.


Mark Green

Working on Civil 3D in Canada

Message 15 of 19
Neilw_05
in reply to: troma

Thanks for posting the file troma. Unfortunately it doesn't quite fit the bill.

 

The blocks in our files are prefixed with "AecObjExplode", not U*. I tried modifying the LISP to look for AecObj* but it throws an error "unkown exception occurred..etc." then ACAD crashes with an out-of-memory error.

 

Part of the problem we've had in trying to get rid of these blocks is out-of-memory crashes, so even if we get the routine to work we'll probably still have that issue (we are trying to use these files in ACAD 2004). Also these blocks are being created in paper space as well, so we have to go through each layout to find and explode the blocks. I don't know of any way to select blocks in all layouts at once, so it becomes a very tedious process.

 

Anyway, I appreciate your posting the file but I don't think it will solve our problems.

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 16 of 19
troma
in reply to: Neilw_05

Neil, please note that the blocks this was designed for are the anonymous blocks starting with *U, not U*.  That  was probably just a typo, but I want to make sure. If you're editing the lisp you need to know where you're starting from.

 

These blocks come from exploded C3D objects and labels.  I know some would crusify me for this, but yes, I explode cogo points. (We keep a copy of the original drawing).  When we receive a topo with points that rotate per view that shouldn't (hydrants, catchbasins etc) (and especially the labels), we explode them all so that in our drawing set with multiple view-twists in different viewports we don't have crazy points all over the place.  In that situation this lisp has been a life-saver.

 

I thought that C3D objects might also turn to *U blocks during EXPORTTOACAD but maybe they don't.

 

I haven't run into "AecObjExplode" very much. Is that when you run EXPORTTOACAD from a layout instead of from model tab? I have exported drawings quite often, and purged them afterwards.  I think I would have noticed a lot of these blocks in the drawing.

 

By the way, isn't 'unkown exception occurred' consistant with being out of memory in C3D? I suggest that possibly the lisp is working, but there's not enough memory for the oporation.


Mark Green

Working on Civil 3D in Canada

Message 17 of 19
Neilw_05
in reply to: troma

You may be right about the Exception error being memory related.

 

The AecObjExplode blocks are created when a layout has multiple scaled viewports. This occurs when we export to Autocad 2004 format. I haven't tested it with newer formats so they may behave differently. I confirmed with tech support the behavior is viewport scale related. By the way, the Drawing Fidelity variable is of no help with this problem.

 

I changed the variable to Aec*. I didn't try *Aec*, but as I noted I think we'll still have multiple problems to deal with even if I get the tool to work.

 

I did find that the Layer Delete Express tool cleans out the blocks and layers, but I have to run the tool once for each Aec Block/Layer in the file. At least it doesn't crash the drawing vs. trying to remove them all at once. It would be nice if I could modify that tool to read a list of layers and delete them in series.

 

Please don't spend time trying to fix the LISP. I don't see it as a solution.

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 18 of 19
troma
in reply to: Neilw_05

Have you tried exporting to a newer version?  If I were you, I would start by exporting to ACAD 2013.  Open it up, clean it up, then export again to 2004.  Even better if you have other versions of CAD lying around you can add another step in between.


Mark Green

Working on Civil 3D in Canada

Message 19 of 19
Neilw_05
in reply to: troma

Coincidently I have to get back into that project today so I'll have a chance to try some other techniques.

 

The export process takes a while so I hope we can find a way to get a clean drawing without several steps.

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com

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