Saving as .cad

[Jimhu]

My company is changing from Drafix to ASv9. If I open a Drafix .cad in AutoSketch and then "save" it remains a .cad unless I specifically direct it to save as a .skf.

Do I lose anything by saving as a .cad instead of a .skf?

[Anonymous]

I think the AS9 .CAD is not the same as the Drafix CAD. Check to see if you can open it. You will loose a few things if it is a Drafix 4.11 file. Jimhu wrote: > My company is changing from Drafix to ASv9. If I open a Drafix .cad in AutoSketch and then "save" it remains a .cad unless I specifically direct it to save as a .skf. > > Do I lose anything by saving as a .cad instead of a .skf?

[Jimhu]

To make it clearer, I know that once I have saved a .cad in AutoSketch I can not open it in Drafix. My question was from Autosketch's point of view is there any difference between files saved within Autosketch as .cads or .skf's? It appears not, because I can change the file extension in Explorer and the files still open fine.

[Gadget]

Not necessarily true: you can re-name a .jpg file to .xyz and still open it with a paint package - most programs will look at the contents of the file rather than just the extension; it will assume that since you wanted to open that file with that program, it must be able to do it so tries with all available filters until it finds one that works.

Sorry - but your best bet is to look at the properties of both save versions side by side and see if they are the same size. (I doubt you would actually "loose" anything - but I'm just guessing)

[Anonymous]

I saved a file in AS9 as a CAD and as a SKF. When I reopen each there does not appear to be any difference. However, the Cad file is 1356 kb and the SKF is 2109 kb. Maybe some one from Autodesk can fill us in on what we are missing when we save as a CAD file. Gadget wrote: > Not necessarily true: you can re-name a .jpg file to .xyz and still open it with a paint package - most programs will look at the contents of the file rather than just the extension; it will assume that since you wanted to open that file with that program, it must be able to do it so tries with all available filters until it finds one that works. > > Sorry - but your best bet is to look at the properties of both save versions side by side and see if they are the same size.

[Gadget]

It /may/ be that .CAD files use a different method to save the information than .SKF - more compressed, but slower to open/save into? No loss of information - just a different format.

Good luck in getting anything from Autodesk!

[Anonymous]

I've just done a binary comparision between a CAD and a SKF file - they appear to be virtualy the same. Bear in mind that if you do a "Save As" it often strips out some of the clutter that's in the file, so if you created the drawing over time as an SKF, and then did "Save As" CAD you will have stripped out the clutter (same works for SKF). I often find that doing a "Save As" when working on complex drawings over multiple sessions speeds things up and reduces the file size. "Gadget" wrote in message news:13341060.1097163516643.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > It /may/ be that .CAD files use a different method to save the information than .SKF - more compressed, but slower to open/save into? No loss of information - just a different format. > > Good luck in getting anything from Autodesk!

[Jimhu]

Thanks for the help