Imporitng DXF & selecting units??

[pmcfadden]

Hey there,

We need to design some gears. I know this is not yet a function in 360, so I found a 3rd party app which generates involute gears and exports them via DXF.

My question is when I upload a .dxf is there a way to select scale? IE how I let fusion know if its importing in inches/mm etc... If there is no way of selecting this what is Fusions default scale for DXF imports?

thanks!

-Pat

[rishivadher · Accepted solution]

Hi Pat
Go to preference and chose the mm to be your default unit our same as the DXF, wich you’re importing.
Best yours truly

[pmcfadden]

Hey thanks, seems for some reason with the prefs set to MM, I had to export in CM to make the units work...

thanks though, this does solve the issue

[YoSmite]

Has anyone solved the DXF scaling issue?

[tmodcustoms]

+1

[Phil.E]

As you have noticed, @pmcfadden there is no way to set units on import of DXF. We are well aware of this. Actually, posts like this help bring attention to the need for such a control, so thanks! This could also be put on the idea station, I'm sure it will get votes!

To be clear:

DXF is unitless. All CAD programs have to assign unit value on import. DXF is imported to Fusion as CM. So if you export it as CM from wherever, you should get good results. Otherwise, use the scale tool.

Thanks for posting.

Regards,

[friesendrywall]

So dxf is unitless, please make a way to import as inches.  As of 2.0.2013 nothing works, preferences are ignored and dxf is always imported as mm.

[HughesTooling]

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@friesendrywall wrote:

So dxf is unitless, please make a way to import as inches.  As of 2.0.2013 nothing works, preferences are ignored and dxf is always imported as mm.

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DXF files being unitless is not entirely correct, you can save unit information in them for use in Autocad's design centre and quite a few programs use this as a way of  storing the unit information in the file.

Here's an example using QCad, a 2" square.

Opened in Fusion, still 2".

What program are you exporting from and can you set the units for the export.

My test file's attached.

Mark

[Phil.E]

I'm sorry to hear you are having trouble with this today.

@friesendrywallHave you seen this dialog? Are the settings in this dialog not providing the right results? If not, can you attach your dxf?

Thanks,

[friesendrywall]

I haven't seen that dialog.

[Phil.E]

It's found here:

[HughesTooling]

To get the dialog above you need to use InsertDXF on the insert menu, this will only work for 2d DXF file.

Mark

[dghylin]

Had this problem and found that selecting the right dxf format solved my problem.  My solution can be found here....

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-validate-document/scaling-inside-the-sketch-environment/td-p/60...

Don

[Phil.E]

Ha ha Mark, jinx.

🙂

[Phil.E]

I just wanted to be clear about this for a second: The ability to pick units upon insertion should cover almost all cases of DXF unit selection. This is new functionality as of this week, so if you have any issues with it, please let us know!

Thanks,

[langstaff.5]

I'm importing .STL files from a former license of Autocad that I had.  Tried to import 3d models from the dwg but the conversion failed.  On importing the .stl files I'm having the same issues as these guys with the DXF.  Fusion seems to think my prosthetic arm is 4 meters long and will not allow me to scale it.  argh.  Other than that...  I'm loving how fluidly fusion is handling the organic structures.  I could do the same thing in autocacd, but it required more planning with the UCS.

[HughesTooling]

@langstaff.5 take a look at this video around 5 minutes in. There's a new mesh workspace and when you import a mesh you get the option to set the units.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1qFIl9h-os

Here's an example same part imported set to inches then set to millimeters.

Mark

[backroadmetalandfab]

I inserted a DXF file. It will not let me change the from almost 500 inches to 24 inces. I tried using the sketch dimension tool but it still wont change. How do i change this?