Trying to save my drawing as dxf and Nc1. when i try to open the Dxf nothing shows up and all my Layers are gone.

[johnjmbennett · Accepted solution]

Advance steel , is a modelling tool, to create dxf and nc files of model elements you need to model the steel in the model, add connections etc., as required and then you need to use the dxf command to create specific dxf files of model objects , the same for nc files, these are derived from the model.

look on the help of AS to see how to do this.

[Lewk_PSB · Accepted solution]

0) Save your new DWG to a known location (your projects folder)
1) Model the plate
2) Number the plate using "Numbering" in Ribbon > Output and adjust the settings to number the part according to your preference
3) Select the plate and go to Ribbon > Output > NC&DXF > DXF (Plates) *NOTE* You may need to expand the panel to find the "DXF (Plates)" by hitting the drop down arrow
4) The DXF for the plate will be made in the created project folder where the DWG file is. If you do not have a DWG file saved to a known location first, then Advance Steel will use its default location where the initial drawing template is used; this is why step 0 is important, otherwise that DXF file is buried in AppData\Roaming...

Make sure that you have numbered your pieces first before you try and create DXFs or NC files! 

NC file creation is a similar process, there is a button in Ribbon > NC&DXF for that. Also, there is a place in that panel to adjust settings but these are not all of the settings for NC&DXF file creation, only for the final output process. For more in-depth control of how DXF and NC files are processed, you'll have to adjust that in the Management Tools.

Also, pay attention to what the command box says when you poke around in AS - I noticed that yours is tiiiiny, I recommend making it larger or docking it to the bottom of the window and stretching it up a few lines so you can see output data and error messages.