Exporting DWG to preserve line weight

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am trying to export a plan of stripes in a parking lot as a DWG so I can bring it into Sketchup. However, when I try to export it, it only exports as single lines, not "x" inch wide stripes. Is there a way to export/import the lines so they keep their weight, or have area inside of them?

Below I included what I want the lines to look like (in AutoCad) and what they look like when I bring them into sketchup

SketchupAutoCAD

john.vellek has embedded your image(s) for clarity

[Ed__Jobe]

What command are you using to export it and what file type?

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous

I don't think so.

[Anonymous]

I'm not very experienced in AutoCAD, so I am not using a command. I am going to the button in the top left corner(the 'File' button if you will) and selecting export, then DWG. Not sure what setting to use or if its even possible.

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

I am away from my computer with Sketchup until tomorrow.  I think that the export ignores polyline widths so the weight of the lines might be tricky.

If you can provide me with a sample drawing file I will see if there are tricks we can use to get this to work better.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Ed__Jobe]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm not very experienced in AutoCAD, so I am not using a command. I am going to the button in the top left corner(the 'File' button if you will) and selecting export, then DWG. Not sure what setting to use or if its even possible.

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Just curious, what do you need to do in Sketchup? It might be possible to do it in acad (e.g. plot to pdf) and you won't need to export.

BTW, that command is designed to save the file to an older version of acad. So if you don't select any option in the file dialog, you're basically just making a copy of the same dwg.

[Anonymous]

I am using it for a visualization project. We get the designs, like this parking lot, from our engineers who use autocad. Using sketchup to create surfaces/textures, we can then bring them into an animation software called Lumion.

[Michiel.Valcke]

Hi,

I suppose your autoCad file uses lineweight (based on the layer or the properties of each individual line). 
Do you have the same problem if you set the lineweight to 0, but add a global width to each individual line?

[Anonymous]

I feel like this would work. I was able to change the global width, but when i export it, it won't import to Sketchup. I keep getting a failed import message. Is it a setting in the export that I need to change?

[john.vellek]

hi @Anonymous,

You shouldn't need to export the file although you might need to save it down to 2013 format.  Sketchup can import a DWG without issue.

If you want to share a file I can try importing into SketchUp for you.

[Anonymous]

When I try to save it to a 2013 format it comes up with this message. "This drawing contains custom objects that are not supported in previous versions. These objects cannot be saved to a previous version."

[Ed__Jobe]

Yes, but does Sketchup require 2013 format?

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

Try using EXPORTTOAUTOCAD to save it down to 2013 format. @Ed__Jobe, my version of Sketchup will not accept a newer format than 2013.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

I made a new file with 3 polylines with global width and somehow I got them to import exactly the way that I'm trying to do, but when I try to do that with this premade file, it keeps telling me that the import failed in Sketchup.

Also, @john.vellek, When I try the EXPORTTOAUTOCAD command it says I should run recover, then tells me the same thing that it did when I tried to save it to a 2013 format before.

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I think you can ignore the "Recover" message. The file should work fine.

[Anonymous]

@john.vellek would you like the file so you can try on your end? What would be the best way to send that to you?

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I would be happy to try it for you. Email it to me please at john.vellek@autodesk.com

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

HI @Anonymous,

Thanks for sharing your drawing with me. The first thing I noticed was that it had some Civil 3D proxy objects in it. I installed the Civil 3D object enabler and then did an exporttoautocad to save it down to a clean 2013 format.

Then, at your request, I removed the hatches by using Qselect.  I then used qselect again to select all polylines. Once they were selected, I went into properties and set the global width (I set a value of 6 just to emphasize them). I did the sme for the 2d polylines.  When I import this into Sketchup the outlines seem to remain as they should.

If this is all working the way you want then the next step is to get all the remaining lines to become polylines.  There are likely some routines available on the Internet or in the Autodesk App store to help do this or you can manually do it too using PEDIT.  I did it manually and it took about 5 minutes.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.