Imported McMaster-Carr 3D parts are greyed out and won't plot.

[peters19]

(warning: very new to autocad and first forum post)

I imported some 3D parts from McMaster-Carr, specifically in .sldprt format, and they appear greyed out (the lines in wireframe view appear greyed). I can manipulate them and change their scale and position. I tried putting them on layer 0 and making sure they were the correct color for printing but they're still invisible when printing on paper. How do I fix this?

[Patchy]

Either the layer 0 is checked no plot or you didn't window the part to be plotted.

[peters19]

@Patchy Layer 0 is checked for plotting, I have the parts in the viewport in paperspace and I've printed it out a few times and the imported parts are completely invisible on the print.  

[jrreid]

Please attached your drawing here if you don't mind for review.

[Valentin_CAD]

@peters19 ,

• How to use Solidworks files in AutoCAD

Export it as DXF from Solidworks or SaveAs in AutoCAD as DXF - then reopen and try again.

[travisgoffZ2B3C]

First of all, can you tell me why you are downloading the McMaster-Carr part in a Solidworks file type? That is the first thing I would do differently; not because of what I know about any potential differences, but because of all the stuff that I don't know about it. I use their 3-D STEP files.

[pendean]

Where is your DWG file? Lets see what you see for ourselves, touch what you have a problem with.

[peters19]

@Valentin_CAD Exporting as a DXF from solidworks didn't seem to work, it just doesn't import for me. @travisgoffZ2B3C  I tried using STEP files instead but they still show as grey. Although, if I make a new drawing and just import the parts then they appear normal and print out just fine, they also have the correct scale and I don't have to rescale them.

@jrreid @pendean I'll attach a file called SlabDesign (the file with the problem) and ImportTest (the file where they plot normally). In SlabDesign the layout labelled "test" will show parts that are imported and parts that I made in the drawing so you can test it on your printers.

[travisgoffZ2B3C · Accepted solution]

In Layer Manager, I changed the color for layer '0' to 250. In model space, I double-left clicked the object, Edit Block Definition menu pops up, select 'OK', window all parts, then in the Properties Manager changed the Color from 192,192,192 to 'By Layer'. I'm not sure why it's importing that way for you, but I'm guessing it's either a setting of yours or because it's a Solidworks part. Next, to verify that the Layer color and different 3-D file can work, I left layer '0' at Color 250, went to 'Import', 'Other Formats', selected a 3-D STEP file I had just downloaded from McMaster-Carr, and it works just as you wanted.

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

[pendean · Accepted solution]

In the problem file your 'screws" are set to color RGB 192,192,192, aka gray. Is that the problem, you forgot to edit each of those blocks in BEDIT or REFEDIT commands to set the content colors to  BYLAYER or something other than gray?

[peters19]

@travisgoffZ2B3C @pendean It worked, I didn't realize there was a block setting for the parts, I'm still quite new to the features in autocad so I'll have to look into blocks a bit more it seems. Thanks a lot for the help!

[pendean]

Glad that was an easy fix: get in the habit of being inquisitive, don't assume something is set in stone, edit/change/explore and find out more..

For example, all I did was double-click on one of your gray objects, and boom, problem was instantly clear, it was a block with the wrong color defined inside it.

[travisgoffZ2B3C]

I'm sure there are very good reasons for why everything is the way it is, but it can be difficult to even know what questions need to be asked sometimes.

It doesn't just do this for imported blocks. For an exercise, create something on a layer, copy it (crtl shift C), change your current layer, paste it back in as a block (ctrl shift V). The new block is now on the new, current layer, but if you double-click it, in the block editor the the layer shows '0', and if you select the object it shows the original layer it was created on.

[lfrost]

Thank you!!!! I use MCarr religiously to show hardware accurately in my drawings. This is the first time where I've imported STEP files for a 3D PDF and my silly-self forgot how they like to define their 2D object properties - I should've thought about the 3D object properties being similar. Thank you so much for mentioning that! I've spun my wheels for some time here, trying to get the objects to plot in detail and not solid black, and you just got my head out of where it shouldn't have been.