MAPIINSERT ECW File Question

[jwk9DBSW]

We have 3 different computers all running Civil 3d. Two of them are on 2020 and the other one is on 2019. We do a lot of drone work for surveying and have recently been trying to convert the tif file output from pix4d to an ecw file format that can be inserted into autocad. Some of our tif files are too large for autocad. We use global mapper to convert the file from tif to ecw. On two of the 3 computers, when we use the mapiinsert command, it references the eww world file and sets the units to inches and brings the image into the correct location. On the other computer (one of the 2020 ones), it does not reference the world file for the correlation type (only the image file), and by default it chooses feet which does not insert into the correct location. Everything is way off to the right of where it should be. We just figured out this morning that the units didn't match up and on this computer that acts differently, if we set the units to inches, it will insert to the correct georeferenced location. I need to figure out why the one computer on 2020 does not reference the world file and how we can fix that. It seems to be the issue, but maybe I am way off base. This is a clean install of 2020 and no settings have been set by the user. The template we use is set to unitless. I appreciate any help! Thank you!

[jmayo-EE]

Check the following sys variable on all PC's. Confirm the non-functioning PC matches the working ones.

Dwg units are set in C3D Drawing Settings to be feet. Do not use Acad Units command. In C3D drawing settings, Units and zone tab, make sure units match, you check 'Set AutoCAD variables to match' and coord systems match.

Then check,

INSUNITS

INSUNITSDEFSOURCE

INSUNITSDEFTARGET

Run dwgunits to confirm all machines are scaling correct.

[jwk9DBSW]

I checked on 2 of the computers, the other one is not available right now.

On the Units and zone tab, neither computer had the 'Set AutoCAD variables to match' checked. The coordinate system was blank on our template. We do set it before bringing in the ecw file.

INSUNITS - the computer that works correctly has (2), the other had (21). Switched it to (2). Didn't appear to change anything.

INSUNITSDEFSOURCE - set to (0) for both

INSUNITSDEFTARGET - set to (0) for both

Run dwgunits to confirm all machines are scaling correct. - Not sure what I was supposed to check here, but I ran the dwgunits command and the info was the same on both.

[tcorey]

Why do you use Inches?

[jwk9DBSW]

We do not use inches that I know of. C3D units were set to feet. However, when mapiinsert brings the ecw file into C3D, if it is not inches, it does not come in correctly. The template and units on the drawing are still set to feet.

[jmayo-EE]

OK. This is ap rocess of elimination. DWG Units is just a good way to confirm any changes took and everything is matching. Unit and scaling settings don't seem to be an issue.

Nest up. Does everyone use the same templates when starting the work? On the machine that fails have you tried to recreate the issue with other templates? Have you tried making a new user on this machine and recreate the issue?

Does everyone on 2020 have the same adesk updates installed?

Is everyone accessing the same ecw files from the same location and do they all have the same read/write privileges?

[jwk9DBSW]

Does everyone use the same templates when starting the work?  They all use the same template.

On the machine that fails have you tried to recreate the issue with other templates? We have used a blank drawing and everything inserted correctly without changing the units in the modify correlation box to inches. This led us to believe that the issue was initially with the template. But I have 2 other users that can open the same template and use mapiinsert and they both reference the world file and insert correctly.

Have you tried making a new user on this machine and recreate the issue? We have not tried making a new user on the machine to see if the issue persists. We did completely uninstall c3d 21 and moved backed to c3d 20 since one of the machines that worked was on c3d20. That didnt change anything.

Does everyone on 2020 have the same adesk updates installed? I will double check the updates. One user is on 19 and they also have no trouble.

Is everyone accessing the same ecw files from the same location and do they all have the same read/write privileges? Yes, everyone accesses the file through dropbox and have opened the same template from the same location and inserted the same ecw file from the same location. For the ones that work, in the image correlation box, it says world file. The one that does not work says image file. The ones that reference world file automatically choose inches for the ecw file while the one that references the image file chooses feet by default?

[andrewpuller3811]

When you start the insert function, and choose the file, do you tick the box for "Modify Correlation"?

If that is checked, a window will open that lets you choose the correlation source ( depending on the files available, you can have World File, Image File, Image Defaults and more) and the insert units.

[jwk9DBSW]

Yes, I have that box checked. That’s how I know one pc does not use the world file and the other two do. That’s also where I figured out that the ones referencing the world file bring the ecw file into c3d in inches and the one that references the image file comes into c3d in feet and that’s what causes it to end up in the wrong location. I just don’t know why the one setup won’t reference the world file and it’s not an option to select it. The world file is in the same folder as the ecw file. Thank you.

[Pointdump]

Jerry,
Welcome to the Autodesk Forums.

"...figure out why the one computer on 2020 does not reference the world file and how we can fix that."
Just one image, or all images?

Have you tried using IINSERT in the Raster Tools? I have better luck importing images with Raster Design.

Dave

[andrewpuller3811]

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@jwk9DBSW wrote:
Yes, I have that box checked.
.... and it’s not an option to select it. ..

---

That is interesting - I think that you might need to lodge a support request with Autodesk if you are paying for support.
It sounds like an interesting problem though.

[jwk9DBSW]

Funny you should suggest talking to support. I did talk to someone in support, probably for a couple of hours and they couldn’t come up with a solution. Initially this computer was on c3d 21, and they suggested that it would not show up the same as c3d 20 (referencing the world file). I don’t think that’s correct, but downgraded to c3d 20 to be sure and the issue still exists. I feel like it’s something specific about this computer or profile, but not sure what it could be.

[jmayo-EE]

Log on to the pc as administrator or a new user and try to reproduce to see if its the user profile (acad or win)

[jwk9DBSW]

I will logon as the administrator and see if that matters. In talking to support, they made it sound like it doesn't pull settings from the user profile? I asked because we downgraded to c3d20 hoping to solve the issue and did not change any settings and it still would not work. I asked if it could be pulling settings based on the user profile and they thought that had been eliminated. I will give it a go and see what happens.

[tcorey]

The files are in a shared network location? Check permissions on that folder.

[jwk9DBSW]

The files are on a shared network location. We use dropbox. Everyone is set to edit.

[jwk9DBSW]

I setup an account on my laptop and saved our template on my desktop, opened it and used both iinsert and mapiinsert to load the ecw file to the correct location. Definitely user related.

[tcorey]

As a test, set it up so that the shared location is on an NTFS drive. Does it work for everyone now?

[jwk9DBSW]

I'm not sure if I know how to do what you are recommending. How do I set the shared location up as a ntfs drive?

[COLBOCAN · Accepted solution]

Hey bud,

I know this is 4yrs late lol but I ran into the similar issue at work.

I run C3D 2024. What was happening to me sounds similar. MAPIINSERT window would show up and my units/scaling would match, but the location was way off... Eventually I found out that the MAPIINSERT popup window wasn't showing the correlation option "World file". Only "Image File" and "Image Default". Because of this CAD couldn't access the .EWW (world file that tells the ECW where to go, basically). 

What I found was the file path for the .EWW was way too long. Something about a maximum of 128 characters. The files were referenced in a cloud server, and the file path was super long. CAD couldn't locate it. The moment I placed my .ECW, .EWW, and other associated files for the imagery in a local folder (much shorter file path, I even shortened the file name), then CAD was able to read the .EWW and place the .ECW in it's correct placement. 

Hope this helps!

It was a rough hunt, but it saved me headache

Cheers,