• DWG

DWG file format

Autodesk introduced new DWG formats with versions 2000 and 2004. So other releases of AutoCAD are compatible with previous dwg version, so 2002, 2003 with 2000; and 2005, 2006 with 2004 versions.

The 2004 DWG format is supported by the default ArchiCAD 9 DXF/DWG InputOutput AddOn.

In addidtion you have the ability to save the drawing as previous version dwg as well.

To change the input/output add-on follow these steps:

1. Open Add-on Manager.

2. Select/deselect the appropriate DWG/DXF add-on check box.

3. Click OK to close the dialog.

Using the legacy (ArchiCAD 8.1) AddOn

If you have any kind of problem with the DWG/?DXF input/output process (e.g. the file is not importable, no output file is created, etc.), you can try to use ArchiCAD 8.1 (2K) Add-on, which you can load using Add-on Manager.

Follow these steps:

1. Open Add-on Manager.

2. Uncheck DWG/DXF Input/Output box and check DWG/?DXF Input/Output (8.1 Translator) box.

3. Try to run the import/export process.

DWG opening

Opening a 3D DWG file as an object

3d applications support various objects:
The 3D modelling softwares have different engines to compute the objects, they have their own file formats etc. The conversion between these applications goes ussually in two ways:

• Using DWG/DXF format: the content of the file depends on the conversion system of the original modelling software. This decides for example, that the 3D surface in the original file appears in the dwg as block, polyline, 3d primitive, region etc. In case of advanced softwares, you have options to set this.
• Using 3DS format: this is an other usually used format to transfer 3D data. ArchiCAD has a 3DS format supporting add-on.

ArchiCAD Translator doesn't support certain object types, for example 3D solids, regions. ArchiCAD can read files containing these kind of objects but not recognizes the objects. So if you are planning to use these objects often, we can suggest to contact the content vendor and try to get 3DS files or DWG-s, containing the objects in polyline block format.

DWG file opens blank

• Is the original DWG file is corrupted? Maybe it cannot be opened with AutoCAD either due to File corruption.

DWG exporting

Export objects to given DWG layers in PlotMaker

If you are planning to save ArchiCAD objects to given AutoCAD layers instead of the default, you can set this in Translator setup.

Because PlotMaker uses a background ArchiCAD to retrieve a mount of settings, you can't modifiy these directly in PlotMaker.One of these settings is the DWG/DXF conversion, which you can set upin the Trtanslator setting dialog in ArchiCAD. So to set up the neededlayers, open ArchiCAD, set the translator settings, save thetranslator, and use it in PlotMaker.

• CategoryInputOutput, FileExtensions