AutoCAD: Pack & Go
There is a featur e in AutoCAD that enables Ar chiCAD users to get all necessary files when receiving a DWG file from a consultant/ client working with AutoCAD. ArchiCAD users can suggest or require those working with AutoCAD to do the following:
- In AutoCAD, write the “Pack” command and pr ess ENTER. This will start a utility in it that saves all files needed for a DWG file to a common dir ectory, including text shape (*.SHX) files, external r eference DWG files (XREFs) and bitmap images placed in AutoCAD (*.BMP,*.TIF etc.).In this dialog, the user can specify the directory where all r elevant files will be saved. Then the AutoCAD user can take the content of that dir ectory and give it to the Ar chiCAD user as a complete package. This is similar to Ar chiCAD’s Archive file format, although not as elegant. With its use, data exchange between the two programs can be impr oved as all infor mation will be available in Ar chiCAD as needed.
Getting various parts of composite ArchiCAD elements onto different layers in AutoCAD
There ar e countries where regulations r equire that certain elements go to certain layers in a DXF/DWG file. For example, a composite wall is always on one layer in Ar chiCAD because all primitive element parts of a wall go to the same layer. However, regulations may r equire that the various skins of these composite walls go to different layers.
ArchiCAD 6.5 DXF/DWG Conversion Guide
The above is a composite wall. Its skins from top to bottom are: ‘common brick,’ ‘rigid insulation’ and ‘face brick.’ The skin fill pens are 99, 98 and 97, r espectively. The edge lines of the skins ar e all drawn with pen 1. The wall is placed with the ‘Use line & fill colors of composite’ and ‘Use background colors of composite’ checkboxes enabled, although only the latter will have an effect at DXF/DWG output.
In the Configuration file, the #PENLA YERS command is used to specify to which layer elements with a certain pen should go. Let’s enter the following:
#PENLAYERS COMMON_BRICK 99
RIGID_INSULATION 98 FACE_BRICK 97 WALL_LINES 1
The result: In the resulting DXF/DWG file, all elements with pen 99 go to layer COMMON_BRICK, all elements with pen 98 go to layer RIGID_INSULATION, all elements with pen 97 go to layer FACE_BRICK and all elements with pen 1 go to layer WALL_LINES.
Note: When you save a DXF/DWG file, a wall will usually become an AutoCAD block unless you check the ‘Explode complex ArchiCAD elements’ checkbox. If this is so, first you need to explode the wall’s block and then all the block parts will display their corr ect layer attributes.
There may be another situation when this featur e is useful. Some users would like to be able to put the core skin of a composite wall to a layer other than the r est of the skins of the wall. This can be accomplished using the #PENLAYERS option. All you need to do is assign a specific color (e.g., PEN 255) to all skin layers of composite walls and add a statement to the #PENLAYER section of the Configuration file similar to this:
#PENLAYERS
General recommendations for ArchiCAD Display Settings before saving as DXF/DWG
There ar e certain options in Ar chiCAD’s Display Options dialog that can gr eatly influence how r esulting DXF/DWG files are generated. See the illustration below for the recommended settings.
The two most important settings in this dialog ar e the ‘Line Weight’ and ‘Construction/Polygon Fills’ settings. When line weights in ArchiCAD ar e set to ‘True Weight,’ the thick lines ar e saved in the AutoCAD file as polylines since in the DXF/DWG file it has to look exactly as in Ar chiCAD and this is the only way to achieve this. This can gr eatly incr ease file size. When the ‘Hairline’ option is used, lines ar e saved as lines with no extra ‘luggage’ involved. The other option is Fills. When a ‘bitmap’ or ‘vector’ option is selected, the resulting file can become a block of a huge number of lines. This is because both bitmap and vector fills ar e converted to vector fills in AutoCAD since it doesn’t have a capability to display bitmap fills. File size incr ease is especially true when the ‘Explode complex elements’ checkbox is checked in the save as DXF/DWG dialog, because this can tur n one single ArchiCAD fill into hundr eds or thousands of lines in the DXF/DWG file.
Notes:
- The Fill option is less relevant when saving as AutoCAD R14 because in that version fills ar e converted to fills. With previous AutoCAD versions this is not true.
ArchiCAD 6.5 DXF/DWG Conversion Guide
- The #SOLIDFILLS option in the Configuration fill can also af fect how fills are imported. For more information, see the ‘Configuration file’ section of the ‘Customization’ chapter of this manual.
- The file size increase can be quite significant. When you save a DXF/DWG file from a multi-megabyte Ar chiCAD project with poor settings, it may incr ease in size to several dozens of megabytes. This can prevent the file from saving because ArchiCAD simply runs out of memory.
What difference does the ‘write polygon edges’ checkbox of the ‘Save 3D as DXF’ dialog make in the resulting file when it is checked?
The illustration below shows a box saved as DXF with and without writing polygon edges.
Both files were saved from the ArchiCAD 3D Window as DXF. The one on the left was saved with the ‘write polygon edges’ option checked and the one on the right was saved when it was