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| Subject: |
DWG/DXF Import/Export |
| Product: |
MicroStation SE |
| Operating System: |
All |
| Document Number: |
6157 |
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File Import Questions
File Export Questions
| Translation Trouble Shooting Guide: Drawing Import |
| When I open an AutoCAD file with MicroStation, the drawing I end up in has an .S01 extension. When I import that same AutoCAD file, I stay in the .DGN. Where is my sheet file? |
When there are Paperspace entities in an AutoCAD file, a Drawing Composition Sheet file (.SHT) is created in MicroStation. If you are opening the drawing from the File Manager, the sheet file will automatically become the active design file - it won't if you are importing the drawing. |
| My Block names are being changed when I import a drawing file. |
MicroStation will allow six characters for a Cell name. If your Block names are longer than six characters, they will be truncated to six characters. The MicroStation BASIC macro DWG.BAS (in the \ustation\tables\DWG subdirectory) allows you to change Block names to Cell names. Block names can be longer than six characters when mapped in MicroStation SE. |
| While importing a drawing, I get the error message "Cell too large, definition not created." |
This means that the Block definition is too large to fit the size limit of a cell. The cell cannot be created, but the elements that make up the Block will be placed in the .DGN file. |
| My drawing layers are being combined in levels when I have more than 63 layers. |
If there are more than 63 layers in the DWG file being imported the translator will automatically wrap them and end up combining multiple layers in a single level. There are several choices available to circumvent this. You can use the level mapping table to combine the layers in an arrangement that is acceptable to you. You can use an object in the MicroStation BASIC macro to purge unused layers, this may result in less than 63 layers being used. You can use the new layer mapping objects in the MicroStation BASIC macro to split the DWG being imported into multiple DGN's which will be automatically referenced to each other. |
| My MicroStation file has my AutoCAD Attributes displayed as text that I cannot edit. |
In MicroStation SE, check Settings > General > Attribs in the Import Drawing File dialog box to see if the setting is TEXT. If the setting is TAG, then Attributes attached to Blocks will be converted to TAG Sets. All other attributes will come in as text, regardless of the setting. The TEXT setting will bring in all displayed Attributes as text. |
| My text is not the right size or appearance in the MicroStation file. |
MicroStation SE's MicroStation BASIC macro DWG.BAS (in the \ustation\tables\DWG subdirectory) allows you to map fonts. However, every font in every application has its own specific appearance and width/height ratios. Due to the difference in programs, there will always be subtle differences in text. To minimize the differences, AutoCAD fonts (.SHX and .PFB) can be imported into MicroStation using the Font Installer (choose Utilities > Install Fonts). During translation, these fonts should be mapped to the AutoCAD fonts this should minimize the text differences. |
| I want to import database information from AutoCAD. |
There is no standard way to attach this data in AutoCAD, so there is no way to translate it to MicroStation SE. MicroStation SE's DWG/DXF import/export applications are delivered with an MDLbased API that allows a certain level of customization for site specific needs, including nongraphic data transfer. |
| I'm getting the message "DWG must be shifted to fit design plane." |
First, don't accept the OK button in this message and import the file, unless you don't want to retain the coordinate values from the DWG file. This message means that the file being imported has information that is located off your current design plane, and importing the file will result in coordinates being changed. There are three options available for handling this. 1) Reset your working units so that your design plane is larger than the drawing extents. 2) Set a Global Origin that will allow the DWG to fit in your design plane. 3) You can accept the Ok button, then open the General Setting dialog and turn on the Shift Global Origin switch. This will enable the translator to set a global origin that will allow the extents of the DWG file to fit in your design plane. |
| What happens to my Xrefs during Import? |
If Settings > General > Resolve Xrefs is set to MISSING in the Import Drawing File dialog box, the MicroStation translator will look for a .DGN file in the destination directory that has the name of the Xref. If no file is found, then the Xref will be translated to .DGN format and attached as a Reference file. If set to ALWAYS, the Xref will be translated without checking for an existing DGN file. |
| My shapes and surfaces seem to have extra lines in them in the MicroStation file. |
Polyface Mesh, when translated into MicroStation, often has a triangular or faceted appearance. This is normal and can be smoothed out when rendering by using facet smoothing (choose Tools > Visualization Tools > Rendering Tools > Facet Smoothing). |
| When I open the MicroStation file, none of the standard MicroStation line styles are used. All of the lines are shown as custom line styles. |
Check to see if the Settings > General > Use Line Styles in the Import Drawing File dialog box is On. If you want to use line style mapping, this switch should be Off. When On, custom line styles are created and used to make the lines appear exactly as they did in AutoCAD. In addition AutoCAD linetypes BYLAYER and BYBLOCK need to be mapped to 8. These linetypes act as switches within the linestyle mapping table. |
| My translation is failing before completion. |
Run AutoCAD's Recover program on the drawing file to ensure that there are no errors in the file that would cause problems with translation. | Back to Top of page
| Translation Trouble Shooting Guide: Drawing Export |
| When I open my file in AutoCAD, the view does not look the same as what I exported. Sometimes extra elements are displaying. |
In the Export Drawing File dialog box, under Settings > General, check to see that Source View is set to the number of the view from which you are exporting. If this is set to None, all of the levels that are turned off in the active view will be turned on for export and the view saved in AutoCAD will be a Fit All view. If Source View is set to a view number, only the levels on in the source view will be exported and that view will be saved in AutoCAD. In addition, Level Symbology will be used if it is turned on. |
| I can't see my user defined (Custom) line styles in the AutoCAD file. |
Simple user defined line styles should be there by default. Complex user defined line styles are not supported by AutoCAD, prior to R14. In the Export Drawing File dialog box, under Settings > General > More, check to see that Complex Linestyles As is set to Components. This will retain the appearance of the complex linestyle, but will be made up of individual simple elements. |
| Filled shapes are not filled in the AutoCAD file. |
In the Export Drawing File dialog box, under Settings > General > More, check to see that Small Filled Shapes to is set to Solid. Only filled shapes with fewer than five sides can be created as solids in AutoCAD. Filled shapes with more than four sides are controlled by Settings > General > Convert Shapes to. If Polyface Mesh is selected, the AutoCAD command Shade can be used to create the appearance of fill. However, Shade can only be plotted as PostScript. |
| My shapes and surfaces seem to have extra lines in them in the AutoCAD file. |
This is because they are Polyface Mesh. You can export shapes as polylines by using Settings > General > Convert Shapes to > Polylines in the Export Drawing File dialog box. In AutoCAD, you can control the display of those lines with AutoCAD > Surfaces > 3dface > Hide edges. |
| My ellipses or circles appear to be stroked (faceted) in the AutoCAD file. |
The display of these entities is controlled within AutoCAD by the system variable VIEWRES. By default the translator sets this variable to 100. Increasing this value will smooth out the display. |
| My text is not the right size or appearance in the AutoCAD file. |
MicroStation SE's MicroStation BASIC macro DWG.BAS (in the \ustation\tables\DWG subdirectory) allows you to map fonts. However, every font in every application has its own specific appearance and width/height ratios. Due to the difference in programs, there will always be subtle differences in text. To minimize the differences, AutoCAD fonts (.SHX and .PFB) can be imported into MicroStation using the Font Installer (choose Utilities > Install Fonts). Text can then be placed with these fonts while working in MicroStation. During translation, the fonts should be mapped to the AutoCAD fonts. This should ensure that the text differences are minimal. |
| Many of my Tags are coming into the AutoCAD file as text, not as Attributes. |
AutoCAD can only attach Attributes to Blocks, so any of the Tags that were not attached to Cells will import into AutoCAD as text. |
| When I open the file in AutoCAD, all of my reference files have been merged into one file. |
In the Export Drawing File dialog box, under Settings > General > Reference File Attachments, check to see that the All Other option is set to Xref. This will cause MicroStation to create Xref definitions for the attached reference files. No Xref definitions will be created for reference files that are selfreferencing or clipped. The DGN files that are defined as Xrefs will need to be exported individually to create the drawing files for AutoCAD. Keep in mind that AutoCAD Release 12 will not support selfreferencing Xref attachments and it cannot clip Xref attachments. The selfreferencing and clipped reference file settings should be left to merge, unless you know the program that you are going to use will support them. |
| When I open the file in AutoCAD, error messages "Unable to resolve Xref ...." display. |
When Settings > General > Reference File Attachments in the Export Drawing File dialog box is set to Xref, an Xref insertion point and path are created. The path is the output directory for the translation. This error message usually appears because the files have been moved from that directory. One solution is to retranslate the files to the new location. The other is to use AutoCAD and Xref > Edit Path. |
| When I open the file in AutoCAD and all of my reference files have been merged into one file, the levels are combined. |
MicroStation SE's MicroStation BASIC macro DWG.BAS (in the \ustation\tables\DWG subdirectory) allows you to set MicroStation so that it will create new layers for every level used in a reference file and make the reference file name part of the layer name. |
| When I open the file in AutoCAD, the line styles don't look right. |
MicroStation SE's MicroStation BASIC macro DWG.BAS (in the \ustation\tables\DWG subdirectory) allows you to set the LTScale to a value that will display correct line styles. |
| I want to export database information to AutoCAD. |
There is no standard way to attach this data in AutoCAD. MicroStation SE's DWG/DXF import/export applications are delivered with an MDL-based API that allows a certain level of customization for site specific needs, including nongraphic data transfer. | Back to Top of page
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