Author: |
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Creation Date: |
2006-03-16 |
• ArchiCAD 9 |
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Platform: |
• Mac OS X |
Audience: |
• newcomers |
Reference: |
• [tracking number] |
Contents
Use Publisher for exporting of DXF / DWG files from PlotMaker. You can access it from File menu > Publisher > Publish…
Publisher window will pop up. On the left you can find the available Layouts, the right side of this dialog is empty at the first opening.
1. For the DXF/DWG export create a new View Set: Click on the top right button beside the View Set and create New View Set… (1). Enter the name of your custom View Set and Create. (e.g. DWG2000)
1.1. In this new View Set drag&drop all Layouts you want to save as DWG 2000: keep holding down the mouse when clicking on the layouts on the left (available Layouts) and drop them to the right (Layouts to publish).
1.2. Set the View Set Publishing Properties (2). Choose the Save files as Publishing method in the popup and brows for the folder where you want to save the DWGs.
1.3. Choose DWG for the File format (3)
1.4. To set the Translator options click on Options… (4)
2. The DXF-DWG Translator Setup window appears.
2.1. Create your custom Translator by duplicating the Default Translator: Select the Default Translator in the list of Translators and click on the Duplicate button (5). With double-clicking add new name to it. (e.g. PM_DWG2000_M50)
2.2. You can enter a detailed description of the new Translator in the Info field. (6)
2.3. Under the Settings in Selected Translators (7) you can edit your Translator settings:
2.3.1. Drawing Unit settings (8)
In AutoCAD the drawings are at the ratio 1:1, it means that the drawing unit normally 1000 millimeter (1 meter). Be careful in case of PlotMaker because there are scaled drawings imported, and this real size refers to the PlotMaker interface, this means that plan-frames will be exported in their real size but the placed drawings in their predefined scale (e.g. M=1:50). Therefor choose in the pop up menu the “Custom [mm]” (9) and write the scale factor of your placed drawings. (You can find an Overview list at the bottom of this article.)
2.3.2. Save Options (10)
In this menu field you can choose the basic output options:
- File Format (11)
- Template File (12) for Additional Settings like X-Ref, or Colors to BYLAYER etc.
- Save Layout into (13)
Place PlotMaker Drawings into (14)
In the pop up of the command Save Layout you have 3 different options for file conversion:
2.3.2.1. Paper Space with Cropped Drawings' content
Drawing elements drawn on the Layout in PlotMaker will be saved into the Paper Space of the resulting AutoCAD drawing. The image of the Layout will be reconstructed in the Paper Space of the AutoCAD drawing. Drawings placed on the Layout will first become cropped by their placement polygon on the Layout (meaning only those elements and part of elements inside of the cropped area will be exported), and then saved in DXF/DWG format. Note: Be careful because in this case you have to change the Drawing Unit (see 2.3.1. and the Overview list at the bottom of this article.)
2.3.2.2. Model Space with Cropped Drawings’ content
Drawing elements drawn on the Layout in PlotMaker will be saved into the Model Space of the resulting AutoCAD drawing. The image of the Layout will be reconstructed in the Model Space of the AutoCAD drawing. Drawings placed on the Layout will first become cropped by their placement polygon on the Layout, and then saved in DXF/DWG format. Note: Be careful because in this case you have to change the Drawing Unit (see 2.3.1. and the Overview list at the bottom of this article.)
2.3.2.3. Paper Space with Full Drawings’ content
Drawing elements drawn on the Layout in PlotMaker will be saved into the Paper Space of the resulting AutoCAD drawing. The image of the Layout will be reconstructed in the Paper Space of the AutoCAD drawing. The imported drawings (PMK/PLN) will be placed as Linked XRef drawings (A DXF/DWF file will be saved. In this file there will be placement references to XRef files. All files will be saved in other separate DXF/DWG files and these files will be placed in the first DXF/DWG file as XRef-s) or as Single DXF/DWG file (All drawings are saved into a single DXF/DWG file. They are placed side by side in the file, so in either the Paper Space or the Model Space they will look like the Layout in PlotMaker.). You have to choose either of them at Place PlotMaker Drawings into. (14) Drawings placed on the Layout will be saved in their entirety in DXF/DWG format.
When you want to give to your partner only layouts with the visible elements (cropped by the placement polygon) with frames and headers we advise to use the second method: Model Space with Cropped Drawings’ content.
2.3.3. Attributes (15)
Some ArchiCAD attributes (Layers, Line types, Pens, Fonts) have their counterparts in AutoCAD, but certain rules need to be observed.
2.3.3.1. Layers (16)
Here you can define special layer options (e.g. custom layers for various Fill types: Drafting Fills, Cover Fills etc.) or at the Layer-Layer conversion assigning ArchiCAD Layer Names to predefined AutoCAD layer Names (e.g. file-exchange with specified Layer Names.)
2.3.3.2. Pens and Colors (17)
ArchiCAD Pen Colors are configurable, while AutoCAD's pen number association to colors cannot be modified. You can convert ArchiCAD Pens to AutoCAD Colors by pen index number (although the numbers may represent quite different colors), search for the best color match or set up a conversion dictionary. If you save a DXF/DWG file with the Match ArchiCAD Pens to AutoCAD Colors by option set to Using Pen-to-Color Conversion table, this dictionary will be used to map pens to colors and vice versa. Or you can choose the Set all Elements’ Colors to “BYLAYER” option. (However you need to set a template file see 2.3.2.)
2.3.3.3. Line types (18)
When saving files, you can either set up a line type conversion table (Linetype-Linetype conversion) or choose to convert all ArchiCAD line types to a single type in AutoCAD named BYLAYER. (However you need to set a template file see 2.3.2.) Note that symbol line types are stored differently in ArchiCAD and in AutoCAD. Due to these differences, some of ArchiCAD's symbol line types will not look the same in AutoCAD.
2.3.3.4. Fills (save methods) (19)
ArchiCAD fill patterns can be saved as solid fills. You can also export fill backgrounds as additional polygons (as AutoCAD does not support this feature).
2.3.3.5. Font-style conversion (20)
Font names are stored differently in DXF/DWG files and in ArchiCAD. Even when one-by-one font matching is possible, a dictionary is necessary. Texts having the font specified on the ArchiCAD side of a dictionary item will be exported in the font specified on the AutoCAD side. (e.g. . ArchiCAD = Arial Western AutoCAD = txt) Note: Usually AutoCAD works with a Standard Textstyle. In this case set Standard as the AutoCAD Style. (21) (On Windows, ArchiCAD supports all available fonts including those installed by AutoCAD)
When you fully customized the Translator file close the window by clicking on the Save Settings & Close button.
2.4. Afterwards you can publish your files as DWG or DXF from PlotMaker clicking on the Publish button. (22)
This table helps you to set the conversion factor described at 2.3.1.
If you want to open the saved DWG or DXF again in ArchiCAD you should set the Drawing Unit to 1 Meter (1000 mm).