flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
(OP)
We have trouble making decent autocad drawings from SW drawings. I read Tick's post about flaky fonts and GED info. Those are some of our exact problems. I am about to try saving as older versions of acad, maybe as dxf instead of dwg, and using acad fonts. We have yet to try the mapping options.






RE: flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
You may be "stuck" like most of use, and have to get by with what you get...
Mr. Pickles
RE: flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
It's never completely clean. I go for legible. Sometimes I append a note indicating that the source is SW.
We use Century Gothic for our default font. It seems to translate OK.
One of the foibles inherent with EVERY CAD program I have seen is that they do not process fonts the way Microsoft Office does. I think the developers don't put a high priority on it. I see it as an issue of content over style. Most engineers aren't too concerned with the exact prettiness of their fonts. Really, that's more the domain of graphic designers using Adobe Illustrator, etc.
RE: flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
RE: flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
RE: flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
Autocad version R14
custom mapping off
1:1 scale output checked
If all you need is a legible 2D drawing, and the downstream recipient doesn't need to take geometry off of the drawing, try sending an eDrawing.
Another good 2D format is PDF. There is a good PDF translator at http://www.pdf995.com, and it costs $9.95.
RE: flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
Look at www.nhcad.com under download.
UNFRAG is written by Jeff Prosise and is a utility to unfragment compound files. This program is fantastic! You can run it on a single directory, with the option to include sub-directories. The sizes of your SolidWorks files should shrink significantly. This program will accomplish the same thing as renaming your SolidWorks files, but without the hassle of losing or misnaming files...
Bradley
RE: flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
Set all fonts to RomanS
I have to run through this 2 times to get it to work
Move text as required
During the translation things seem to move down some
Purge All
Audit
Not necessarily the best process, but its what I have to do.
RE: flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
EcoSqueeze (www.ecocom.com) does the same as Unfrag, but also allows you to "squeeze" out the Preview Image and the Display List Information. It also does NOT update the Date/Time stamp like Unfrag does. And EcoSqueeze is "Freeware".
FWIW: I just did our main job directory of 9235 files and squeezed out 798mb, and I didn't do the Preview Image either.
Mr. Pickles
RE: flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
Export Options:
Version: R2000-2002
Fonts: True Type
LineStyles: Solidworks Custom Styles
Custom map SolidWorks to DXF: YES
Dont Show Mapping on each save: YES
1:1 Scale Output: YES
I also have made up a map file, which doesnt so much have
anything to do eith the quality of the export, but merely maps Solidworks entities to individual colors/layers in the acad drawing. Cut the following text out (not couting the lines that say "Cut here" and paste them into notepad. Save the file, then point your map file to the file you saved:
'----- cut here ---------------------------
[Version]
SW990001
[Layers]
0 = 7, 0
DEFPOINTS = 7, 0
DIMS = 1, 0
CENTERMARKS = 8, 0
SECTIONLINES = 9, 0
BILLSOFMATERIALS = 0, 0
CENTERLINES = 10, 0
DIMENSIONS = 251, 0
NOTES = 0, 0
GEOMETRY = 7, 1
[Entities]
Geometry [0] = BYLAYER, BYLAYER, GEOMETRY
Notes [2] = BYLAYER, BYLAYER, NOTES
Center Marks [4] = BYLAYER, BYLAYER, CENTERMARKS
Section Lines [5] = BYLAYER, BYLAYER, SECTIONLINES
Bill of Materials [12] = BYLAYER, BYLAYER, BILLSOFMATERIALS
Center Lines [14] = BYLAYER, BYLAYER, CENTERLINES
Dimensions [1] = BYLAYER, BYLAYER, DIMENSIONS
[Colors]
' ---- cut here --------------------------
if you like the results, I have a macro for you that automates the whole process from export out of SW to import into acad.
RE: flaky autocad fonts - and is there a drawing purge command?
We use Adobe PDF file format for drawings we are sending to anyone else. We actually use full-up Adobe for this and it functions as a print driver from ANY Windows application. (But the cheap PDF converter sounds interesting). The advantage is that ANYONE can read and print the file. (If they claim they can't - tell them to download the free Adobe reader, or use their web browser.) Also the resolution is great. AND they can't inadvertantly or otherwise alter it easliy. (An interesting little legal wrinkle.) BTW: you can obviously save model pictures this way too - anything you can print.
One final plea for patience - no matter what CAD systems you are using. Remember the first rule of generic "Translators". If the source system has apples oranges and pears, the translator has bananas and apples and the target system has apples coconuts and pears, the BEST you are going to get logically is real apples, maybe some orange colored apples, no pears and who the heck uses bananas?