Expert: J. B. Borge - 10/9/2005

Question
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Followup To
Question -

Hi, thanks so much for your reply. This confirms my suspicion that there's no good way to keep the imported drawing intact while making it usable.  
An additional related question: I notice that some of the other linework in the same drawing was perfectly readable in Autocad 2002 without exploding, but when I forwarded it to a third party using Autocad LT 2004, the objects were not visible to her.  Is this an issue of LT having an even more limited ability to read objects created in Civil Design because of the 3D components, or is there some incompatibility issue between my program and hers, or both?  Would you give a brief synopsis of the constraints in using LT with other Autocad programs and functions?  Thanks!

Hello,
I use Autocad 2002, and periodically encounter problems when I bring linework into my drawing from a document created by another firm using the ACAD Civil Design program.  It usually seems to relate to objects classified as LW polylines, which have 3d components embedded in them.  Most recently, I tried to insert topo information into one of my drawings, and it simply did not appear.  As a last resort, I made a copy of the linework from the original and exploded it, which caused it to lose all of its associated properties.  For my purposes, which are primarily visual, this is a crude but adequate solution to my immediate problem, but I would like to know how to bring in this linework without having to manipulate it, so it won't cause confusion later when files are being exchanged among various offices.  Can you advise?
Thank you!
pflynn
PS. I WOULD like to post this on the AutoCAD message board, but somehow seem to have checked the 'no' box, and don't know how to revise.
Answer -
Hi, this is always the case when ever you import objects that were created from another platform. It's inevitable having to clean it up in order to conform to your company's standards. Some people just extract the key objects/information they need. Unless, your firm utilizes Land Desktop, then it's only logical to keep the proxy objects. If you don't, then i think it's only safe to explode & purge out all unncessary info, then share. It doesn't hurt to keep a backup repository of the originals for future reference.

You can also try to export the rec'd linework to an older release 13 (.dwg or .dxf). This will strip out unneccessary files in its data-base.

Sincerely,
JB

Answer
Pflynn,

I think i kinda see the whole picture now!
There's always going to be incompatibility issues from platform to platform. However, one will try to represent these entities as accurately as possible. Autodesk's solution is called 'Object Enablers'. So next time you receive a drawing from your clients using civil 3D, make sure to download the 'Object Enablers' for civil 3D. This enables you to access the object data's that were initially created from (civil 3D). This should also apply to the autocad LT users (3rd party).

Following link below should take to Autodesk's object enabler server:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=2753223&linkID=24757

I'm not very familiar w/ Autocad LT, although i think you're quite limited to the manipulation/customization of menu's & lisp/vba routines.  Hope this helps, let me know!

-regards,
JB