dwg dxf file

[John Childs]

Andrew…..

dxf and dwg files should be openable in Illustrator anyway. I have to do it now and again for one of my customers and it hasn’t been a problem for me.

What version of illustrator are you on? Mac or PC?

[Andrew Boyle]

tried Mac and PC

CS, 9 and 7………

😀

[Martin Pearson]

Andrew, as John has said they should open in Illustrator, DWf files are autocad I think, I’m running illustrator 9 and have opened autocad files in the past.

[Andrew Boyle]

opened a dxf earlier today……it’s just this one……..

Cheers anyway

Andrew

[John Childs]

I don’t know about 7 & 9 but I am using 10 so I would have thought CS ought to do it. Those file types are export options and should also be readable.

Are the files small enough to email, bearing in mind I am only on 64k Highway? If so I would be happy to give it a go for you. Although if you can normally open dxf it sounds as if it might be a corruption problem.

[Rodney Gold]

DXF is an asci representation of the Acad DWG file , is Drawing Exchange File.
Problem is , the format changes with every release of autocad and its not well adhered to by other packages. Corel is pretty forgiving and it might be best to try import it and export out to AI.
I have Acad , so can try open it in there and then export to whatever format (Illustatror 9, corel 11 , freehand , eps , and so forth)
You can send it to rodgold@iafrica.com

[Andrew Boyle]

thanks for your help……

back home now, started early and my eye was twitching by 5:30……..

Rod may still fwd file if ok…..

Cheers

AB

[pentel]

I’ve had similar problems in the past….. I find that the beat way to take dxf’s into illustrator is to create a new document and then PLACE the dxf on to it. ( make sure you don’t scale to fit…)

[Paul Franklin]

A common problem that occurs with DXF / DWG is what version they have been saved as. AutoCAD has so many versions ranging further back from release version 12 & 13 to Autocad2000, 2002, 2004, 2005 etc etc. If you can get your clients to save them as version 2000 you can usually open them in most other software packages that accept DXF / DWG files. Otherwise if they are being saved in, for example 2005 format, the subtle differences in this file may not be recognised by the graphics package you are trying to import into as it came out before this file type. Bit of a ramble I know, but hope that makes sense.

[Frank Droog]

DWG files are not neccesarily Autocad files.
There are lots of companies that save as DWG.
eg Graphicad, Designcad and a few others. They all save with a DWG extension but are not in any way compatable with Autocad DWG files.
They all also export DXF.

Also, Autocads DWG undergoes a major change every 2 versions.
Maybe you program can read 12 and 13 but not 14 and 2000

Also, DXF can be ASCII or Binary. Most programs can load an ASCII DXF but few can open a Binary DXF.

if you want, email them to me and i can tell you what they are.
frank at cadlink
frankd@cadlink.com