DWG import suggestion

[Des]

Like many others here I have to import DWG files on a daily basis. Sometimes the DWGs are very big and take ages to import. Most of the time when I have a large DWG to import I set FormZ to skip Points and text to speed up the process.

Would it be possible in the future to include a dialog which would allow the layers (or a layer list) to be seen where we could toggle known unwanted layers so they can be ignored during import? That would save me so much time.

Des

[johnalexander1571]

I see, tick the boxes for what layers on the incoming file will be read. That would be nice and I have not seen this feature before somewhere else. Great idea Des.

[Des]

I have seen this kind of functionality many years ago. I can't remember if it was Vectorworks, Powercad or Adobe Illustrator or something else..

 

Actually Forget that, I think I may have dreamed it..........

Edited September 15, 2022 by Des

[3dworks]

and while we are at it, please add working support for sheets!

[santa]

On 9/15/2022 at 6:14 PM, Des said:

Actually Forget that, I think I may have dreamed it..........

No, you didn’t dream it. Modern GIS software has had this feature for a while, and it’s extremely useful. I use it, like it, and wish FZ had it. The attached image, for example, shows the dialog for the importation of a dwg file consisting of 47 layers, 24000 entities, and 1100 blocks! Two additional great features are the ability to merge layers and to control the visibility of each, if so desired.

[Des]

Thanks for posting that Santa, that import functionality would be amazing!

[Des]

I just want to bump this suggestion up.

The DWGs I get these days seem to be getting bigger with more and more layers. Quality seems to be getting worse.

 

As well as my suggestion to be able to see layers on import to toggle know unwanted one off I'd like to add another.

To be able to select whether to import all data in model space OR just import what is visible in paper space.

 

Thanks,

 

Des

[Justin Montoya]

I couldn't agree more on the larger DWGs.  Small ones, FormZ seems to handle OK.

Fortunately I have other 3D software to open the large files in first and clean up there before saving again for importing into FMZ.  Rhino for example imports HUGE DWGs almost as good as 3DStudioMax, but is much easier to use.  The speed it handles imports means that even though you need to use another application, the ability to quickly clean things up for FormZ, saves lots of time in the end.  Hell, even SketchUp handles these big DWGs better than FormZ these days.

Something happened with FormZ over the years.  It used to import large DWGs like a champ without getting bogged down.  I don't know if its bad default settings, or just the newer translator, but I'd love to see this improved in the next version.

[Hugo]

Because of importing DWG's I bought a subscription for AutoCad LT in the past. Only to open a DWG and pick the entities I want to use in FormZ, never used AutoCad for draft. Beside AutoCad LT I use Vectorworks to import DWG files and for creating serious 2D drawings and for taking measures in PDF files.

But, as Des said: beter DWG import is very useful and would like the option.

Edited June 14, 2023 by Hugo
context was not clear.

[3dworks]

Another suggestion would be to implement autocentering the origin of an imported DWG. Many times I am getting files generated by Autocad systems which use some kind of extremely offsetted origin. In this case, in FZ we have to re-import a few times to find out the correct offset for a file. Ideally the implementation would include to keep the recalculated origin offset for all subsequent files, so that different plans within one project are perfectly matched. But the biggest wish remains to speed up the import of complex and huge DWG's. What takes a few seconds in other apps like Rhino can take literally hours in FZ.

Edited July 20, 2023 by 3dworks

[Tech]

@3dworksPlease send an example or two of DWGs which are taking too longer than expected to import, along with a screen capture of your import settings, to support@formz.com.