Importing DWG

[MichaelLammens]

Dear all,

I'm having a hard time finding the right method on importing dwg files into Cinema 4D. Version 10.5 should have been fully compatible with AutoCAD dwg files, but this isn't the case. When I make my own 3D models in AutoCAD, the dwg files are always corrupted (not even if I save in lower versions) . A 2D dwg file exports without problems.
To avoid this I always export to 3ds files in AutoCAD. My problem with this is that every layer exports as a single object. It would be a lot easier when I could export to a 3dsfile where every seperate objects, remains a seperate object, and that the name of the layer would be applied to every object.

Has anybody have a technique to get around this issue? Would make my workflow a lot easier!!!

[machmirdenlukas]

my workflow if i have to export from autocad:

exporting blocks from autocad to 3ds generates objects(dialog override -each block is one object), which can be split in segments in c4d if needed
also if you apply the command 3dsout in acad you can choose export in layer, autocad color index or autocad object type.

[Tong]

use dxf

[Ernest Burden]

The dwg import into C4D is rudamentary at best. With 3ds or dxf or obj you get options for how to organize and connect the materials in the file. Not so with dwg. It makes a nasty mess of unconnected objects. What it does do, that the other imports do not, is provide layers on top of the OM layout, and the very-important service of translating your blocks directly to C4D Instance objects.

What to do? When I have a file that has a lot of blocks I import it as dwg first to get the layer structure and also the Instances, then as dxf to get a clean import of geometry. I then pull objects out of one and drop into the dwg one, or vise-versa. Remember to remove the '0' layer copies of block contents that get stuck piled up at 0,0,0 in a dxf import. It gets confusing.

Also remember that while the dwg import reads blocks and creates Instances with all the correct position, scale and rotation info, it does NOT correctly import nested blocks (for example--a block of a restaurant table that has the chairs as sub-blocks, the place-settings another with their own subs of plats, knives, etc.) A CAD file can have symbols/blocks nested dozens of layers deep, and you lose all that heirarchy with C4D. Only the top symbol/block can be counted on.

You have to spend the time preparing your files before transfer or fixing them after. Your choice.

Oh, and another thing I've learned along the way--pay close attention to the scaling factors you use in the import/export prefs. The panel only displays a few digits beyond the decimal point. But it USES more than that. If you use American/Imperial units (feel/inches), your CAD program will output in inches by default. To make that feet/inches in C4D you must use an import scale of .0833333.... If you only type in the few digits that actually display in the panel, you will not get an accurate import scale. Type in as many 3's as will fit and do the exact same for the other import filters. Or else you will have models that don't quite line up when you zoom way in, and you won't know which is right and which is wrong. Metric is easier, obviously.

[neitrok]

Hello,
don't forget to close the DWG file in CAD program before the import!!! Otherwise you are not able to import it.
Jiri

[MichaelLammens]

Thank you all very much for your help.

Ernest, I totally agree that dwg imports a lot more info than 3ds and obj, my issue however is that when I make my 3D models in Autocad, I just can't load in the dwg file. There is always an error, no matter what I do (change version of dwg, even with dxf,...). When I import the original 2D plan version, there is no problem.

So someway, somehow, when you make 3D models yourself in Autcad, something happens with the dwg file, that makes it inimportable into C4D. Does someone have the same problem, or is this just me?

...maybe I should just learn how to make 3D models of dwg files in C4D directly? It just seems a hell of a lot faster to do it in Acad.

[naskoo]

Or open the *.dwg file in 3Ds MAX-> File-> FileLinkManager -> Load the file in the dialog box. It'll import it in Max and then export to *.obj (best for me). Do not forget to close the file in Autocad before to load it in Max.

Regards

Nasko

[lichtwerk]

Dear Michael,

I have had the same problem over and over agian; unfortunately I have not found a solution for it. For this reason I no longer use dwg fro imports to c4d. Would be glad if somebody new a solution as well as it says explicitely that c4d was supposed to import all different kinds of 3d objects as dwg.

[MichaelLammens]

Lichtwerk,... exactly! it's quite frustrating isn't it? Some external 3D dwg files work though, and when I create them myself , it never seems to work! I tried to find out what's wrong, but the only conclusion I have is that it's a bug!