Importing 2D Elements from AutoCAD - How to adjust the size?

[Anonymous]

Hello dear ArchiCAD friends

I have a problem which would be nice to get under control since I know there must be a solution for such a simple matter.

My problem is when importing a 2D element from AutoCAD, eg., a toilet consisting of several lines, arcs, and whatever. When I copy-paste it into a plan drawing in ArchiCAD, my pasted 2D element does not match the scale of my drawing at all. When trying to group the 2D element and scale it down, it is not possible and it becomes a mess.

So, any ideas what I have to do? By the way, I have few skills in AutoCAD.

Thanks for any comments or answers!

[Thomas Holm]

In the settings of the translator you use, you must set the Drawing Unit to whatever is used as the DWGUNIT on the Autocad side.

[Anonymous]

What if I just use copy-paste keys (and thereby no translator-setting is involved)?

[Thomas Holm]

Oh the usual warning first:
You should post your AC version and platform/system in your signature to get worthwhile answers without unnecessary guessing.

If you even consider copy/paste from Autocad to Archicad, you must be using Windows, since autocad is only available there.

The transfer/translation by copy/paste goes through the operating system's clipboard, and I don't know what is stored there in this case. I guess it's just a simple bit-mapped screen shot. If lucky, it would be vectorial, but still no scale or info that's usable in Archicad. Just an image, nothing more.

If you want scaled and accurate transfer, you have to use one of Archicad's Drag-and-drop, External Drawing, Xref, Merge or Open DWG options. They all use some Translator setting, at the very least just the Drawing Unit setting. Please read the Help file before asking more here!

[Djordje]

Peterjo wrote:
What if I just use copy-paste keys (and thereby no translator-setting is involved)?

Pray while you do it 😉

If you need the AutoCAD content, the best way is to place it as external drawing, and then - if you want to integrate it into ArchiCAD - explode into current view. It is then grouped, and can be set to any layer, linetype, colour ...

[Thomas Holm]

Djordje wrote:

Peterjo wrote:
What if I just use copy-paste keys (and thereby no translator-setting is involved)?

Pray while you do it 😉

If you need the AutoCAD content, the best way is to place it as external drawing, and then - if you want to integrate it into ArchiCAD - explode into current view. It is then grouped, and can be set to any layer, linetype, colour ...

pray is the word... You're in for a surprise when you look at your layer list afterwards...

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies.

I have an a idea of the mechanisms of copy-paste vs. using a translator.

Cheers!

[Anonymous]

and I got me a signature now

[Anonymous]

It's almost as if Copy-Paste from Autocad brought in a screen dump image of selected items, rather than a vectorial representation. Weird.

[Thomas Holm]

s2art wrote:
It's almost as if Copy-Paste from Autocad brought in a screen dump image of selected items, rather than a vectorial representation. Weird.

Thanks for testing it, Stuart. Sorry to say that's what I thought might happen. Explanation in my post of Oct. 28.