Don't know what happened to that link, Derek - but it isn't working...
Anyway, AutoCAD drawings open in Catia - but they are always behind by what seems like at least 2 versions. As of R17, I am able to open AutoCAD 2006 files, but not AutoCAD 2007. It took an act of God just to get up to that version. So depending on what release of Catia you are using, you may or may not be able to open a certain AutoCAD file.
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You have to bring it into a drawing first, then copy paste it to a CATPart.
or
Bring it into the drawing file, then save it out as a .ig2, this is a 2d iges file.
In windows change the extension to .igs
This will come in as a CATPart file.
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just out of curiosity, is there any other way to import these 2D model into 3D? changing the file name to fool catia seems kinda silly.. but it works...-------------------------------------------------------------------
DBezaire
POSTED ON: Mar 1
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I am only aware of the 2 methods, filename change and copy paste from drafting to modelling.
Thanks guys, great news that I can do this, as I have neary 5000 drawing in autocad and will (over the next few years) be making Catia models from them. This will save me drawing the basic layout. Thanks
Are you making drawings? if so you can open the DWG file and save as a CatDrawing. You will have to smash the 2D instances that Catia seams to like to create out of AutoCad files. We get all of our gages, weld tools, and dies in AutoCad and we have no problems added them to our title blocks.
jec3300 ok I dont understand smash the 2d but thats not a problem just yet as it will be a few week till we buy Catia.
From what your saying I understand, importing a DWG (nothing complex)into Catia can be extruded?
I'm usign Derek's method ( ig2 ) when importing text to CATPart, but I have noticed that when ig2 geometry is pasted to 3D it's not so stable... I use the following procedure to solve this problem:
Draving -> save as IG2 -> save as DXF -> paste to part
Corby - you are building a library of what? Before you start you may want to add properties and some configuration to your parts. You might be able to create these using design tables and resolve these into catalogs.
Sorry I had to put CATDrawing, I do this only for text because when you type some text in TrueType font and save it directly to DWG you don't get the outline of the letter.
Forgot to mention - you really only need to set the Import setting, but since I don't know where you are getting the data, you're covered both ways.
Import will handle your external data, and Export will save you the hassle of having to set the options of your imported text and dimensions when working with your own data. So you can use one or the other, or both.