Importing CAD Data

[jongray]

Hi there,

 

Im having trouble importing a fairly simple drawing into sketchup. Keeps saying its importing/merging blocks which is taking ages. I tried importing into max as one object and it imported straight away.

 

Is there something i can do in CAD to make all the lines one object to import into sketchup as i need to produce the models really fast so need to use sketchup.

 

cheers

[SkylineArch]

My typical workflow to get 2D CAD into SketchUp is in AutoCAD, isolate/clean up just the layers and lines I need, explode as necessary, then I copy/paste into a new drawing, otherwise some hidden blocks will come along with it. Save that drawing as an older version of DWG, 2012 or whatever, it doesn't matter because you don't need any smart objects.

 

In SketchUp, import the DWG file, it will more than likely come in with some lines in the Z axis (so not completely 2D). I go to top view in SketchUp and turn off perspective. I save that out as a (2D Image) .dwg file. Start a new session of SketchUp and import the newly saved file. Some times the units are messed up, so I measure a door and it will be 36' and not 36", so just type 36" and hit Enter to scale the drawing. I then break up the CAD as necessary, floor plans, elevations, etc. Create new layers like _CAD_Front or whatever, move the lines there and group them. When all done, copy and past them into the main scene and the layers will be created and organized. put them in the correct position and lock them.

 

Doing it this way does weld the lines, but there are also extensions that do that as well.

[jongray]

Great thanks for your help that works perfect