CAD to MAX??

[raterry]

Hi there,

 

I'm having a problem importing a CAD file into MAX 5.1. The CAD file is a topographical file that is a whole bunch of lines with indicators of how high (in feet) that section of land is. I'm just trying to import all those lines into Max so I can extrude and have some semblance of the land mass I need. I've tried saving as .dxf, .dwg. but MAX imports either nothing or just one line. I really am not too familiar with CAD so I figure I'm doing something wrong there. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

-=rob

I've attached a jpeg example of what I'm trying to import. it's a screen cap of the CAD file.

[karl zacharias]

Do This Process All The Time...first Of All The Lines From Cad Should Be P-lines, And They Should Be Closed In Order To Extrude Them In Max. Try Limiting The Number Of Increments Because You May Have To Retrace With P-lines In Cad Or Even Retrace In Max Using Lines. The Text Will Not Import. If The Lines Do Import, You'll Need To Go To The Sub-object Level And Detach The Segments As Clones So You Can Vary The Elevations (because It Appears That Your Cad Lines Are On One Layer).

[raterry]

Thanks for the reply, my plan was to re-draw all the lines in Max because I know they are all open in the cad file, it's actually just a small portion of a larger land mass so all lines are just cut off at the ends. It just seems like they are not there at all when I import, is it because they are not P-lines in CAD, if so can you tell me how to make them P-lines in CAD? thanks again,

-=Rob

[rcase]

If they are splines, you can search the web for a LISP command to turn your SPLINEs to PLINEs. If you can't find one, you'll have to redraw them in AutoCAD as closed p-lines. You can't turn a spline into a pline. Hope this helps.