SS - Converting ACAD (r13 and higher) Drawings using IntelliCAD 2001

About IntelliCAD 2001 Standard Edition

(All information in this box can be found at cadopia.com)

IntelliCAD's native file format is AutoCAD’s native .DWG. It allows you to open and save any existing Autodesk AutoCAD file (V2.5 through 2000) and there is no file conversion or data loss. IntelliCAD opens, edits, and saves any existing DWG files saved in V2.5 through 2000, without conversion or data loss. Some users purchase IntelliCAD just for this feature alone. If you regularly receive files from clients that are in one format and you need to convert them to another format, IntelliCAD can do that too. (Note from Simplicity Systems: The AutoCAD 2002 drawing format is unchanged from AutoCAD 2000. IntelliCAD’s menus only show AutoCAD up to version 2000.)

The IntelliCAD 2001 Standard edition evaluation version is available for download free at cadopia.com.

Converting AutoCAD R13 & higher drawings to “Sight” Survey

1. To load the AutoCAD drawing into IntelliCAD: Start IntelliCAD. Click File > Open… to access the Open Drawing dialog box.

2. Under Files of type: select the file type as either a Drawing File, or a DXF File.

3. Locate the drawing file you want to convert, and select it by clicking it with your mouse.

5. To save the IntelliCAD drawing to a DXF file: Click File > Save As… to access the Save Drawing As dialog box.

6. In the File name: box, enter the name of the file you want to save. (Remember that Sight Survey will recognize only the first eight characters of the file name.)

7. Under Save as type: select the file type as an AutoCAD Release 11/12 ASCII DXF File (dxf)

8. Click Save to save the drawing as a DXF file. You will receive a message: This pre-R14 version does not support some entities. These entities will not be saved in the drawing. Continue? Click OK to continue saving the drawing.

Loading a Converted DXF file into “Sight” Survey

1. To load the file into Sight Survey, use the Start > File > Load Drawing routine to open the Filename to Read dialog box.

2. In the Filename to Read dialog box, under the List file of type: setting, select AutoCAD DXF.

3. Locate the DXF file you want to load and select it by clicking it with your mouse.

When the file has loaded, you may or may not see your image, or it may appear very small over to one side of the drawing screen. This is caused by the IntelliCAD program placing an origin entity at the 0,0 coordinate position. You may also see the page outline located some distance away from your drawing.

To be able to see the entire image using the Zoom All (ZA) command, you need to remove the entity at 0,0. Simply left-click and hold your mouse in the position as shown on the illustration to the right, then drag your mouse down to the right to open a selection window and release the mouse button. You should be able to see a few small squares or dots marking the position of the 0,0 entity. Press the Delete key to erase the entity, then type ZA to zoom the drawing to full screen. You may now re-center the paper and save the drawing.