SS - Converting Survey 4/Draftsman/Generic CADD jobs to "Sight" Survey

Convert the Drawing: The conversion process begins in Generic CADD. "Sight" Survey cannot open a Generic CADD drawing file (.GCD). The Generic CADD drawing must first be converted to an AutoCAD DXF drawing. In Generic CADD, type the two-letter command XG to convert the drawing to a DXF file. After converting the file, before leaving Generic CADD, you should check your CADD database units. Type the two-letter command UN and then press <enter>. Your screen will display your CADD database units. Make a note of this, you'll need this information to avoid a scaling problem in "Sight" Survey.

Load "Sight" Survey: Start "Sight" Survey, then click on the Config menu and select CAD Configuration. Set your CAD Units setting to match the CADD database units used in Generic CADD, then click OK.

Load your data first by selecting File > Open Job and the File Open dialog box will appear. Under List Files of Type, select Survey 4 Files (*.dat), then navigate to your data file and double-click it, or select it and click OK. When the Edit Coordinates window displays your coordinates, click Accept, or simply press <enter>.

Load the drawing: Click the Start button at the top of the Drawing window. Select File > Load Drawing. (Do not select Open Drawing, since that will reset you CAD units.) After your drawing has been loaded, you may need to type ZA to zoom all of the drawing.

Scaling problems: If your plotted drawing is off scale by a factor of 12, you did not set your CAD units (see paragraph 2) to match your Generic CADD database units (see paragraph 1). Type DX to erase the drawing, set your CAD Units (see paragraph 2) then re-load your drawing.

Save your new "Sight" Survey job: To combine the data and drawing into a single job, select File > Save Job As and give the job a name as a "Sight" Survey file with a .zak filename extension.

About Text Fonts: Your Generic CADD drawing converts to a DXF file using AutoCAD font names. These are not the same as the TrueType fonts used in Windows, and the converted file may contain some rather 'ugly' text. You can change the font name in a DXF (text) file by loading the DXF file into your word processor and using that program's Find and Replace feature. Search for the AutoCAD font name (modern, simplex, roman, etc.) and change it to a TrueType font name. If your Generic CADD font is Roman, change it to Times Roman. Other fonts will probably translate better to the TrueType font Arial. When you save your DXF file, remember to save it as a plain text file, but use a DXF extension rather than a TXT extension.