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Importing DWG/DXF files
Description
In this SkyCAD tutorial, you'll learn how to import component DWG and DXF files into SkyCAD, so you can use them to create component layout views.
If you haven't done so already, we recommend watching the Creating a component's layout view tutorial before continuing with this tutorial, at least up to the 4m45sec mark.
Important note: This feature is not intended to be used to import DWG/DXF schematics. This forum thread has more information.
Topics covered
Panel layout, layout view, component layout view, dwg import, dxf import.
Main content
NOTE: This tutorial was created using an older version of SkyCAD.
Ribbon buttons' appearance and positions may differ if you're using version 1.3.25 or higher.
If your goal is to create detailed panel layouts in SkyCAD, then you'll need to create layout views for the components used in the panel layout.
The best way to do this is to use an image of the component layout that you have downloaded from the manufacturer's website, as explained in the "Creating a component's layout view" tutorial.
However, some manufacturers do not have layout view images readily available to download or take a screen snip of using the Windows screen snip tool.
Some manufacturers only have DWG/DXF downloads of their components.
This tutorial explains how to import a DWG/DXF file of a component layout, so you can use it in your panel layouts.
Assuming you've watched the "Creating a component's layout view" tutorial, then you know how to create a new layout block for a component:
This is where you want to start.
Next, expand the properties of the layout block, and define the width and height dimensions of the component.
Go to the Import tab (Import/Export tab if you're using V1.3.25 or higher) and select Import DWG or DXF drawing, then choose the DWG/DXF file you want to import and select Open.
The file will be opened in SkyCAD in a new dialog box:
This dialog box is where we choose the specifics of what and how we want SkyCAD to import.
You can maximize the dialog box and the preview window so you can see more clearly if you like.
The first and most important thing to stipulate is the Drawing units the file was drawn to:
If this is not chosen correctly, the scale of your imported file will be wrong.
If the file was drawn using mm, then you want to set the drawing units to mm.
If the file was drawn using inches, then you want to set the drawing units to inches.
However, what if both measurements are given?
For example, this transformer gives both inches and mm measurements.
In these cases, the actual measurements the file was created with (which is what you need), is the measurements that are NOT in brackets.
So, in this case, the mm are in brackets, which means that the file was created using inches, so we must set Drawing Units to Inches.
Next, below the Drawing units property is the Forced drawing color property.
This is the colour that the drawing objects will be when you import them.
They won't be white, blue or green as indicated on this particular DWG, but they will all be changed to whatever the Forced drawing color is set to.
By default, it is set to the default SkyCAD grey.
Next, you'll see a list of checkboxes, which will usually be different for each DWG or DXF file you import.
These represent the layers the DWG/DXF include.
De-select the checkboxes (in no particular order) until you are left with only what you want.
In this example, we only wanted the top view of the transformer (left), not the side view (right), but the layer (0) that contains the top view also contains the side view, so we can't pick only one just yet.
No problem, we'll import the file like this, and ignore the side view later.
Click OK to import the file. The more checkboxes you keep checked, the more layers you import , the longer the import process will take.
Once the import process is done, the DWG/DXF file has successfully been converted to SkyCAD graphical objects.
The file is open in the tree view and main view.
Depending on how the DWG or DXF was drawn by the manufacturer, it may look blank. In which case, try zooming to the top right corner of your screen.
You may find the drawing there:
This may be because some DWG/DXF creators draw far away from the origin point sometimes.
Don't worry about it though, just zoom to the drawing objects you are interested in.
If there are no or missing drawing objects imported, please refer to this forum thread.
Select the drawing objects that you want to use:
With the drawing objects selected, go to the Drawing tab and hold the SHIFT key when selecting Create Graphical Block.
Leave the top option selected, Graphical block, and click OK.
Next, click on the block to define its insertion point. It doesn't have to be accurate at this stage.
Once done, you'll notice that those many individual drawing objects have become one block.
Right-click on the block and choose Copy.
Go over to your component layout, right-click and choose Paste.
Hopefully the block will be the same size as the dimensions you defined for the component's layout and your new graphical block will fit into the layout contour.
If the graphical block is drastically larger or smaller than the layout contour, you probably didn't choose the correct Drawing units when importing the file.
For example, if the DWG/DXF was drawn using inches, and you specified mm, then the block would be much smaller than it should be.
Conversely, if the file was drawn using mm, and you specified inches, then the block would be much larger than it should be.
If the block is only slightly bigger or smaller than the dimensions you specified, then you may want to double-check the accuracy of the dimensions you, or the manufacturer, specified.
If there is a mistake you would like to rectify, you would need to close the file and import the DWG/DXF file again.
Once you're done, close the DWG/DXF file you imported, being sure to NOT save the changes when prompted.
To finalise your component layout view, you can continue customizing the details, as shown in the "Creating a component's layout view" tutorial.
These may be details such as turning off the Draw Contour property, specifying the insertion point, and adding clearance distances.
Finally, don't forget to Save your component, which now includes the updated component layout.