AutoCAD LT 2D .dwg import:

Rhino Rhino for Windows
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Prospective buyer question: Can I import my legacy AutoCAD LT 2006 Education Version 2D .dwg drawings (with dimensions preserved) to current Rhino? Drawings were created on 64-bit XP PC that is now defunct, but saved to disc. Would like to import to either Windows 7 PC or MacBook Pro OX S 10.9.

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I should think so, unless Autodesk has thrown something into an edu version .dwg file to not let it open anywhere else… But I think all it does is make watermarks, most of our students are using edu versions and they work fine.

One easy way to test: download/install the eval version of Rhino and try it for up to 90 days. Start importing your .dwgs and see how they come in.

Edit - in my experience, dimesnsion styles don’t always import that well from ACAD, as it has its own fonts and sizing rules - so you may need to create a new dimension style in Rhino and apply it to the ACAD dimensions to get them to display nicely.

–Mitch

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Thank you. Will also check into instruction at local community college. George

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I have a client who always comes up with dwg written by AutoCAD LT. They import fine but sometimes ACAD LT make a complete mess of the z axis (maybe because there is no Z axis in ACAD LT).

Once I had such a file… it opend in Rhino but just showed a black screen. I knew geometry was there because SelAll did select something but Zoom All Extents won’t show anything.
After trying different things I run BoundingBox… whow… the box was a couple of lightyears high!!!
Simply freaking amazing that Rhino was able to open it!

So if you ever encounter a file showing just a black screen run this macro:
_SelAll -_SetPt ZSet=Yes XSet=No YSet=No Alignment=CPlane Copy=No w0,0,0

gr, Tobias

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Thanks. Don’t have Rhino to play with yet. Assume “Bounding Box” is Rhino command. I never used Z-axis in my ACAD LT 2D drawings, so I hope that would not be an issue. Use of the macro is a little beyond my competency at this point. So, when I get Rhino and am faced with black screen trying to open .dwg, where and when in the import process do I enter the macro? If this is not appropriate to get into now, I will keep macro and may have to get back to you later.

George

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To flatten everything to the 0 plane in Z, simply make the Top viewport active, select all with Ctrl+A and then choose Transform>Project to CPlane - make sure the command line option DeleteInput is set to Yes before hitting Enter. Everything will now be flat on the Z0 plane (as long as there weren’t any vertical (Z-parallel) lines in the original dwg).

Do a Zoom Extents in the Top view and see if you see the geometry, if not, it’s possible that there is something also way out in the middle of nowhere in X or Y. You’ll need to go looking for it… With some experience, this stuff is easily fixed, I import dxf’s from students all day and some of them are pretty wacky. You end up knowing what to look for pretty quickly.

–Mitch

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Thanks. I think I understand your instructions, and I know what you mean about something being way out there in the middle of nowhere in X or Y - had it happen many times in ACAD LT.

– George