Exporting images from Rhino to .dwg

Rhino Rhino for Windows
1

I am having an issue with exporting images from .3dm to .dwg file.
A similar topic has been opened some 3 years ago, and it does not seem that the issue has been resolved since then. Both in Rhino 5 and Rhino 6.

Based on advises of @John_Brock and @Vanessa from that topic, I did the following:

  1. Tried to export a .dwg from Rhino 5 SR14 64bit by applying the “TestSuckTextureIntoBitmapTable” command and setting “2004 Solids”, and ticking “Save textures”.

  2. I also tried in Rhino 6 (6.2.18065.11031, 06.03.2018) to export as “2004 Solids” and ticked the “Save textures”.

Both of upper approaches resulted in AutoCAD .dwg file containing “Raster Image”. The issue is that “Raster Image” contains local “Saved Path” property. Therefor when either of .dwg files is opened in AutoCAD on other PC, the image is missing.

It seems that what we need is an AutoCAD “OLE” object, and not a “Raster Image”. Because unlike “Raster Image”, the “OLE” object embeds the image into the very .dwg file.

Can we get any comment on this please?
Thank you.

Attached bellow are all the files mentioned from the upper two approaches, along with the used photo
rhino5.3dm (55.6 KB)
rhino5.dwg (15.4 KB)
rhino6.3dm (143.7 KB)
rhino6.dwg (16.1 KB)
test_photo

2

Hi @lowell, @dale,

There seem to be some C++ AutoCAD solutions on how to convert a Raster image to OLE object inside a .dwg file.

But is it possible for McNeel to have this feature implemented during the very export of the .dwg from .3dm?

Any reply to this problem will be welcomed.

3

Hi @djordje,

The solution you’ve references uses AutoCAD’s ObjectARX Toolkit, which isn’t available for reading and writing DWG files. I doubt the toolkit we use support OLE objects.

Perhaps we need an option to export DWG with raster images that have relative paths? You can also just use AutoCAD’s Image command and do this yourself.

– Dale

4

Hi @dale,

Sorry for the late reply.
If OLE objects can not be provided then relative paths instead of absolute ones would be a satisfactory workaround for this issue.
Do you think there is a chance for this change to be implemented in the next release of Rhino 6?

7

I’ll look at what it would take to use relative paths for image files
https://mcneel.myjetbrains.com/youtrack/issue/RH-46885

1 Like
8

RH-46885 is fixed in Rhino 8 Service Release 15

1 Like
9

Hello,

I have a problem with exporting images from Rhino to dwg.

My workflow is as follows:

  1. I insert the picture using “add a picture plane”
  2. I create a rectangle around the area that interests me.
  3. I split the image using the rectangle.
  4. I select the image and use “export selected” option.
  5. I export it as a dwg file.

Unfortunately, my client in his Autocad can’t see the images. They have to manually change the image path.

Is it possible to “glue” the image to the file? It may be big, just let it work.