R27 output files invisible

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JohnnyP
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R27 output files invisible

Post by JohnnyP » Mon Apr 11, 2016 9:20 pm

Mac OSX10.6.8

1) I upgraded to the Pro version a few days ago but my R27 output files are still invisible. I have to use R15 format to see them in the A360 viewer.

I sent the files to a laser house, they were asking about the white circles...

2) Also, the drawings open up in metric, even though I selected Imperial.

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Husky
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Re: R27 output files invisible

Post by Husky » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:08 am

Hi JohnnyP,
JohnnyP wrote:Mac OSX10.6.8

1) I upgraded to the Pro version a few days ago but my R27 output files are still invisible. I have to use R15 format to see them in the A360 viewer.
Is this A360 viewer able to read R27?

JohnnyP wrote:I sent the files to a laser house, they were asking about the white circles...

2) Also, the drawings open up in metric, even though I selected Imperial.
Could you please attache an example drawing - it makes it much easier for us to see what is going on. Thanks.
Work smart, not hard: QCad Pro
Win10/64, QcadPro, QcadCam version: Current.
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JohnnyP
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Re: R27 output files invisible

Post by JohnnyP » Tue Apr 12, 2016 1:50 am

View of front panel, saved in Qcad as R15:
https://a360.autodesk.com/viewer/id/dXJ ... gntype=dxf

View of rear panel, saved in Qcad as R15:
https://a360.autodesk.com/viewer/id/dXJ ... gntype=dxf

View of front panel, saved in Qcad as R27:
https://a360.autodesk.com/viewer/id/dXJ ... gntype=dxf

View of rear panel, saved in Qcad as R27:
https://a360.autodesk.com/viewer/id/dXJ ... gntype=dxf

JohnnyP
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Re: R27 output files invisible

Post by JohnnyP » Tue Apr 12, 2016 2:30 am

Would it help if I opened the DXF files as text and pasted them here?

JohnnyP
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Re: R27 output files invisible

Post by JohnnyP » Tue Apr 12, 2016 2:38 am

I didn't see the "Upload attachment" button until now.
Attachments
ProtoRPNT.dxf
(104.46 KiB) Downloaded 560 times
ProtoFPNT.dxf
(110.22 KiB) Downloaded 566 times

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andrew
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Re: R27 output files invisible

Post by andrew » Tue Apr 12, 2016 9:34 am

JohnnyP wrote:I sent the files to a laser house, they were asking about the white circles...
I'm afraid I don't understand this question. There are indeed white circles in the designs. Is this unintended?
Screen Shot 2016-04-12 at 10.31.30.png
Screen Shot 2016-04-12 at 10.31.30.png (28.97 KiB) Viewed 15933 times
JohnnyP wrote:2) Also, the drawings open up in metric, even though I selected Imperial.
I can confirm that the drawings ProtoRPNT.dxf and ProtoFPNT.dxf are both metric. You can change the drawing unit under Edit > Drawing Preferences > General > Drawing Unit:
Screen Shot 2016-04-12 at 10.33.02.png
Screen Shot 2016-04-12 at 10.33.02.png (92.13 KiB) Viewed 15933 times

JohnnyP
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Re: R27 output files invisible

Post by JohnnyP » Tue Apr 12, 2016 10:47 am

Andrew: The question was, why can't I see the file in the A360 viewer, when saved as R27?

I upgraded to the Pro version and thought I would be able to see my files when saved as R27.

I can see it in the A360 viewer when saved as R15.

Qcad gives a warning that all black entities will be saved as white when saving as R15.

I sent the R15 files to a laser house, they asked about the white circles.

I don't know if they will be able to see the files when saved as R27.

I changed the drawing units to inch and Imperial, but the measurements are still metric.
Attachments
Screen shot 2016-04-12 at 2.45.55 AM.png
Screen shot 2016-04-12 at 2.45.55 AM.png (254.54 KiB) Viewed 15931 times

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andrew
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Re: R27 output files invisible

Post by andrew » Tue Apr 12, 2016 11:03 am

JohnnyP wrote:The question was, why can't I see the file in the A360 viewer, when saved as R27?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this. A360 viewer does not seem to produce any errors or other useful messages. Perhaps A360 support can help? The files load and display fine here on all tested systems. You might want to try their other free viewer autocad360.com instead which also seems to work just fine with those files.
JohnnyP wrote:Qcad gives a warning that all black entities will be saved as white when saving as R15.
This is correct. R15 does not support black as a color.
JohnnyP wrote:I don't know if they will be able to see the files when saved as R27.
You can ask them what file versions they support. Older versions like R15 are usually the save choice for data exchange.
JohnnyP wrote:I changed the drawing units to inch and Imperial, but the measurements are still metric.
Note that changing the drawing unit does not convert the drawing. It just means that one unit is now regarded as one Inch. To convert the drawing, you have to scale it with a factor of 1/25.4 using Modify > Scale.

JohnnyP
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Re: R27 output files invisible

Post by JohnnyP » Tue Apr 12, 2016 11:35 am

I don't understand the logic regarding metric vs Imperial. What's the purpose of the Drawing Unit dialog box if you have to enter a conversion factor?

I clicked on the outline of the part, then Modify>Scale>1/25.4, and the outline of my part disappears.

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andrew
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Re: R27 output files invisible

Post by andrew » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:11 pm

JohnnyP wrote:What's the purpose of the Drawing Unit dialog box if you have to enter a conversion factor?
Here's the long story:
CAD is generally speaking unit-less. A line that is 10 units long is just that: 10 units long. The CAD system is not interested at all if this line is 10 mm or 10 light years long in the real world.

The only two reasons why the drawing unit can be defined at all are:
- Convenience when using copy / paste between drawings of different units or when inserting blocks in different units
- Printing to scale (i.e. to make sure that a 100m line ends up as 10cm on paper for example if printed 1:1000)

It is important to keep in mind that changing the drawing unit does not change your drawing in any way - a line that was 10 units long is still 10 units long.
JohnnyP wrote:I clicked on the outline of the part, then Modify>Scale>1/25.4, and the outline of my part disappears.
It very likely did not disappear but is now smaller. That's actually what scaling is meant to do: scaling by a factor of 1/25.4 makes the selected entities 25.4 times smaller. Select your whole drawing, scale with a factor of 1/25.4 and then auto zoom.

JohnnyP
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Re: R27 output files invisible

Post by JohnnyP » Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:38 pm

I'm used to clicking on a line to see its length.

Not used to having a dimension tool.

I have the book on order.

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andrew
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Re: R27 output files invisible

Post by andrew » Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:49 am

JohnnyP wrote:I'm used to clicking on a line to see its length.
Not used to having a dimension tool.
If you only need to know the length of a line or distance (without adding the measurement to the drawing), you can also use the measuring tools under "Info" or use the property editor (View > Property Editor) which shows you interesting properties of the selected entity (length, angle, circumference, area, etc).

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