In my previous blog post, “Autodesk Design Review Symbols”, we discussed how to utilize Autodesk Design Review Symbols where you save time and improve your communication by utilizing a Set of Symbols. Now in this posting we discuss the ways to generate a Design Review File (DWF) from a DWG (AutoCAD) File.
You have a DWG File, most refer this as an AutoCAD, what if you do not have AutoCAD application to open? That is the big question people have been asking after the previous 2 blog postings. The key, do not worry and you do not need to pull out your checkbook.
Let’s get our discussion going, first off, if you installed Autodesk Design Review 2010 it included another application – Autodesk DWG TrueView 2010. If you have not installed Autodesk Design Review we are providing the link to the install location at the end of this posting. For AutoCAD 2006 to 2010 Users, you are able to Publish directly to DWF within that application.
Now that you have TrueView installed let’s run it. You can open any DWG file from way back to current – yes it also opens DXF too. If you do not have a file we have provided a link to Sample DWG File at the end of this article.
Before we discuss how to create the DWF need to cover a few Tools provide within this application. In CAD you assign the Item you created a Line, Block, or Fill to a Layer so you can associate with a function or area of discipline. For your purposes you may require that some of these should be hidden from. We have the ability to Hide these Layers with the utilization of the Layers section in the menu.
The Layer table has a few Icons; the one we are looking for is the Light bulb. To turn it Off or On just left-click – you will see it change form Yellow to Grey. You have a lot of control over the layers, just like AutoCAD, but a lot easier. Now there is a lot more tools to utilize, but basically we really only need to turn on and off the Layers.
Once you have completed your modifications to the DWG Project we are ready to convert to Design Review (DWF). Autodesk DWG TrueView 2010 provides a few formats on export:
DWF – this is the standard Design Review format
DWFx – this allow a User to open the file in either Design Review or Microsoft’s XPS Viewer
PDF – this is the standard Adobe Acrobat format
And there are some other options to consider before we proceed exporting:
Display – this prints what you are currently seeing in the window
Extents – this will zoom out the page to display all areas which have an Object/Block
Window – this allows you to define an Area on the page to print
If you are going to select Window it would be best to set the view of the current page to “Extents”, display the entire page. To accomplish this we will need to go to the Navigation section of the menu – Extents option.
Some other tips, take a look at the Page Setup section once you are in the process of exporting. The Save As DWF window opens once you have selected the Export to DWF feature off the [D] Menu in the upper left. You will find this in the lower right area just below Export. Change the Default “Current” to “Override”, now select the [Page Setup Override…] button. If you left it at “Current” it would utilize your Default Printer Options, which are not acceptable for DWF Publishing. The page I select is ANSI (17.00 x 22.00 Inches), which if I need to have a Paper Printout it is 2 Times the Size of Standard 8 ½ x 11 Inches paper. Again this part is an experiment on what you like. Take a look at Plot style table (pen assignments), select DWF Virtual Pens, now the [Edit] button just to the right. Here I found that the Default Lineweight was set to 2.500 mm, but really for these types of reducing to page size procedures I recommend utilizing 0.0900 mm. So in the Lineweight select 0.0900 mm the [Save & Close].
The other thing I struggled with was the Plot Scale option, this is a personnel preference but I found selecting [Fit to paper] option has work great. Again, experiment on this.
Now once you have selected the various options click on [Save], let it run, and it will open Autodesk Design Review. You now have converted a DWG to DWF file allowing you to share this information with your Team for their Markups and Comments.
We hope this posting has enlightened the process of getting a file into the DWF format so you can be more productive. Below we have provided some links which will help you see this in action.
Links
Autodesk Design Review Install
David Keen
Bill Battaglia
ePonti Team
sarbjitc
This is an excellent post. We often have AutoCAD drawings we need to review (for example by sales folks considering bidding on a project) but we don’t have AutoCAD seats for everyone in our organization. This solution will help us do what we need to do without having to spend thousands of dollars on more software.
We also maintain a forum where design professionals can specifically learn about issues to integrating audio-visual elements into a project design, and I would love if any visitors might register and become one of our regular posters. You can find that site at http://www.avforarchitects.com.
vB5M1T That’s the best answer of all time! JMHO
This is an excellent post. We often have AutoCAD drawings we need to review (for example by sales folks considering bidding on a project) but we don’t have AutoCAD seats for everyone in our organization. This solution will help us do what we need to do without having to spend thousands of dollars on more software.
+1