Importing .dxf and .dwg into Schematics.

[ptc-5223406]

Greetings,

When I try creating a new shape by importing a .dxf or .dwg I get an error message that reads, "The sheet Model cannot be imported because it is too large or the units are incorrect."

I have tried .dxf's and .dwg's from two different sources.

How can I remedy this?

Cheers

This thread is inactive and closed by the PTC Community Management Team. If you would like to provide a reply and re-open this thread, please notify the moderator and reference the thread. You may also use "Start a topic" button to ask a new question. Please be sure to include what version of the PTC product you are using so another community member knowledgeable about your version may be able to assist.

[Gaby_K]

Hi,

The message indicates one of the following:

· The sheet you are using is too small – use bigger sheet

· The units of the sheet you are using are not the same as the units of the DXF/DWG file (i.e. the sheet in creo schematics is using inch and the imported DXF/DWG is in mm or vice versa. – use other sheet (with different units) for the shape.

Cheers

[BillF]

I think Gaby gave you a good answer.

Be cautious about relying too much on DXF imports. It doesn't always make great items and the software has some serious problems.

I had no problem reading the files but I made sure that I had the exporting program (P-CAD) set to inches as that is what we are using in Schematics and I imported groups of items to a very large import page.

I made the mistake of just copying the section of the DXF to each groupshape as I worked on them and adding connectors (we are using a hybrid schematic). It would have been better if I had copied it to the groupshape and used the drawing tools to make a new copy of the part. Then use the ones drawn natively in Schematics to create others.

Lines tend to break into individual segments making it harder to edit later. To move a point in the middle of a line or a box, you have to move the end point of each segment individually.

I am warning the designers to check the outline box (we are using them) around each component if they are copying it to create a new one. On ones that I have gone into and cleaned up, I have converted the box to a rectangle instead of 4 lines.

Hatched areas are a huge issue. The hatches are outrageously huge (something like 1.9" between lines) so that they are not usually visible. It is impossible to select something you cannot see to watch for the highlight. Even if you find one, editing them in Schematics is almost impossible.

Amazing numbers of invisible entities that are not editable and kill off the editing of other items can be imported. I suspect that P-CAD output something that Schematics doesn't have an equivalent for. Schematics imports them but you only discover them when selecting other things because the dotted outline doesn't match what it should. You end up selecting areas and deselecting the visible things you want to keep, then hit delete. Sometimes it takes a few times of this to be sure you get rid of all the garbage.

There are cases where the invisible things outnumbered the real drawing elements. On a particularly complex engine symbol, there were about 1200 invisible items.

[TomD.inPDX]

You can also import it as a part file and then make a drawing with a view to show the curves. imported nomenclature can still be a problem if the export used text rather than curves (like a vector plot).

[TomD.inPDX]

Welcome to the forum, Jeff.

[ptc-5223406 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your help. It turns out that you cannon change the units of a format once a format is created. Or so I am told. The solution for me was to just use that format to make a drawing file. With the drawing file I could modify the units and then export a .dxf. It worked beautifully and it is a little embarrassing it wasn't obvious to use the drawing file.