Allow size/unit conversion of imported DXF/DWG in Creo Schematics

[slapha]

Our standard drawing units in most of our designs are still in Imperial Units (Inches). We have started to use metric for our Creo Schematics designs.

To transfer a symbol or schematic over without having to recreate it we export a DXF and import to Creo Schematics.

If we were previously using inches we get an error message stating: "The sheet Model cannot be imported because it is too large or the units are incorrect"

While it's simple enough to change the units and re-export. This assumes we have a native file. If we only had a DXF we'd have to open it in another program, convert it, and then try to import it into Schematics.You can also create formats in the imported units. It would just save time if it was able to do the conversions on the fly.

I would like to see a dialog box that pops up saying "The sheet Model is too large or the units are incorrect. Do you wish to attempt to convert the units or cancel import", or even better to check to see if the units are equivalent for conversion and say so in the dialog box.

It also makes sense from a business standpoint for PTC because it improves the ease of conversion into Creo Schematics formats for future design work from many of the competitors.

Currently there is a closed case (CS59670) on this with the work around to modify the file units or size prior to importing.

[BillF]

I would avoid using DXF files in general unless you absolutely need to.  Depending on the software you are creating them with, there can be a lot of traps in them.

We started with an attempt to bring in our first symbols with DXF and found that (in addition to the usual conversion of text and shapes to individual lines) there were a lot of entities that showed up because of some disagreement between the two definitions of what was in the DXF.  Considering that a lot of them became invisible items that were difficult to delete, I think that Schematics was just creating points with some odd attributes when it didn't understand something and placing them at the nearest point on some other object.

It didn't take long to realize that it took longer to clean up a few items than it would be to learn the odd drawing system in Schematics and create them from scratch.  I then looked at the commonalities in our old symbols and created some basics that would be used to create the new symbols.  In addition to being faster, it also creates a more consistent set of symbols.

Having gone through that, there is no way I will even assist a designer that wants to bring in a DXF of a design.

Much faster to create the design from scratch, using the old one as a base and using the opportunity to clean up the layout.