open dgn in Autocad

RE: open dgn in Autocad

Thomas Voghera — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 17:08:05 GMT

Thanks a lot Nasir. Very good!
I'll look at it bit by bit.

This should go to some wiki so it is available by a link.
It is not me needing it - it is the Autocad users!

RE: open dgn in Autocad

Nasir Ghani — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 12:11:22 GMT

I am not Technical Support but I will explain you how DGN file(s) work in AutoCAD. I think I made a mistake by saying that it opens the Active Model that is not true. My apologies for that.

There are 3 options of getting a DGN into AutoCAD;

1. Open

2. Import

3. Reference

When you use Open and/or Import you will have the option of selecting which Model you would like to Open and/or Import. However when you use Reference it will only look at the Default Model and give you only the reference file(s) which are referenced in the Default Model.

So let assume you have a file called A. File A contains 4 Models which are Default, M1, M2 and M3. If you use Open and/or Import you will get the option to select between Models Default, M1, M2 and M3. When you use Reference you will only see the Models which are referenced into Model Default. So if you would have referenced M2 and M3 in the Default Model you will only see M2 and M3 as your option.

Hope this makes it a bit clearer for you.

RE: open dgn in Autocad

Thomas Voghera — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 17:10:45 GMT

Active Model - regardless of type?
And not default Model?

And you talk about 'imported' - is that different from 'opened'? And what about referenced?

RE: open dgn in Autocad

Nasir Ghani — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 12:57:20 GMT

AutoCAD only supports one model per file so if you have a file containing multiple models only the active model will be imported.

RE: open dgn in Autocad

Thomas Voghera — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 12:51:32 GMT

Thanks for answer.

And it is - yes they should be able open dgns! - but there might be some issues downstream.

So if someone says he can't open the file he just doesn't know his Autocad.
Regardless of how many and type of Models I have in the dgn?

RE: open dgn in Autocad

Nasir Ghani — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 12:30:07 GMT

Thomas,

When you want users to open/reference your 2D DGN files directly into AutoCAD please make sure you provide them the RSC file(s) otherwise AutoCAD will not recognize the line styles.

Regarding 3D DGN files AutoCAD doesn't support smart solids and feature solids thus it will not be imported into AutoCAD.

HTH