Having Trouble in setting scale of the Drawing (dxf) imported from Autocad to Watergem.

Question

Hi, 
 I hope you are doing well. I am a student of Civil Engineering and was given a task to design a water supply network for a colony using WaterGems so I imported the layout of the colony in (dxf) format in WaterGems using model builder when I tried to make a network of pipes, I get to know that the length of the each pipe is way more than it should be. I tried to get help from the software help center but found nothing. So it is requested here to kindly let me know how to set the scale of the drawing in WaterGems? 
 Thanks.

Jesse Dringoli · Accepted Answer

Ahmed, it appears you only attached the .WTG. Per the article, we would also need the .WTG.SQLITE file in order to open the model (compress both into a ZIP). 
 I also noticed from your screenshot that you appear to be using WaterGEMS V8i, which is an old version that we do not support anymore per our Support Policy . 
 I tried importing your DXF with ModelBuilder, using: 
 
 "Line" as the only layer imported 
 Feet as the Coordinate unit 
 The "establish connectivity using spatial data" box checked with the default 1 foot tolerance 
 "<Label>" as the Key field 
 
 I then added the DXF as a background with feet as the unit and it aligned exactly with the imported pipes. 
 When I then open the DXF in AutoCAD itself, I do see what appears to be shorter lengths noted in the properties of pipes, but that is because the units are actually inches, not feet. (notice they are off by a factor of 12 which is the conversion between feet and inches). Use the "Units" command to see this. 
 If you select "In" (inches) as the coordinate unit in ModelBuilder, the imported network will have pipe lengths that match what you expect. I have added a note about checking units to the following related article: 
 Importing an AutoCAD or MicroStation CAD file using ModelBuilder

Jesse Dringoli · Answer

Ahmed, are you saying that the scaled length of each pipe is much longer than it should be? 
 Is it possible that you chose the wrong units (feet vs. meters for example) in the beginning step of ModelBuilder when you imported the DXF? Try checking the ModelBuilder run in the ModelBuilder manager if you saved it. Also, try adding the DXF as a background with the correct unit selected. The unit you select at the beginning of the ModelBuilder configuration determines how WaterGEMS interprets the length of pipes, so you will need to ensure that the correct unit is selected in order for the pipe lengths to be correct. Please review the following article for more details: Using ModelBuilder to Import External Data 
 If you used an ID field from inside your DXF, you may be able to "sync in" your existing ModelBuilder run after correcting the unit, and choose only the check box to "update existing". This will only update attributes and geometry of matching elements. However, if new junctions were created and polyline endpoints, this may not work for you, in which case you may need to start over and re-import the model (delete the existing elements and the "sync-in" the existing ModelBuilder run after fixing the unit), or use one of the options suggested in the following article to scale up the model by a factor equal to the unit conversion: How to move, scale or rotate a model to the correct location?

Having Trouble in setting scale of the Drawing (dxf) imported from Autocad to Watergem.

Top Replies