I am trying to export a dgn file to dwg and for some reason every instance of identical cells get exported as separate blocks in the dwg file (i.e. 10 instances of cell 327W get exported as 327W_1, 327W_2, etc.). The cells are normal cells in the dgn file (not shared). In the export tool I have it selected to create single block for duplicated cells but for some reason it always turns out the same. Any ideas or tips would be appreciated.
Update: When I open the dwg file MS the cells are now showing as shared cells all with individual definitions. No clue why the dwg version of this file is showing as shared cells but maybe that's a clue for someone with more experience than me.
Mike Galley said:No clue why the dwg version of this file is showing as shared cells but maybe that's a clue for someone with more experience than me
MicroStation has several types of cell, including normal and shared cells. AutoCAD blocks are equivalent to MicroStation shared cells. When you export a DGN file as DWG, normal cells are converted to blocks. See this help article.
Regards, Jon Summers LA Solutions
Thanks Jon, that makes sense. Any idea why MicroStation takes multiple instances of a normal cell, call it CellA, and creates individual Autocad blocks ,or shared cells, on export (CellA_1, CellA_2, etc.)? Is this simply a limitation of the export command? I've tested importing the dgn directly to Autocad and the results are the same so maybe it's the only way Autocad can interpret normal cells.
Mike,
Thanks for providing the file. I am seeing the name differences as well in the translated DWG file. I will continue to investigate this. I do see that the files original format was V7 so this might have something to do with the issue.
Regards,
Regie