How to import solids created in AutoCAD to Rhino?

[Tobias]

Rhino is an incredible piece of software but I bounced into a serious problem. I get lineplans or the ribs as a 3d file from my clients to work with. The ribs are 3d solids created in AutoCAD but when importing the dwg to Rhino all the solids are skipped.

Is there a way to import/insert them in Rhino?

Thanks in advance

Tobias

[CGN]

Go to this site:

http://www.steptools.com/

they have the greatest web translation service for free, you can save your solid from autocad as a *.sat, ( type in autocad: "Acisout" and save the solid), you don't even have to register, the service is free, and translate you *.sat file to step and then open the step file with rhino, so far the service works great and i been using it for a long time now, is not perfect but is effective at least 95%.

[Tobias]

Hi CGN,
Thanx for your tip but I'm afraid this can't work for me. The file I'm talking about contains 62 solids and has a size of 3,5mb. I also wonder what my clients would say if I would told them that I have to send the whole structure of the ship to some site in the Internet.

[CGN]

Is safe and fast, i been trying this one before, the size is not so big, i do understand your concern about the "security" but it is safe and is reliable, there is a bonus tool or add on to rhino i belive is free, it works with rhino v3, and can open dwg files with solids on it, i'm still using rhinov2, that's why i haven't using it yet, i just read about it, the other way is to download a demo of turbocad or Alibre and do the translation there, but is a temporary solution (as long as the demo last), so far the best solution for me, has been translate trough steptools.com, or have a software that can read Acis files and save step or iges, (i use Alibre).

[Tobias]

hey CGN... that was afast answer!

Actually I was looking for a translation plugin but couldn't find it. Where have you seen it?

But there seem to be more problems concerning solids from and to AutoCAD. This is especially a problem cause all my clients provide or ask for dwg's (seems there is no way to get rid of the ACAD illness).
I discovered that a solid created in Rhino and expotred as a ACIS file won't make a "real" solid in ACAD. It's wierd. The "solid" is showing up correctly but you can't do any solid-editing like boolean, slice, etc. on it.

I'm slowly getting crazy about all the different formates. Why can't there be a globle standart???

greetz
Tobias

[CGN]

So far i went trough the same situation long time ago, acis? step? iges? Acad solid to Rhino?......and the list goes on, so far this is my little expierence with it:


1) rhino can't handle acis (we all now that) import this ones.
2) Rhino "solids" saved as a acis to autocad, they have to be very.. very.. very.. regular shapes, a cube may work, a cylinder may work, a combination of this "primitive shapes may work, but......the MAY work, so from rhino to autocad for me is a no no.
3) so far for me translation between systems is prone to fail, always this and that, so i learned to live with this little flaws, which are not the end of the world, i just learned how to translate and what to expect.
4) and if you are using Autocad and rhino, if the plug in don't makes it, then you need to buy either a translation system like okino, or get yourself a software turbocad, Alibre, or any other sofwtare that can read and save in misc. formats, also there is Innovate from ironcad, which seems to work just fine.
5) the perfect solution is a fully integrated super duper shipdesign system wher you don't have to translate, but.....some times some client will send you another format that anyway you need to translate.....and here we go again.

so step, iges, vda, acis, xt so far do not matter to me i translate in the format that may work.