I have several project drawings that are in '.dwg' format which is the
Autocad file type.

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the individual
elements of the drawings.

AutoCAD is not a cheap product and has a reputation for being a steep
learning curve .... anybody know of any other suitable drawing
package, presumably with fewer 'bells & whistles' which will allow me
to edit these files?


Rick

"Rick" wrote in message
om...
I have several project drawings that are in '.dwg' format which is the
Autocad file type.

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the individual
elements of the drawings.

AutoCAD is not a cheap product and has a reputation for being a steep
learning curve .... anybody know of any other suitable drawing
package, presumably with fewer 'bells & whistles' which will allow me
to edit these files?
There are hacked versions of ACAD around which cannot possibly be
recommended. Or you could try autosketch?

Rick wrote:
I have several project drawings that are in '.dwg' format which is the
Autocad file type.

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the individual
elements of the drawings.

AutoCAD is not a cheap product and has a reputation for being a steep
learning curve .... anybody know of any other suitable drawing
package, presumably with fewer 'bells & whistles' which will allow me
to edit these files?

One of the PC magazines currently has turboCAD (old version of course)
on the coverdisc.

--
Chris
-----
Spamtrap in force: to email replace 127.0.0.1 with blueyonder.co.uk

"Rick" wrote in message
om...
....snipped

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the individual
elements of the drawings.
...snipped
Rick

In Visio you could insert the dwg (as a CAD drawing) then right click the
drawing and choose "convert", this allows you to convert it to Visio shapes
(or to delete layers) - now you can edit using Visio.

Dave S

TimM wrote:
"Rick" wrote in message
om...
I have several project drawings that are in '.dwg' format which is
the Autocad file type.

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the
individual elements of the drawings.

AutoCAD is not a cheap product and has a reputation for being a steep
learning curve .... anybody know of any other suitable drawing
package, presumably with fewer 'bells & whistles' which will allow me
to edit these files?
There are hacked versions of ACAD around which cannot possibly be
recommended.
One drifted my way. Copies anyone?

"Dave" wrote in message
...

"Rick" wrote in message
om...
...snipped

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the individual
elements of the drawings.
...snipped
Rick

In Visio you could insert the dwg (as a CAD drawing) then right click the
drawing and choose "convert", this allows you to convert it to Visio
shapes
(or to delete layers) - now you can edit using Visio.


I'll certainly try this, but the only way I could get into my copy of VISIO
200 was to import it ... and it then appears as a locked object - can't
edit.

Rick

"Rick Hughes" wrote in message
...

"Dave" wrote in message
...

"Rick" wrote in message
om...
...snipped

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the individual
elements of the drawings.
...snipped
Rick

In Visio you could insert the dwg (as a CAD drawing) then right click
the
drawing and choose "convert", this allows you to convert it to Visio
shapes
(or to delete layers) - now you can edit using Visio.


I'll certainly try this, but the only way I could get into my copy of
VISIO
200 was to import it ... and it then appears as a locked object - can't
edit.

Rick




get yourself over to suprnova.org and download a copy of autocad

Rick wrote:

I have several project drawings that are in '.dwg' format which is the
Autocad file type.

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the individual
elements of the drawings.

AutoCAD is not a cheap product and has a reputation for being a steep
learning curve .... anybody know of any other suitable drawing
package, presumably with fewer 'bells & whistles' which will allow me
to edit these files?




Turbocad learning edition is a free dwonload from somewhere.

Corel draw also works.


Rick

(Rick) wrote in news:c3924c67.0311070805.399605e7
@posting.google.com:

AutoCAD is not a cheap product and has a reputation for being a steep
learning curve .... anybody know of any other suitable drawing
package, presumably with fewer 'bells & whistles' which will allow me
to edit these files?


I've used turbocad learning edition, it's excellent, better than Sketch 3
(was it, the last DOS version, the windows ones were ruggish)

http://nct.digitalriver.com/fulfill/0002.16

You can also get the manuals in PDF form.TBH I don't know if it does .dwg
files because I never met them, it was *.?xd or summat - it seems a long
time ago.

I now find it too finicky, but I would like to find a good sketching prog,
but I generally end up using vectors in Paintshop Pro

mike r

There are hacked versions of ACAD around which cannot possibly be
recommended. Or you could try autosketch?

Somebody I know got into serious trouble at work having got a no dongle
version of ACAD 2000 off the net, along with a dogy serial number. Not
recommended. Full AutoCAD is around £3000 but the LT version can be got for
around £500. If you have a serious interest and are not short of a few bob
the LT version might be a possibility. It is not that difficult to learn the
basics.

Eric

get yourself over to suprnova.org and download a copy of autocad

cough *

I prefer this client personally (i`ve had less problems overall)

http://ei.kefro.st/projects/btclient/

A couple of bugs with torrent files still seem to persist - on this
specific client it can bomb if you use your mouse to make dropdown
selections (so I use tab and the cursors, and it hasn`t crashed since)
and every now and then, you`ll find one file that just doesn`t want to
complete - someone somewhere will have a damaged file and although the
client thinks its done, when it does the checksum on the file the last
part is constantly corrupt. Leaving the file for a few days and trying
again usually resolves it, as long the person with the corrupt file has
buggered off...

* if at first suprnova.org doesn`t load, reload the page - it uses
several cloned sites to stay online and will redirect you each time you
reload it.

--
Please add "[newsgroup]" in the subject of any personal replies via email
* old email address "btiruseless" abandoned due to worm-generated spam *
--- My new email address has "ngspamtrap" & @btinternet.com in it ;-) ---

Rick wrote:

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the individual
elements of the drawings.

What if you select the object and select "ungroup"?


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In article ,
Rick wrote:

AutoCAD is not a cheap product and has a reputation for being a
steep learning curve .... anybody know of any other suitable
drawing package, presumably with fewer 'bells & whistles' which
will allow me to edit these files?

Have you seen David Snell's wProCAD+. It is an excellent dwg
programme by a UK author, so you get immediate support. It
reads .DWG filetypes (but doesn't write them). Price is £150.

Goto http://www.zynet.co.uk/dsnell for more information and
a free download of a demo to try out. It is not the complete
prog (obviously) but enough to see how you would get on with it.

--
Tony Williams. Change "nospam" to "ledelec" to email.

As .dwg is the main CAD file standard, then most if not all CAD
software can import dwg files for editing.

However, Autodesk have changed the dwg standard a few times and so
there may be some compatability issues - a 2004 dwg will not open in
Autocad 3.3 or earlier for instance.

Also layers may not import correctly.

There are shareware, and 30 day trials available of many CAD programs.

dg





(Rick) wrote in message . com...
I have several project drawings that are in '.dwg' format which is the
Autocad file type.

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the individual
elements of the drawings.

AutoCAD is not a cheap product and has a reputation for being a steep
learning curve .... anybody know of any other suitable drawing
package, presumably with fewer 'bells & whistles' which will allow me
to edit these files?


Rick

On 7 Nov 2003 08:05:25 -0800, (Rick) wrote:

I have several project drawings that are in '.dwg' format which is the
Autocad file type.

This doesn't really assist you, but I'm responding to comments made on
this thread about TurboCad etc.

I was recently looking for a drawing package, and was very put off by
the cost of most of them.

I then found DeltaCad - http://www.deltacad.com. I was so impressed
with it for 50 bucks that I immediately bought a licensed copy.

I have very little experience with drawing packages so I'm in no
position to compare one with t'other. The slight negatives I feel for
DeltaCad relate to what appears to be a slightly clunky user
interface. I may be doing it a dis-service here, maybe other drawing
packages are no different. But the price tag was very attractive for
me.

PoP

In message , BillR
writes
TimM wrote:
"Rick" wrote in message
om...
I have several project drawings that are in '.dwg' format which is
the Autocad file type.

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the
individual elements of the drawings.

AutoCAD is not a cheap product and has a reputation for being a steep
learning curve .... anybody know of any other suitable drawing
package, presumably with fewer 'bells & whistles' which will allow me
to edit these files?
There are hacked versions of ACAD around which cannot possibly be
recommended.
One drifted my way. Copies anyone?

It would be a bit difficult for anyone to reply to that offer, since it
would by necessity have to be offlist
--
geoff

"Dave" wrote in message
...

"Rick" wrote in message
om...
...snipped

I can view these by importing into Photoshop or VISIO, but I can't
edit them, they appear as a single item ... rather than the individual
elements of the drawings.
...snipped
Rick

In Visio you could insert the dwg (as a CAD drawing) then right click the
drawing and choose "convert", this allows you to convert it to Visio
shapes
(or to delete layers) - now you can edit using Visio.

Dave S




Dave - tried this, dwg imported OK - but there is no option to 'convert'
under right click ? can you shed any light on this.

Under right click there is 'CAD drawing object properties' but nothing
that relates to converting to VISIO shapes.


Rick

gnome wrote:

There are hacked versions of ACAD around which cannot possibly be
recommended. Or you could try autosketch?


Somebody I know got into serious trouble at work having got a no dongle
version of ACAD 2000 off the net, along with a dogy serial number. Not
recommended. Full AutoCAD is around £3000 but the LT version can be got for
around £500. If you have a serious interest and are not short of a few bob
the LT version might be a possibility. It is not that difficult to learn the
basics.

Eric




Corel draw is on ebay for under a hundred in pertfectly acceptable
cversions.

Unless you are really DEEP into CAD graphics, it does everything you
need, and covers bitmaps, and color graphics as well.

....snipped
Rick

In Visio you could insert the dwg (as a CAD drawing) then right click
the
drawing and choose "convert", this allows you to convert it to Visio
shapes
(or to delete layers) - now you can edit using Visio.

Dave S

Dave - tried this, dwg imported OK - but there is no option to 'convert'
under right click ? can you shed any light on this.

Under right click there is 'CAD drawing object properties' but nothing
that relates to converting to VISIO shapes.

Rick

What version have you got? In the 2002 version there are 2 options:
properties and convert.
Unfortunately I don't have 2000 installed any more so can't check that.

Dave S

There are free viewers available from Autodesk - AutoDesk Express
Viewer is the latest and Voloview Express versions 1 and 2 were its
predecessor - they are about a 20MB download, and work as an Active X
insert to Internet Explorer. They allow you to turn layers on and off,
zoom etc.

Trev

------------------------------------------------------------------------
PoP wrote in message . ..
On 7 Nov 2003 08:05:25 -0800, (Rick) wrote:

I have several project drawings that are in '.dwg' format which is the
Autocad file type.

This doesn't really assist you, but I'm responding to comments made on
this thread about TurboCad etc.

I was recently looking for a drawing package, and was very put off by
the cost of most of them.

I then found DeltaCad - http://www.deltacad.com. I was so impressed
with it for 50 bucks that I immediately bought a licensed copy.

I have very little experience with drawing packages so I'm in no
position to compare one with t'other. The slight negatives I feel for
DeltaCad relate to what appears to be a slightly clunky user
interface. I may be doing it a dis-service here, maybe other drawing
packages are no different. But the price tag was very attractive for
me.

PoP

Colin Wilson wrote:

I prefer this client personally (i`ve had less problems overall)

http://ei.kefro.st/projects/btclient/

This one has a very full featured interface, allowing you to prioritise
files within individual downloads, stable, plus good queuing. Needs Java JRE
1.4.1+ installed.
http://azureus.sourceforge.net/ _Highly_ recommended. W32/Linux/OSx

--
Toby.

'One day son, all this will be finished'

"PoP" wrote in message
...
On 7 Nov 2003 08:05:25 -0800, (Rick) wrote:

I have several project drawings that are in '.dwg' format which is the
Autocad file type.

This doesn't really assist you, but I'm responding to comments made on
this thread about TurboCad etc.

I was recently looking for a drawing package, and was very put off by
the cost of most of them.

I then found DeltaCad - http://www.deltacad.com. I was so impressed
with it for 50 bucks that I immediately bought a licensed copy.

I have very little experience with drawing packages so I'm in no
position to compare one with t'other. The slight negatives I feel for
DeltaCad relate to what appears to be a slightly clunky user
interface. I may be doing it a dis-service here, maybe other drawing
packages are no different. But the price tag was very attractive for
me.

Anyone know what package DPS use at:
http://www.heatweb.com

Their graphics are quite smart.

Also anyone know of a package that does good mechanical drawings, pipework,
with pre defined valves etc, house plans etc? Having to draw every
component and store it in library for future use is painful.



---
--

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.524 / Virus Database: 321 - Release Date: 06/10/2003

You can download for free a version of pro/desktop a top end 3D solid modeller from

http://www.ptc.com/community/free_downloads.htm

This will allow you to open ACAD drawings as well as create 3D designs

Cheers,

Kev





"IMM" wrote in message ...
"PoP" wrote in message
...
On 7 Nov 2003 08:05:25 -0800, (Rick) wrote:

I have several project drawings that are in '.dwg' format which is the
Autocad file type.

This doesn't really assist you, but I'm responding to comments made on
this thread about TurboCad etc.

I was recently looking for a drawing package, and was very put off by
the cost of most of them.

I then found DeltaCad - http://www.deltacad.com. I was so impressed
with it for 50 bucks that I immediately bought a licensed copy.

I have very little experience with drawing packages so I'm in no
position to compare one with t'other. The slight negatives I feel for
DeltaCad relate to what appears to be a slightly clunky user
interface. I may be doing it a dis-service here, maybe other drawing
packages are no different. But the price tag was very attractive for
me.

Anyone know what package DPS use at:
http://www.heatweb.com

Their graphics are quite smart.

Also anyone know of a package that does good mechanical drawings, pipework,
with pre defined valves etc, house plans etc? Having to draw every
component and store it in library for future use is painful.



---

What version have you got? In the 2002 version there are 2 options:
properties and convert.
Unfortunately I don't have 2000 installed any more so can't check that.

Dave S



2000 ... maybe that is the difference