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DWG/DXF import

All about importing AutoCAD files into Rayon.

Rayon supports almost all concepts native to the DWG or DXF formats, offering a loss-less import experience.

Import compatibility

Rayon supports most of AutoCAD's concepts. It is important to understand how each one gets mapped in Rayon. We outline here what each concept translates to in our software...

Geometries

AutoCAD geometries are today converted into Rayon shapes. Very little changes happen here. As of now, Rayon supports AutoCAD main geometrical concepts: line, polyline, circle, rectangle, etc.

More on shapes here.

Layers

Layers are today converted into Rayon layers. Rayon layers achieve the same function as AutoCAD layers: they store entities. However, 2 things are important to consider:

  • Occlusion — In Rayon, layer ordering define the scene ordering. IN other words, the order of layers defines which entity comes above which other. In this way, layers control occlusion in Rayon, which is something that is not similar to AutoCAD

  • Styling — In Rayon, the style of things (shapes, blocks, etc) is not controlled at the layer-level, but at the style-level. Styles in Rayon are distinct from layers, and offer more customization options. When importing in Rayon, our software will... (1) translate the layer colour into the colour entities take in wireframe mode, based on their layer. (2) translate the viewport colour into a Rayon style.

Annotations

AutoCAD annotations are today converted into Rayon annotations. Very little changes happen here. As of now, Rayon supports AutoCAD main annotation concepts: dimensions, leaders, angular dimensions, texts, etc. More on annotations here.

Blocks

AutoCAD blocks are today converted into Rayon blocks. Very little changes happen here. As of now, Rayon supports both regular blocks only. What AutoCAD calls "Dynamic blocks" will be supported this Fall, under a slightly different yet fully compatible format. More on blocks here.

Viewports

AutoCAD viewports are today converted into Rayon views. More on views here.

Layout space

AutoCAD layout spaces are today converted into Rayon paper canvases. More on canvases here.

Xrefs

AutoCAD Xrefs are today converted into Rayon references. However, for the time being, Rayon does not support advanced Xrefs features (etransmit packages for instance). More on Xref import here.

Others

There are still a few concepts that Rayon does not support natively.

  • Dynamic blocks

  • Advanced Xref features (etransmit)

  • AutoCAD architecture add-on feature (walls, schedules, etc)

  • CTBs

Importing options

Please note that DWG/DXF, PDF and image import is capped in Rayon to 25mo. When importing, a new temporary tab will open, please make sure popup blocker isn't preventing it from doing so.

Import can happen from both the project manager or the editor itself.

From the project manager, to import a DWG or DXF file, you can...

  • Click on Import in the top right of the project manager and choose a file.

  • Set the scale of your imported drawing, by choosing a starting point and en end point. If needed, you change the Unit value depending on the scale of your drawing. Then click on Continue.

  • Complete your import by clicking Pick insertion point on the canvas.

That's it! Your file is imported In a new Model. Please note that if the scale of the resulting import doesn’t look right, you can scale your model after import.

From the editor itself...

  • Open the Menu in the top left of the editor and hover on Import.

  • Choose the type of file you would like to import (Image, DWG/DXF, PDF, Rayon File).

  • Choose a file and help Rayon set its scale, by following the examples above.

  • Finally, complete your import by...

    • Clicking Pick insertion point on the canvas. The chosen coordinates will be used as the vertical and horizontal centre insertion point of your imported file.

    • Clicking on the canvas, at the file's original coordinates.

That's it! Your file is imported In your existing model !

Importing Xrefs

Rayon supports Xref files. To import those, you can...

  • Open the Menu in the top left of the editor and hover on Import.

  • Navigate to DWG and Choose the file you would like to import.

  • You will be presented with the master DWG file in a new tab. If you file contains Xref, the Xref panel should open automatically, prompting you to upload missing Xrefs.

Xref can sometimes contain references of their own, if this is the case, they once the previous Xref has been loaded.

Once the last Xref has been loaded, you can click on continue to now scale your model and Import it to your workspace.

For more step-by-step information, watch our tutorial about how to use layers in Rayon:

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Book a demo with our team, right here. Feel free to email us at [email protected].

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