Anyone with Auto CAD? Suggestions sought for layout.

Hey all, just seeing if any of the experts here had Auto CAD. Just thought I'd offer my ideas with the space that I have and get some feedback. I'm basically working with an 18' by 12', with about a 3 ft. extension for my control room that is variable space, and I'm trying to incorporate a vocal closet. Yeah, space is tight! Anyone for idea exchanges? I could email my Auto CAD details if interested. I'll try to post them as an attatchement.

The attatchment didn't work. I can email anyone if interested in an Auto CAD file. I'll take any suggestions on layout and materials. Oh, forgot to mention, my ceiling is 8ft.

Chaz, first you need to follow the requests for info here Next, you might try uploading your cad files in .zip format, I think that's one of the accepted file types. I just discovered that our Allowed Extensions and Sizes link isn't working, and reported it... Steve

If you use DXF format then most people can see the plans with their CAD programs. I/O'ingly; Andre

Andre, IIRC the board doesn't take DXF's directly - but you're right, it's more universal than Autocad's DWG files, etc. - Chaz, if you save as DXF and THEN zip the file, it should upload (I think 150k file size limits still apply) Give it a shot... Steve

I just discovered that our Allowed Extensions and Sizes link isn't working, and reported it... Steve

Let me upload an Autocad test file. I convert them to a .gif with Paintshop Pro. Test:

Yea, it worked, but I deleted it because it was too wide. Here is another

Ok, guess its working. This shows what a .gif looks like here. Hope that helps. PS. One thing,, I have to EXPORT the file by windowing the portion of a drawing that I want as a .gif. I have to save it as a Windows Metafile(.wmf) before Importing it to Paintshop though. Before doing this, do a REGEN, otherwise, Autocad may have done shortcuts for zoom, which then get saved as the exported file. These show up as circles that appear as octogons, or splines that are not smooth. In the detail above, you can see the insulation is really not as I drew it, and some things were actually deleted in the process. The door seals are NOT what they really look like in the .dwg file. Just letting you know what to expect. fitZ

Ok, I decided to zoom in on this detail and show you the difference after a regen. Although, if you simply post a .gif file, it won't quite look this bright. There are some tools in Paintshop pro that allow for altering the sharpness, brightness, color, size and many other attributes of the file. Anyway, here is a zoomed in detail to show you the difference. fitZ

Thanks Rick; can you try Save As a DXF, then zip that and see if it works? (Don't even bother if it's over 150 k zipped, it won't work) That way we can compare what the different options look like... Steve

Sure enough, as soon as I'm done with a "honey do" "Just dropped in to see what condition my .gif was in":lol: fitZ

Alright gents, I saved this last detail as a .dfx file, and it was simply too big to post. So I had to find a drawing that looked under 150k. This is a simple plan of the booth that the detail came from. This is what it took to get it to this point. First, the drawing had tons of other views and elements that made it too big, so I zoomed in on this view. Then I did a "save as" of the whole drawing in .dfx format. Then zoomed out and erased everything but this element. Then did a save. Then PURGED all unused layers, dims, text etc that were in the erased elements. I still had dimensions, text etc on this drawing. It was still too big. So I had to eliminate the insulation, text, dimensions and a few other layers to get the file size below 150k. Then RE-PURGED it, and save again. That did it. Lets see if it will upload now. However the drawing won't be as bright nor can I control the width/height aspect ratio now either. When a drawing is saved in Autocad, what ever the last view was in the screen is what you get here. Other than Paintshop Pro, I don't how you could resize the drawing for the maximum width that Steve would like here. Soooooo, what you see is what you get. HELP STEVE!!...IT DIDN'T WORK IT SAYS DFX AREN'T ALLOWED HERE!!!! :? OH WELL, I TRIED. SORRY. NEVERMIND...I just reread your reconmendation..... ZIP IT !! :roll: ok, I'll do that but got to go for now. Later.

Ok, gonna try it ZIPPED. When I first saved it as a .dxf file, I looked in Explorer to see the size. It said 89k. When I went to zip it, the file said it was 701kb :? I hate windows! :twisted: Now, I zipped it and it said it was NOW 89kb. Go figure. Anyway, lets see if it works now.........upload:

Hmmmm, thats what you get. Hmmmm, tried to download and you can ONLY OPEN IT WITH AUTOCAD !!!!:shock: :twisted: Oh well, I tried. Thats why I turn into .gif's. fitZ

Thanks for all the monkey-motion Rick; no time right now, but I think you can right-click that and Save to Disk, then unzip it (becomes a DXF), and then open it with any CAD application that recognizes Drawing Exchange Format - I'll try it after my nights are out of the way. Thanks again... Steve