Do me a favour ( DWG-DXF Conversion)

[ynneb]

I have a client who wants me to cut this file for him.
The problem is I think it was exported out of a really old Cad program.
I just cant open it.
Could some kind person please see if they can open it and convert it to a DXF for me.

Please dont ask what the file is all about. Its just too dumb to explain.

[ckirchen]

AutoCAD 2002 says it's invalid. Any idea what system it was created in?

Chris Kirchen

[ynneb]

He says the program is called something like "Casmate" or something like that.

When he exports it out as a DWG Native......does the native part mean thst it is native to that program only or something else?

[ckirchen]

I'm not sure what native means...

A quick websearch says Casmate is a sign making software. If it is, there'll likely be a vector format Adobe Illustrator can import. Then, it can generate the DXF.

Chris Kirchen

[ynneb]

I downloaded the adobe illustrator demo already and it wont look at it either.

[duluthboat]

I tried CorelDraw 12, Rhino 3, and FeatureCam, they all said no way.

[ynneb]

Gee thanks for trying guys.
Poo, looks like I will have to lose face and tell this guy his software is crap.
I will have to make the file myself from scratch. ( Crying )

[ynneb]

Sorry for the bum steer, the file was created in a dumb program called General Cadd ( Yep with 2 "D"s

Ok Here is a bad add for General Cadd. Do not buy this program it is a crap piece of software. They try to make dwg files so that they only open up with its own program.
Any company that thinks it is doing it self a favour by inhibiting user options in order to benifit itself deserves to fail.
I really hope this post will make them lose at least a few potential customers instead of them gaining a few customers by doing thier sneaky tricks.

EDIT: The above comments were made in hast. For the purpose of understanding the rest of the thread I will leave them here, but retract what I said.

[jfaliveno]

Ben:

I downloaded CAT.zip and took a look at the file. In all honesty, I have no idea what program produced it. As far as I can see it is in some strange format I have never seen before and I've been around in the CAD industry for about 30 years. If the file was in fact made in General CADD, then it has been hopelessly corrupted.

General CADD Pro can export in DWG/DXF formats from ACAD R9 up through R2004 and are readable by all CAD programs that can import those formats. There would be no point in exporting a DWG or DXF that no other program can read!

I hope you will have the decency to revise your comments. IMHO, I think the posted comments are incorrect, unsubstantiated and just plain unfair. You might have sent the suspect file to us for examination before the derogatory comments were made. We would have been glad to help you.

James F. Faliveno, President
General CADD Products, Inc.
"Generic CADD for Windows"
www.generalcadd.com

[ynneb]

Thanks for coming by to visit us James.
The file was made in General Cadd and it only opens in General Cadd.
It does not appear corrupted when displayed in the trial version I downloaded of General Cadd.
Yes I should have contacted you first b4 venting my frustration, but it was me who did give you the heads up about my post here, and a chance for a come back.

It does seem stragne that oly Ceneral Cadd will open it though, and as you have seen, it has been attepted to be open by many other Cad programs.

Ok I will retrect my comment about it been a crap program.

Maybe you might like to promote your CAD program in this forum and tell us all why we should consider using it.

What benifits could we have by using it as opposed to other Cad software.

[jfaliveno]

Ben:

The file extension .DWG was used by many early DOS CAD programs. The first 2 programs I know of to use it were AutoCAD and early versions of Generic CADD. Later on, Generic CADD changed the file extension to .GCD (Generic CADD Drawing) to avoid the confusion. Generic stopped using the .DWG file extension over 12 years ago. BTW, Generic was bought out by ACAD and killed in 1996.

Because General CADD Pro is an advanced Windows clone of Generic CADD, we support the import all previous Generic CADD formats including their original .DWG file format. This is why you can open that .DWG file in General CADD.... but it was not created in General CADD Pro. It was created in Generic CADD probably version Level 2, 3 or CADD5. When I saw the .DWG file extension on the CAT file, I assumed it was an ACAD file. When I looked at the format in machine code, it was unrecognizable. It didn't dawn on me until your last post that it was a 12 year old Generic CADD file format!

For the benefit of others, when the issue of a DXF or DWG file format comes up again here is a trick to remember. Open the file in Notepad (yes, a text editor). The file "header" will be in plain text. If it is an ACAD file, these numbers will appear right in the beginning of the file and tell you which version it is:

The AutoCAD drawing database version number:
AC1004 = R9, AC1006 = R10, AC1009 = R11 and R12,
AC1012 = R13, AC1014 = R14, AC1500 = AutoCAD 2000, AC1018 = R2004

lower numbers are earlier DOS versions.

Example:
AC1018 
  € h@ø÷
If you open CAT.dwg with Notepad, you will see there are no numbers which shows it is not an ACAD file format. Then, if you can open it with General CADD, that will be your confirmation that it is an old Generic CADD file.

As far as promoting General CADD Pro (GCP for short), here are some links that will give some background:

http://www.generalcadd.com/whatisgcp.htm

http://www.generalcadd.com/gctips.htm

The benefits of GCP are:

easy to learn
fast
very powerful, full range of features, full 32 bit accuracy
great support & user forum
ACAD import/export
cut,copy,paste drawings to other programs like MSWord
import images and trace them
good value
relatively inexpensive
free full function Demo download (saves disabled)


Jim
James F. Faliveno, President
General CADD Products, Inc.
www.generalcadd.com

[oldjohn]

G'day
Why don't you take the file to a sign maker place and get it converted to DXF. It may cost you a couple of bobs only, but could solve your problem
John