When Good Files Go Bad

There are still some clients out there that I have not convinced to go to Civil 3D. The following steps were used to fix a client's drawing who is still using Eagle Point, but we are their Autocad reseller. Eagle Point creates TINs on a layer (no shock) but users have the choice of creating a less dwg intense proprietary object, or true 3D faces. There are pros and cons to both. When in doubt, go with the 3D faces. That way, anyone can use your Eagle Point TIN after a little exploding and finagling (assuming you haven't done the right thing and used XML). However, the resulting block-like object tends to become corrupt.

In this case, the client has lotsa layouts she didn't want to loose. So I thought of the following solution.

This is what I e-mailed to the client this evening:

1) Make a backup copy of the “bad” drawing just in case!

2) Make sure all the layers for the “bad” drawing are not frozen and not turned off.

3) Type in W at the cad command line. This will start the Write Block command.

4) Leave the base point as 0,0,0. Select all the objects in the drawing with a crossing window.

5) Save the resulting block to a location on your computer you can find later on. Click OK.

6) Now take the original, bad drawing and go to File>Save As… Save it as a DWT file. (Template)

7) Make sure the resulting dwt remains open. Delete all model-space entities out of the dwt.

8) Type Purge at the cad command line. Purge everything you can. (There will be an option for Purge All)

9) Purge it again. (Sometimes Cad is not so good at getting rid of old layers and stuff.)

10) Audit, Save and close the dwt. Make sure to save it in a location you can find again!

11) Start a new drawing, using the dwt as the base. By going to File>New … it will ask which dwt to use.

12) At this point you should have a blank drawing, with nothing in it but the layouts.

13) While in model-space, type in I at the cad command line. This will start the Insert command.

14) Browse for the block you created back in step 5.

15) Leave the insertion point as 0,0,0

16) Make sure “Specify On-Screen” is unchecked for Insertion Point, Scale and Rotation.

17) Click the check mark next to Explode.

18) Click OK.

19) Save this drawing in the same folder, and with the same name as the old, “bad” drawing. We need to do that for Eagle Point’s sake – it needs the file name to find it’s support files. If it tells you that you already have a file by that name, say yes to overwrite it. (You have a backup at this point so its ok.)

20) If that doesn’t work go to File > eTransmit and send me the resulting Zip file!