johnmarkey

Michael, Thanks for responding. I'm running CA X12. The file is ACAD 2021, large, 65 acre, mixed-use Site Plan. Numerous roadways, bldg footprints, lake, park, street furniture etc. It is lots of cad line work which CA struggles with even when created in CA file format. I have successfully imported the same file, but previous revision with more bldgs. Any advice is appreciated. John

My import dwg files in CA has stopped working. It will start the wizard and go to finish, but stalls out on Reading drawing file into memory. I have successfully imported ACAD dwg files of this size into CA in the past, now it stalls. I am an architect and have been using CA since 1994. It's the first CAD I learned right out of school, I still prefer it. I have to use AutoCAD because it is the language of the industry. That said, I use CA for 99% of my cad work. CA has never been good at importing ACAD dwg, or dealing with large project files. The capability in the software is not there. It is most definitely a CA software problem, not hardware. I have complained to CA staff over the years about these problems. The answer I get is "we are marketing to homebuilders and contractors and not professional architects and engineers." We are now paying CA professional quality software prices, we should get it. That's my rant, I still need any help I can get with importing dwg file into CA.

Where is the Layout Box Specification dialogue?

I am an architect and Chief user since 1993. Chief was the first CAD software I used out of architecture school before CAD had taken over the industry. I use AutoCAD and convert files back and forth only because it is the language of the industry and exchange file format between professional disciplines. I do the main body of design work in Chief. I see more engineers and architects I work and exchange files with using software other than AutoCAD and converting files to dwg only for exchanging. The worst problem with Chief for an architect is that it cannot handle large files. It is not unusual for me to draw a 4-story, 250 Unit apartment bldg. Draw that in Chief and it will struggle for 2 minutes just to generate a line or a zoom view. In a large mixed-use project with several bldgs Chief can take 5 minutes to process one command. I convert the 3-D Chief plans to all CAD lines in plan and it is no better. It is 100% a problem in the software, not the hardware. I have spoken to several people at Chief about getting the file size capability up to that of AutoCAD and they tell me it is just not going to happen. They are not marketing to professional architects and sticking to their home building segment. That's a real shame as they could capture a significant market share of professionals.