Need blocks exploded in DXF file - Newbie


Plainwacky
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Hi...

 

I'm new to the forum and using Home Designer Pro to design a single store home; and I could use some help I have this DXF file and apparently my Home Designer Pro will not read it because the blocks need to be expanded (according to the Chief architect tech support), which I haven't a clue what that means. I have enclosed the file. 

What I'm trying to do is this....the DXF file contains the elevation data for the property and I would like to create a terrain that shows the elevation. Anyone know how to expand the block or can help me with this?

Elevation Data ACAD-Civil-base-050319.dxf

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Thanks for the information. Tech Support for Home Designer sent me here. 
Perhaps you can enlighten me, as I said, I'm new to all this. How is Home Designer different from Chief Architect products? Isn't Home Designer one of them? 

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On 6/14/2019 at 10:18 AM, Plainwacky said:

I have to go to the 3rd class seating?? LOL. 

See, I told you I was new. Hopefully one of you professionals an help me. 

 

Try opening it in a free CAD Program like DraftSight Free and delete everything you dont need then save it as a DWG instead and import into Chief or Pro

 

 

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Home Designer doesn't allow DWG Files to be imported. I have the DWG file version of the data and asked the civil engineering if they could send it to me in DFX format which they did, only to find out I need the blocks expanded….again, whatever that means. 
I'll check out DraftSight...hopefully it's not over my head in what I need to do.

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Here it is in Chief format.

Is it a metric plan or imperial plan.

There are reference to feet, but other things look metric.

I saved it s an imperial plan.

I deleted some blocks, but there may be some I missed - I am not quite sure why they were there in the first place - they just seemed to be contours.

Do you have the Explode Cad Blocks tool in your version?

You may have to rescale the drawing to suit.

This may be enough to get you going.

Contours.plan

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9 hours ago, Plainwacky said:

Home Designer doesn't allow DWG Files to be imported. I have the DWG file version of the data and asked the civil engineering if they could send it to me in DFX format which they did, only to find out I need the blocks expanded….again, whatever that means. 
I'll check out DraftSight...hopefully it's not over my head in what I need to do.

 

Ok , I didn't realise Pro didn't import DWG , that is why Eric recommended you ask on HomeTalk as people there will know what your Version is capable of. It looked like a whole neighbourhood to me but there was only elevation Data for part of it , so I was thinking you could delete what wasn't needed and resave, (Draftsight also does DXF in multiple Versions,) but it looks like Glenn was kind enough to play with it for you , so  you may not need to bother now.

 

M.

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Can someone explain to me what is meant by exploding the blocks? 
I plan to check out the HomeTalk, in the meantime, I appreciate all of your expertise and helping me. 

I'll try later to load in Glenn's file and see what comes out. 

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A cad block is a collection of cad items that have been grouped together so they behave like one object.

When you have a cad block and Explode it, you are changing the cad block back to it's original individual objects.

I didn't investigate too far, but there where a whole lot of cad blocks in the file that seemed to only contain a single contour line.

I just went through and blindly exploded as many blocks as I could find. 

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I'm assuming that most of the professionals use Autocad and understand "cad blocks", objects and the rest. I think my problem is compounded cause I don't know anything about Autocad and learning Home Architect. I have my house plans pretty much finalized, and all I want to do is put the house plan on an elevation terrain...which is providing to be challenging. Also doing the roof is really challenging to me. So much to learn, so little time. 
I appreciate you guys helping me, even if I'm in the wrong class. 

Where could a person like myself handover my plans and have someone actually create architecture drawings? Is there a group on here that does this kind of work? Maybe even help me with different roof configurations. I have discovered that roof designs can really change the look of the house. 

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On 6/16/2019 at 1:38 AM, glennw said:

Hey Glenn....unfortunately when I go to load the file, Home Designer is telling me that it cannot load the file as I have an older version. An older version?? It's a 2019 Pro. CA wants another 100 dollars to upgrade to 2020. This is what some of these programs do....I have the same thing going on with QuickBooks...they don't allow you to contact any credit cards unless you upgrade and pay another 400 dollars...and ever couple or so years they do this. 

Contours.plan

 

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