CAD Formats Saved by ARCHICAD

DWF File (.dwf)

You can save Floor Plan and Section/Elevation/IE or 3D Document views in DWF (Drawing Web Format):

Activate the required story or Section/Elevation/IE or 3D Document window and choose the Save as command in the File menu. Select the DWF file format from the list, click the Save button and choose one of the following options:

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ASCII - readable and editable ASCII text file. May be rather long.

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Binary - binary file with a smaller size than the ASCII version.

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Compressed Binary - smallest, most easily transportable compressed binary file.

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When you have made your choice, click the OK button to save the DWF file.

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You can view the saved DWF file with any web browser that supports the DWF Plug-In. You can download a DWF viewer from: http://www.autodesk.com/products/. A Java-based public domain viewer - with some limitations - can be found at: http://www.cadviewer.com.

DXF/DWG Files (.dxf, .dwg)

For details, see Saving DWG/DXF Files.

MicroStation Design File (.dgn)

The ARCHICAD to MicroStation converter exports 2D views (plan, elevation and section windows) from ARCHICAD into 2D MicroStation format.

All elements are exported as drawing primitives (points, lines, arcs, texts, polylines, triangles, and polygons). During the output, you are prompted to designate an optional configuration file (.txt), which controls the layer assignment, font and color conversion.
MicroStation is limited to 64 layers. If the ARCHICAD file contains more, then it rolls around. The configuration file can control the correspondence between layers. In the absence of the configuration file, the default order is alphabetical.

Pen color conversion can be defined in the configuration file. Otherwise, the Add-On will use the default assignments.

You can also define the line type conversion in the configuration file. The specified ARCHICAD line types will be replaced with the MicroStation line style having the given index. The default MicroStation line styles are in the range [0-7].

The configuration file can control the font conversion. If the configuration file is missing, the add-on will default to the international vector font (always present in MicroStation).
If you define a Chicago-Chicago translation, make sure that the Chicago TrueType font is loaded into MicroStation (with the Element/Text/View/File/Import command). If it is not loaded, it will revert to the default.
If you would like the text to look the same in both files, use monospaced fonts (e.g., Courier) on the plan.

Symbol hatches and linetypes are not exported in this version.

You can specify the background color for the exported file at the top of the dialog box.

The desired output unit can also be changed here. If you loaded the original file from a MicroStation file, then the units specified there will appear.

After the DGN file is loaded into MicroStation, you must use the Full View command to see the entire drawing; it will not adjust the scale automatically.

MicroStation elements:

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