Import Issues

[Haiduk]

I do a lot of r/c aircraft modeling.  I tend to use DraftSight for the 2D work and 3DS Max for the 3d work.  

DXF files are exported as ANSII ver R12 from DraftSight, but some of the components get mirrored when imported into CamBam.  I have similar issues when importing 3ds files from 3DS Max.  Some components get rotated, mirrored, or lose their position when imported.  I can easily re-mirror the components imported via DXF with the extras plugin, but the 3DS imports are more difficult to reposition accurately in CamBam.  

I took some screenshots.  Take a look.

[blowlamp]

If you upload one of the dxf's that is showing the effect, we can see how it imports into our own CAD programs to see where the problem is.


Martin.

[kvom]

I've been exporting from Draftsight in 2007-2009 DXF mode, and have never had a problem with these files in CB.

[Haiduk]

This file (Albatross-Sample.dxf) imports correctly into DraftSight, AutoCad R12, 3DS Max 2010, and SketchUp.  It has partial mirroring issues when importing into CamBam (see photos).

I also noticed that text imported via DXF doesn't consistently position and size as in the original drawing, especially if center or right justification is used.  I assume this is because CamBam only supports left justified text.

I suspect there was an oversight in the CamBam import routines that overlooks aspects in the objects world space position, world space displacement, or the objects coordinate system (OCS). I especially notice the issues when objects have been mirrored/rotated in the original drawing in DraftSight, AutoCad R12, or 3DSMax.

Note:  I found a work around for the issue with the 3DS import from 3DS MAX.  Basic steps are:  Create a new Box of any size centered on world coordinates x=y=z=0, attach all geometry to the box, delete just the box object, then detach all of the geometry.  This seems to confirm my suspicions about object orientation oversights in the DXF/3DS format import functions in CamBam.

EDIT:  Forgot to note I'm running CamBam 0.98L

[blowlamp]

Your file loaded correctly into ViaCAD as well, so I saved it back out of ViaCAD and then it loaded into CamBam OK.

File attached.


Martin.

[10bulls]

Thank you for pointing this problem out.
I'll try and get this fixed for the next 'M' update.

The text problem may be a little tricky.  I remember there were problems handling DXF text which assumes default internal CAD (AutoCAD) fonts as the size/metrics of these fonts is not stored in the DXF.
I will look into it though as it has been a while since the DXF text importing was last looked at.