6 replies to this topic

[Harlon Suttle]

Anyone working for designers who only use Autocad...I am thinking of pursuing work with Designers who only use Autocad. What issues have you encountered ?

[Allen McDonnell]

Why would you go from SP to Autocad?

[Harlon Suttle]

Allen,
I am thinking of exporting SP work to Autocad..never would I quite SP....sorry for any confussion...just looking for any issue that exist between the two....with the economy red hot, I want to expand my client base as most architects/ designers are in need of drafting....

[Allen McDonnell]

I see...i export to Autocad occasionally and send it out.  I haven't heard of any issues.

[Gary McKeon]

I do it on a regular basis. The biggest issue is the whining that sometimes comes from the acad user: "but it doesn't look exactly like acad...". Nope- never going to either and that is a good thing. Seriously though it really depends upon the work you are doing. For example, if you do the exterior elevations but they are going to be changing or tweaking the final product look then it is better to NOT paint the finishes on. Quite often the paint comes through as separate pieces so a concrete pattern could be thousands of little pieces. That will get anyone worked up. Another thing is symbols (blocks to them). If I am putting together the finish product I will always erase their's and replace with my own softplan symbols. The drawings can sometimes get bogged down by their symbols and I have just made it a habit to replace their stuff with my own. Much smoother and doesn't take much time.

 

It really depends upon your scope of work as to how it works out. Don't be intimidated by it though as all the issues can be resolved if you just think it through. Feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.

[Dennis Hilborn]

I still have two customers who use still use autocad (architects).  When I draw for them I use Autocad.  Exported SP files to Autocad would require too much work to "fix" up to their standards.  If I were still running my office with autocad I would not accept files drawn in SP and exported to Autocad.  But there were times when I got cad files from other autocad users and it took as much time to get them to my standard as it would have to just trace them and redraw.

 

Maybe part of the problem is the way have things set up in SP, but when I export a set my floor plan is one place, the dimensions are in another, not stacked on the floor plan, electrical is in another place etc.  The elevations look pretty complete.  Autocad is very layer based and the pens used are line color dependent at least in my experience.  So every line has to be put on the right layer and set the right color.

 

DWG files sent to engineers, tradesmen to add their info so you can include them in your SP sets work just fine.

 

Export one of your drawing as a sample to show your prospective customer and let them make the decision.

[Gary McKeon]

Dennis brings up some very good points. I should probably add that for myself I am given the acad files which are always preliminary. My scope of work is to fix their design and complete the project so I usually just redraw everything they have done. Once completed I give them a PDF set plus the Plan Set dwg. One thing I always do as well is go into the dwg and turn off the layer that shows the wall "texture" (shows as a solid fill which is NOT a good thing). Not sure why softplan does that but it does.