Best way to translate AutoCAD DWG files Thread poster: Hans Lenting
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What is the best way to translate AutoCAD DWG files, without using AutoCAD?
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:21
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Hans Lenting wrote:
What is the best way to translate AutoCAD DWG files, without using AutoCAD?
It's a nightmare. I recently had a job like this.
The problem is the paper size, which can be very large, and the placement of the text in the CAD file, which can be within text boxes placed anywhere in the file. usually beside the part of the drawing to which they refer.
In my case the client sent me PDFs of the CAD files, which of course could not be accurately converted to Word.
In the end, I had to go through a laborious process of extracting all the text and creating a separate bilingual Word file for each CAD sheet, with the source text on the left and the target text on the right. Then the CAD technician had to copy/paste my translated text into the Autocad files.
Really, the only effective way to translate Autocad files is to have a copy of Autocad, and a very powerful computer (Autocad requires a lot of RAM and a very large HD) - but Autocad costs $$$ thousands and is subscription-only.
Another option (if this is a big job) is to go to the client's premises and use Autocad on their computer - but you would need one of their CAD technicians to guide you through all the layers/categories of the CAD file (CAD files are extremely large; they consist of multiple layers and categories that can be shown or hidden at will, or made transparent, and each layer or category will contain text that is specific to that layer or category, or may be visible in all layers or categories).
If anyone has ever found a better solution I'd be interested to hear about it! Surely in today's global world there is an add-on for AutoCAD that enables the user to extract all text and save it as a Word file small enough to be sent by WeTransfer or other software? There must be an enormous market for this.
Here's an example of the PDFs I was sent. There were 50 of them. And these particular AutoCAD files are very simple compared to most.
[Edited at 2023-06-28 08:19 GMT]
| | | | Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
TOPIC STARTER
Tom in London wrote:
Surely in today's global world there is an add-on for AutoCAD that enables the user to extract all text
There are some tools that can extract text from DXF files, but you must first convert from DWG to DXF. E.g. with:
https://www.opendesign.com/guestfiles/TeighaFileConverter
The DXF files created with this converter can be viewed (and possibly edited?) with LibreOffice.
I'm getting encoding errors when loading them in my CAT tool. What is the correct export format? ASCII R13?
[Edited at 2023-06-28 08:42 GMT]
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:21
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Hans Lenting wrote: Tom in London wrote:
Surely in today's global world there is an add-on for AutoCAD that enables the user to extract all text There are some tools that can extract text from DXF files, but you must first convert from DWG to DXF.
Yes but that's only the beginning of the problem......see the sample CAD file I added to my post above
[Edited at 2023-06-28 08:20 GMT]
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Jean Lachaud 
United States
Local time: 06:21
English to French
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| There are other options | Jun 28, 2023 |
There was (is?) TranslateCAD, see this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TranslateCAD.
Please read the Known limitations. In my experience, multiline text (which is an AutoCAD feature different from Single line text) is often found in separate bits and pieces all around the extracted file, which makes it a nightmare to translate.
For this r... See more There was (is?) TranslateCAD, see this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TranslateCAD.
Please read the Known limitations. In my experience, multiline text (which is an AutoCAD feature different from Single line text) is often found in separate bits and pieces all around the extracted file, which makes it a nightmare to translate.
For this reason alone, I charge translating CAD drawings on a time basis. Don't forget to be generous in estimating the time required, one will always need more.
In the end, I bought TurboCAD, which is much cheaper than AutoCAD, and is sufficient for my needs. Be warned that TurboCAD sales department uses aggressive tactics after one buys a license.
I'm pretty sure there are free, open-source CAD programs which would also work.
All CAD program require some training/practice/watching tutorials, etc., which not only can can be time-consuming, but need to be repeated after not using the program for a few months, just because all these programs are difficult to master, especially when not using them on a daily basis.
There may be free DWG-to-DXF converters, either on-line or as downloadable utilities. In my experience, they are useless.
[Edited at 2023-06-28 13:56 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:21
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Jean Lachaud wrote:
.....In my experience, multiline text (which is an AutoCAD feature different from Single line text) is often found in separate bits and pieces all around the extracted file, which makes it a nightmare to translate.
Yes- see the example I posted above. It is very important that the translated text is in exactly the same position as the source text, in every case. For example, the following is a detail from the same drawing. The use of different colours, line breaks, etc. must be preserved in the exact positions beside the arrows to which they relate.
Nightmare!
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