AutoCAD screen

Use the AutoCAD screen to import elevations from AutoCAD files.

This feature prevents you from having to manually digitize elevations from drawings on a digitizer board. However, the AutoCAD files must be drawn properly to import correctly into Viewpoint Estimating. The following guidelines will help ensure that AutoCAD drawings import correctly.

To import elevations from an AutoCAD file, existing and proposed elevations must be drawn on separate layers in AutoCAD. Items such as labels, pictures, patterns, or hatching, will not be imported and are ignored when you import the file. Text is imported into a separate layer.

To make the import of AutoCAD files easier, you should also ensure that the drawings follow these guidelines:
  • All polylines you import need the elevation entered as a property of that polyline.
  • Layers in AutoCAD should be named intuitively so you can identify which layers contain the elevation data you want to import.

If you don't follow these guidelines, you can still import elevations from the AutoCAD file. But you will have to do many manual adjustments to set elevations and delete unnecessary items.

Anmerkung: IMPORTANT: If the guidelines listed in this section are not followed by the person who made the AutoCAD file, it will usually be much easier to manually digitize elevations from the printed drawings on a digitizer.

You may find it difficult to use the AutoCAD import feature if you don't have access to the person who created the AutoCAD drawing. You will also need a minimum level of experience using AutoCAD at certain times to help identify the properties and features of complex AutoCAD files.

You can import AutoCAD files that:
  • were created in versions up to 2023.
  • have a DWG file extension, which is the standard AutoCAD format, or that have DXF or DWF extensions.
Anmerkung: To open a job in the Manage Earthwork Estimates screen, go to Estimating > Earthwork > Manage Earthwork Estimates. Select Open Existing Job, then navigate to and select the job you want to open.