Can't fill simple CAD shape

[David.P]

Hi forum,

quite often I have to work with drawings imported from *.dxf CAD files. Usually this is no problem, as long as I don't try to apply fills to certain imported shapes.

Below is such a shape that has been imported from a *.dxf file an then converted to a Visio shape (right click -> CAD object -> convert).



I can't for the life of me fill this shape with a simple solid fill, or whatever. It's the same if the shape is applied all sorts of merge, cut, combine etc. - commands.

It almost seems as if some lines the shape consists of have a wrong direction or something.

It would be great if there was a way to quickly fix such a shape (without having to go into the shape sheet and change the lines' coordinates by hand).

The shape is attached as Visio drawing.

Thanks heaps already
David.P

[Yacine]

If you don't need to do it with several thousand shapes, you could try this...

[David.P]

Thanks very much Yacine -- that's at least ONE possible way to successfully handle this issue 

But what actually IS the problem with this weird shape behaviour, for that matter?

Cheers David.P

[Yacine]

It almost seems as if some lines the shape consists of have a wrong direction or something.

I would say that you answered it already.

[David.P]

I see -- thanks for the confirmation.

Cheers David.P

[wapperdude]

That's an issue with CAD imports.  Visio creates a bazillion line shapes and they don't tend to join up nicely.  If the shape is relatively simple, as in this posted example, you could simply redraw the figure.  Not a great solution, but beats trying to convert this to a single, connected geometry shape.  And, in this case, the redraw was rather quick.

HTH
Wapperdude

[David.P]

Thanks Wapper -- Yacine's solution however did work very well already (yeah its redrawing as well, but only the "weird" lines) 

Anyway, it's rather a pity that there seems to be no way to quickly fix such a shape in Visio.

Cheers David.P

[JuneTheSecond]

Yacine's solution is cool, and remind me the value of "trim and join"!  
I am anxious,  may the anybody automate the solution!  

[JuneTheSecond]

Now, found another solution.
It is "Fragments and Union".
Is it too late?

[David.P]

A-a-mazing! Thanks very much -- that's great. This is almost like redrawing everything, but automatically, not by hand!

Actually it seems you can do steps 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and skip the intermediate step 4.

This will be very helpful in many cases, thanks again,

Cheers David