Solution-specific Visio Discussions > Artistic and Graphical Effects

Visio 2007 .dwg output for AutoCad 2008 LT

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whirlpool1:
Hi all,

Im investigating some issues, whereby I need to save my Visio 2007 drawings and send them to a customer in .dwg format (for AutoCad).
The process of export is painless (Save As), but when the files are opened in AutoCad (2008 LT specifically), there are some deficiencies.
Oh no, I hear you all sigh... :)

My issues are really threefold;

1) Transparent and Graduated Fills
I have existing styles defined for certain types of object that change the Fill, Line and Text.  Some of these contain Transparent Fills and/or Graduated Fills.
When I open the file in AutoCad, after exporting, the fills are simply not there, which isn't a problem as I can 'switch' them back on with the Fillmode command in AutoCad (set to 1).
Anything that is a solid colour shows up just fine, but the transparent and graduated fills stay black.

Q1) I guess that the limitation is AutoCad (in that Transparent and Graduated fills are not supported, or is there anything I can do rather than amend all my standardised fills in Visio to compensate?

2) Connectors Lose Colour and Style Information
Also I notice that I have styles applied to connectors (cables in my case), which are colour coded, and it seems that all Connectors are bundled into one layer when exported to AutoCad and turned to a single line style and colour (black).

Q2) How can I get the connectors to keep their line type and colour in AutoCad?

3) Loss of images (such as PNG and JPG)
Lastly, If I use an image within my Visio file (say a PNG or a JPG), this disappears in the AutoCad conversion.

Q3)  How can I prevent this, and have the image (or at least a placholder/path/link/Xref) stay within the AutoCad file?

Many thanks in advance,
Whirlpool1

whirlpool1:
As a suggestion to part of this, if I made a copy of the Visio file I was exporting, I could run an add-on or macro that 'turned connectors into lines' before I did the export, this way I would save the original file with connectors intact (in case I had to modify it later).
Then when I exported the copied Visio file, the lines would retain their colour and style information.

Does anyone know of a tool or add-on that will change all 'connectors' in a file into 'lines' whilst still maintaining all the colour and style info of course?

Paul Herber:
Please have a look at my Visio Utilities
http://www.sandrila.co.uk/visio-utilities/
It can do shape substitute. You will need to create a new stencil containing a line shape, just have the new stencil open when you do the substitute. I've just tried it, it seems to work.

whirlpool1:
Thanks Paul,  I'll try that...
Unfortunately, the zip file seems to be corrupted.  Ive tried it several times, and I get an Unexpected Enf of File... Im using WinRar...
Is it my end?

Paul Herber:
Well, I've just downloaded it myself, it opens fine in WinZip and 7-zip. I don't have WinRar.

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