COMPASS to DXF to Adobe Illustrator?

[Darklight]

I'm being dragged screaming, like a man with a box of one dozen starving-crazed weasels on his face, into the world of cave cartography. I'm having a bit of trouble with my various versions of Adobe Illustrator. Maybe someone can help?

I have both Illustrator CS (v.11) (which cannot read DXF files exported from Compass) and version 8.0. I understand I can (am supposed to be able to) open a .DXF file in Illustrator 8.0 in order to save it and open it in Illustrator CS. When I export the line plot in Compass to .DXF, then open in Illustrator 8.0, I get a blank document. That is, it reads the file, but reports that "all layers are hidden" or "other layers do not exists in DXF"; "some properties are missing". I get nothing. All attempts to activate layers in Illustrator are in vain. Can anyone explain to me how to get from Compass, export DXF, and get a line plot open in Illustrator 8? Do I need 9 or 10?

Am I exporting the Compass DXF file incorrectly? There are about a million settings, but no help....

THX!

[cob]

I REFUSE to be dragged into digital cartography.

But everybody I know uses Xara... for whatever it is worth. They seemed to be reasonably intelligent human beings.... at least until they too were dragged into digital cartography.

[John Lovaas]

Chris-

I can bring a DXF file from COMPASS into Illustrator 10 and FreehandMX without any trouble. I know the DXF files will work in Freehand 8. The DXF "flavor" that Larry is using is pretty backwards-compatible. There may be an option that you selected(or not selected) that's giving you the headache.

If you'd be willing to post a screen capture of the DXF Export menu options, I bet we can find the issue. Larry Fish has been exceedingly helpful with all my export questions; I'm currently wrestling with a 3D export that will be fabricated(via stereolithography) into a tangible 3D model of a cave. So I'd suggest emailing him ASAP- I bet he'll solve the problem for you in a jiffy.

As a printer in a former life(from the pre-digital days of hand retouching of separations with powdered carbon and charcoal pencils, manual layout with razor knife and litho tape, paying a typesetter a king's ransom to produce a line of text, etc.), I'd never want to be dragged back to the non digital methods.

With digital cartography, more people can make maps, maps can be updated faster, and the drafting work in large surveys can be easily shared amongst individuals.

My experience with Xara is that you get what you pay for. I've always been a Freehand cheerleader, but since Adobe bought Macromedia(and has published a FH to Illustrator migration guide) I fear for the future of FH. So I tell everyone now to stick to Illustrator.

jl

[Steven Johnson]

I've always been a Freehand cheerleader, but since Adobe bought Macromedia(and has published a FH to Illustrator migration guide) I fear for the future of FH. So I tell everyone now to stick to Illustrator.

FreeHand is not completely defunct... there is still new development being done on it. If you have it, and like it, stick with it.

That said, for folks learning something new, Illustrator is probably the way to go at this point... it's had the dominant market share for quite a while now.

[John Lovaas]

Hi Steve-

I've got FreehandMX updated to 11.02x, which was put out in February of '04.

I'm hopeful that they are continuing development, as there are still issues with some of the very cool blend and shading options that one can play with. It's all well and good if I have a gorgeous image on the monitor, but if I can't get the printer/plotter to produce it, well, then...

I've always understood that Adobe was not going to give up on Freehand, but the publication of the migration manuals spooked me a little bit. They sure made it easy for me to learn how to use Illustrator- so that was a plus.

jl

[Steven Johnson]

I've always understood that Adobe was not going to give up on Freehand, but the publication of the migration manuals spooked me a little bit. They sure made it easy for me to learn how to use Illustrator- so that was a plus.

I was actually one of the lead engineers on FreeHand versions 3, 4, and 5, back when it was developed at Altsys (and sold by Aldus). When Aldus got bought by Adobe it looked pretty grim, but after various machinations we managed to retain control and sell it (and ourselves) to Macromedia. Then when Adobe bought Macromedia, well, we once again thought it was curtains for FreeHand, but it's still hangin' in there.

[Darklight]

Here is a screen shot of the Compass export screen:



And what I get when I open said DXF file in Illustrator 8:



What opens is this:



Note that I have activated the layers shown in the lower right here, but still nothing shows up...

CG

Chris-

I can bring a DXF file from COMPASS into Illustrator 10 and FreehandMX without any trouble. I know the DXF files will work in Freehand 8. The DXF "flavor" that Larry is using is pretty backwards-compatible. There may be an option that you selected(or not selected) that's giving you the headache.

If you'd be willing to post a screen capture of the DXF Export menu options, I bet we can find the issue. Larry Fish has been exceedingly helpful with all my export questions; I'm currently wrestling with a 3D export that will be fabricated(via stereolithography) into a tangible 3D model of a cave. So I'd suggest emailing him ASAP- I bet he'll solve the problem for you in a jiffy.

As a printer in a former life(from the pre-digital days of hand retouching of separations with powdered carbon and charcoal pencils, manual layout with razor knife and litho tape, paying a typesetter a king's ransom to produce a line of text, etc.), I'd never want to be dragged back to the non digital methods.

With digital cartography, more people can make maps, maps can be updated faster, and the drafting work in large surveys can be easily shared amongst individuals.

My experience with Xara is that you get what you pay for. I've always been a Freehand cheerleader, but since Adobe bought Macromedia(and has published a FH to Illustrator migration guide) I fear for the future of FH. So I tell everyone now to stick to Illustrator.

jl

[batrotter]

I've had the same problem trying to get COMPASS to export a DXF file. I wanted to import it into Corel Draw. I never had any luck getting a useful DXF.

I finally done the recommended method of saving the file to a print driver and them import that file into Corel Draw for drafting purposes.

[John Lovaas]

Hi Chris-

Thanks for posting the screenshot. I've got a couple ideas, none of which may be of any value ;-)

1) Download the latest version of COMPASS. I can tell you aren't using a current version- that "Misc" tab in the Export menu is not present in the most recent version. And that tab gave me all sorts of headaches with shapefile exports in the past. Out of sight, out of mind ;-)

2) Try setting the scale options and re-exporting. If I do not set an appropriate scale for the sheet size I am working on, Freehand won't let me import the DXF- the "default" scale of the DXF is 1'=1". So- if you are working at 20'=1" in Illustrator, check the "Scale Export" box and set the "Scale Factor" at 5%. If you are working at 10'=1", set the "Scale Factor" to 10%.

3) Again- make sure your document's dimensions are big enough to accept the DXF- and leave a little extra "breathing room" around the edges. I can only speak to my experience with FreehandMX with this issue.

4) Those "hidden layer" error messages you're getting makes me think that you should try selecting the "Surveys On Separate Layers" option- just for snick and giggles, anyway.

And, most importantly- ask Larry! ;-)

jl

[Steven Johnson]

I've never used Compass, but to ask a dumb question: why doesn't it (also) have an option to export to Illustrator directly?

[Aaron Addison]

If you are working with AI and Compass, I might suggest checking out the plug-in written by Jim Olsen. It can be downloaded here:

http://www.caversdigest.com/new_page_1.htm


AA

[jonjasper]

I believe you just need to find someone with AI version 10 and have them convert it into the AI CS format.

Then I would send off a letter to Larry Fish, the author of Compass and have him look into seeing if he can create a export to Illustrator CS/CS2. He is usually extremely good about incoorporating greatly needed features.

[Doug McCarty]

This thread went dead about ten months ago. I was wondering if anyone has come up with any new ideas during that time. I still cannot import DXF files into CS2. Jim Olsen's plug-in was written for Illustrator 9 and does not work with CS2--or at least it doesn't work for me. I don't know anybody offhand who has an earlier version of Illustrator. So, ten months later, has anyone come upon any plug ins or software that will do the conversion?

Doug Mc.

[Aaron Addison]

Hi Doug-

I import DXF data to AI CS2 frequently. Would it be possible for you to post your DXF somewhere (or send to me via email/PM)?

I would be happy to take a look at it and see if we can get you going.

AA

[Doug McCarty]

Wow. Thanks.

I am away from my home computer now, but I'll send it to you Thursday evening.

What I have been doing is opening the line plot in Photoshop, drawing in the walls and then doing a live trace. It works, but leaves a lot to be desired.

Doug Mc