Open AutoCad LT-2004 files in Illustrator 10?

[Holly_Finnegan@adobeforums.com]

Hello All!

I, too, am having the same problem of opening AutoCad 2004 DWG's in Illustrator 10.0.3 on a Mac OSX 10.3.2. I took the following advice from all of you and others:

1. Dumb Down the DWG files to 2000. This allows me to open the DWG's but this is still an added step on their part.
2. CadGate - Nice plug-in for preserving scale, however, it still is not allowing me to open 2004 DWG's.
3. We have Illustrator CS on order and should have it tomorrow. Some say they can open AutoCad 2004 documents with CS, while others say that CS is a step backwards in compatibility/quality.
4. CadPublisher sounds promising - have an e-mail into them for a tryout version.
5. CadMover - Have one of my 2004 DWG's with them right now to test out converting it.

Both companies (Adobe and AutoCad) recognize the problem, but neither choose to come up with a solution. Being that Illustrator and AutoCad are widely used in conjunction with each other, I would think and hope the two companies could work together to arrive at a more evolved, promising and useful solution. Aside from all the above, I was just wondering if anyone has run into any other options?

[Holly_Finnegan@adobeforums.com]

By the way, these forums are great, and the advise is very helpful.

thanks,
Holly

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

Well Holly the last group turned out to have a label to the effect that they were off limits.

I would really be curious to try to open your CAD 2004 dwg files.

my e-mail: [email]wzphoto@verizon.net[/email]

[Holly_Finnegan@adobeforums.com]

Sorry for the delay, I've been extremely busy.

John Walker with Cad Publishing has been very helpful and he was able to open my files via Cad Publisher. My concern, and I haven't had a chance to test it out, is that Cad Publisher might be way too involved (with Auto Cad terminology and functions) and that I'll have to practically learn the Auto Cad program to understand Cad Publisher. Granted, it's always nice to learn something new, but I'm a Marketing Production Artist, not an Architect. Regardless, I really appreciate the offer of trying to open one of my CAD 2004 dwg's and I'll send it to you asap.

Can I ask...what you meant by "the last group turning out to have a label to the effect that they were off limits"?

I have also noticed that my AICS is not recognizing dashed lines in the Back-Saved AutoCad 2000 dwg's that I'm opening up. I'll search the forums for that issue but has anyone run in to that as well and

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

Off limits we don't know. I tried to open another such file today and it will not open.

Perhaps AutoCAD has some sort of protection. What you can do is ask the people supplying you with these files to send them to you as eps. An eps will open and be editable and you will not need to learn CAD.