Best way to design to scale for Ham Radio antenna lift project

[videorov]

I have a simple design project that I would like to design it to scale. I would also like to output it to a file

format that Autocad can read aswell so other people can see it in Autocad.

Can this be done?

[robcat2075]

Welcome to A:M!

 

 

what formats does Autocad import?

 

If you inthe model window>Plugins>Export you can see the list of export formats A:M has installed.

 

DXF might be a likely one. try exporting a simple object and see if you like the results

[videorov]

Welcome to A:M!

 

 

what formats does Autocad import?

 

If you inthe model window>Plugins>Export you can see the list of export formats A:M has installed.

 

DXF might be a likely one. try exporting a simple object and see if you like the results

DXF is always one way but not sure how well it converts sometimes.

I guess there are some plugins too for autocad that convert many formats over to what it likes to work

with.

[robcat2075]

Do you have A:M already? If you do, start experimenting with the available formats. That will tell you more than I can.

 

And if you dont' have A:M... it's only $79.

[videorov]

Do you have A:M already? If you do, start experimenting with the available formats. That will tell you more than I can.

 

And if you dont' have A:M... it's only $79.

Yes I have AM I bought it at a Hamfest in Orlando, Florida. They had a both set up at the Hamfest.

I used to use Lightwave many years ago on a Toaster system. I thought this would be a nice easy

system to design some my ham radio projects and then be able to render them with the right materials

for a nice look. I also put some stuff on shirts that I design which looks pretty cool sometimes.

I just got a new computer system for RC flight sim programs. Its made by Ultra computer and is a

Dual Core 2.66 with 2G ram XP Pro so I new for sure that my programs were going to run all ok.

No vista for me.

I havw ATI Radeon HD4890 1Gig video card and it works great on the RC flight sims I have.

I will have to take a look at some demos using the tools building objects to scale.

 

I have version 15.0 AM and not sure what they are up to now. Are they still in business?

[DJBREIT]

I have version 15.0 AM and not sure what they are up to now. Are they still in business?

 

Yes there still in business. There up to 15.0f.

 

For converting from Auto Cad to A:M with DXF file I have tried with no success. So if you can I would love to know how. ( see note at bottom)

 

Converting from A:M to Auto Cad I think is duable in DXF but you may want to test it with simple shapes to confirm this and to see its limitations. Do keep in mined that you will lose some or allot of detail from your model when you convert it over. A:M has allot of stuff that Acad dose not use or support.

 

If you only need to show clients or other people the final work an image file would do.

 

If you need to have clients or other people to send feed back and modifications in DXF on the work you may need to open up Acad and A:M and just rework it in A:M . Even if you can import the change with the DXF converter. In most cases it would be faster to just rework it in A:M instead of importing it.

 

If you have not started yet on the project. Make it in Acad then get your feed back from the clients. Then make it in A:M. In this way you can update the DXF file as you move along with the project.

 

Acad can load any version of DXF out there. It can also use OBJ and other file types but you will need to check your Auto Cad version and “import/export” list see which ones. Or get a list from the client.

 

Note

There maybe a way to get the DXF importer in A:M to work. I’m betting the DXF importer was made for a specific version of DXF instead of being made upwardly compatible. If this is true and you can find what version of DXF it works with you maybe able to find an old version of Acad and grab the DXF exporter for the DXF version you need. And put it in your current Acad program. (Note you will need to do a little menu set up to get to the exporter but the converter should still work.). But I have not tried this so there is no guarantee it will work.

[robcat2075]

We should clarify what you want to do. Import and export are two different things.

 

You said you want to model in A:M and export that to AutoCad. Not going the other way.

 

Modeling to scale in A:M shouldn't be a problem, it's got built in rulers in the modeling windows.

 

Just test your workflow out first. Make a simple test model, export it to DXF (or whatever format you decided will work) and open it in AutoCad.

 

 

Do not expect that changes made to that model in Autocad will be able to be imported back into a normal A:M model. Most polygons models are bad candidates for import to A:M.

[Paul Forwood]

As I understand it AutoCAD is capable of importing 3DS files so, if you haven't done so already, try exporting from A:M in 3DS format. It is one of the most reliable export formats that A:M handles, producing clean polygon models.

[DJBREIT]

Lets make it simple for him.

Export your model in every version that A:M supports and then load them into Acad and see which one looks best then you can export it in a DXF format from Acad. Why make life hard.

[phatso]

I don't know much about export-import, since I work only in A:M, cuz I find it easy just to do everything in A:M. I did a multi-element Yagi a while back, here are a few hints for doing models of machine-made parts in A:M.

 

1. A:M works only with splines, which is great for organic but can drive you nuts when you need sharp corners. In the model window, in the toolbar, note the ^ button. If you select some control points and hit that button, it turns them all into square corners.

 

2. Don't model parts to scale to start with. It's really easy to scale up or down, just select the object and pull on the corner of the bounding box. Also, you can change proportions by selecting the object and hitting S, then pulling or pushing on the colored squares on the sides of the box.

 

3. Name every part. You can name things as many ways as you want: Reflector, Beam, Whole Antenna. Groups are not mutually exclusive.

 

4. If you are going to have a lot of identical elements, make one and set its surface properties. Then when you duplicate, each copy will retain those properties and you won't have to go thru and set each object. For example, the elements of a Yagi are all tubes of the same diameter but different lengths. Make one, surface it, make copies, then group each one and hit S so you can independently adjust the length without changing the diameter.

 

5. For something people are going to get a good look at, realism is much improved if you bevel. Rather than doing it yourself, go into the library and find the primitive models. Bring one into your model window and scale it. If the bevels are too broad, I would suggest not rescaling them, because that will reset the spline curve values and the sides of the object will bow out or in. Rather, leave the bevels as they are, select the sides and rescale them until you have the right proportions, then scale the whole thing up or down to the dimensions you want.

 

6. For small or distant parts, where you can get away without bevels, for a cylindrical object just lathe a tube with closed ends. In tools>modelling, set lathe to 4 or 6 sections; no need for any more. My method is to make a very broad "C" shape, hit ^ to square the corners, then lathe. This way the ends will be square but the cylinder will be round. If you wait until after you've lathed, hitting ^ will point all the corners and you'll have a tube with flat sides.

 

7. Another way to make tubes, or long objects with any cross-section, is to use the Extruder plugin. You create a small closed shape centered on the model window's X-Y origin. Name this shape. Then, off to one side, make a spline in the lengthwise shape of the object. (For a beam or wire this would just be a line.) Select that shape and right-click into the Extruder window; enter the small object's name in the prompt and extrude. You'll probably have to undo and change settings several times at first.