How do I open a .cad file type?

Gonna show my age here but most of you have figured out that I'm an old guy anyway. Way back in the good old days, especially after the fiasco that was release 13, a whole bunch of little software companies sprang up because they wanted to show the world that they could do it better than Autodesk for a whole lot less money. They all wanted Autodesk to release the dwg format so they could use it, and as I recall, dwg at the time was proprietary and the folks at Autodesk told them all to take a hike. At about the same time, "collaboration" was a big buzz word being passed around in the manufacturing world, whereby you shared your drawing with your vendor, he did his "added value" thing to it, and either passed it back to you or sent in on to the next link in the chain. The thought being "why draw it again if someone already did?" Well, that was less than successful for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that lots of folks had jumped off the Autodesk bandwagon and on to the less (or in some cases, more) expensive platforms. Thus DXF was born. Originally this was going to be a universal "drawing exchange format" that you could export, and anybody on any platform could then import and do thier thing.

Long story short, Autodesk didn't want to be left out of the bargain cad market, so here came "Quickcad". I had completely forgotten about it until this thread came along. Like most of the bargain cad products of the time, it faded away as people got over being mad about R13 or moved on to the other quality programs that offered support for CAM. DXF never worked out quite like everyone hoped. Oh you could import and export ok, but most of the time the scaling would be off, or the fonts wouldn't come across, or any one of a dozen other problems.

I would pull up short of calling someone "unprofessional" that's using this or any of the other platforms. If it does what they need, why spend the money for something else because it's trendy? On the other hand, if you are going to go out in the world and play with others, you need to find out what the others will need from you and prepare to provide it.

Ammobake, Did you ever find a program to open the .CAD file you received, as i am in the same dilemma at the moment. Any information you managed to gain from your experience with the .CAD file would be much appreciated,

Many Regards

Nathan.

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?79755-HELP-with-.cad-file-!

Check this link out too.

I was able to find a functioning copy of the old QuickCAD V7 application at this location.

https://mega.co.nz/#!yMhmHY4R!Vi2L0S625kAO8Py6lEolrjaZypMEjGwjTW_KwPRPiJM

Win7 x64 i was able to get it working by

1) unzip the downloaded file

2) copy the unzipped directory to my "Program Files" directory, not the X86 directory

3) Launch the QuickCAD.exe application in that directory

4) Open your file

5) Save as .dwg

I receive one registry error then the application opens. Solved my .cad file issues.

Pray tell, what kind of website is that? I'd hate to catch a bug.

Wish I knew. It is a completely foreign site to me. Not affiliated with it or endorsing it in any way. Simply passing on information about where I found a solution to my similar problem. I started kicking off scans as soon as the download was complete and I had run it a few times. The customer that provided the ancient files no longer had any software for them either. I had to get it from somewhere.

I also have the advantage of being able to completely re-image my PC on a moments notice which is a pain but offers me an added level of confidence should it things go wrong. I will certainly report back if I run into trouble.

Trouble. Yep, that's what I worry about. Cannot be too careful.

Think I'll wait. Thanks for the info though.

What is amazing is the fact that antiquated software, developed by Autodesk, can use a file format that is not supported by the most current software, also developed by Autodesk.

Beating a dead horse here - but Autodesk has most current software that won't read other Autodesk most current software file formats.

Yep, that's a CADRA file. I still have a working copy on my Old XP.

Looks like you are about five years too late to the party. I doubt the OP is still trying to open the file.

The contractor did come thru with saving to DWG. I was then able to open the file and include it's contents in our final set.

We were up against a deadline - hence my frustration at the time.

The Autodesk file type issue isn't going away anytime soon. But it makes sense when you consider one Autodesk program might have capabilities and data that Autocad does not. But for the most part, Autodesk has at least maintained some extent of cross-compatibility with the DWG format in all their own releases.

Regarding Jack's earlier post - DXF is still a file format I sometimes use. Particularly, with creating high-resolution logos.

I first create the outline of the logo as regular lines in a DWG (doesnt' work as well with polylines). I then save as a DXF and import it to Inkscape (which is free). From there, you can assign the color choices/fills and you can then export a high-resolution rasterized image that can be used for signs, clothing, etc... It's pretty cool so thought I would share.

But the only time before that I ever ran into DXF was with a plasma cutter at an old HVAC company I worked for in 2005. Autocad would let you export a 2d DXF file that the plasma cutter would then recognize and cut out your material from sheet metal. DXF is a simpler format but third party software can use that to their advantage like Inkscape did.

Cheers!

-ChriS

Cool that you got what you needed. Question though, wouldn't EPS or WMF be better than DXF for bringing into a vector application? I do this from time to time from AutoCAD to Adobe Illustrator and I usually use one of those formats, that is if native DWG doesn't work.

Edit: I stand corrected. I just tried an example of some exploded text from AutoCAD into Illustrator. I exported 3 files, a dxf, eps and wmf. The dxf file was night and day better than the other 2 vector files.

Learn something new every day

Yea, absolutely.

There are formats that you can import to inkscape and/or other programs like it that will retain the vectorized characteristics of the graphic.

In my case I had existing logos in CAD that I had been using on a titleblock and I was able to explode those and export to DXF for that purpose.

In Inkscape, from there you just do your color fills (since the edges are then detectable) and export to whatever format is needed.

With something like a plasma cutter, all you need is basic linework so a DXF is usually enough.

The design drawing was DWG format but with "CAD-DUCT" add on software that was high-dollar I guess back in 2005.

The add-on would automatically insert the ductwork in 3D while maintaining the gauging and sizing needed to stay in compliance with SMACNA guidelines while maintaining the airflow you're looking for in that zone.

When we needed to fabricate a segment of ductwork our sheet metal guys had a separate program that would compile each segment of ductwork on a list.

They would confirm the sizing and shape attributes of each segment and see a 3d preview. That would get exported as DXF directly to the plasma cutter.

But you could also just draw linework in CAD and export that as DXF too. I actually drew splines one time for sheet metal backings that had a wavy top (for a lady's dog kennel business).

-ChriS

CAD extension files are made by Pc-DIMS measuring program

Lol that's an interesting one I've never heard of.  Had to look that one up.

https://www.hexagonmi.com/products/software/pc-dmis/what-is-pc-dmis

-ChriS