risberg Posted June 21, 2011 Posted June 21, 2011 Hi! I work with land surveying, and I'm a complete newbie to CAD. I use AutoCAD LT 2010, and I am having trouble getting some coordinates from a file. I receieved a dwg file containing three adjoining lines and two ducts. Now I need to extract the coordinates (x,y) and some kind of point number/name so that I can use the data in a text file or in Excel. I have tried the ATTEXT command, but it doesn't work. I don't even know if the template file I created is correct, because I suspect the main problem lies in the fact that the points along the line have no attributes. So my questions are: how do I get the data I need? Do I have to assign attributes to the points before I can extract the coordinates? And what should the template file look like? Quote
Murph_map Posted June 21, 2011 Posted June 21, 2011 You need Civil 3D but until then try the command DATAEXTRACTION, don't know for sure if its in ACAD LT but it replaces the attext in ACAD with more power to it. Quote
eldon Posted June 21, 2011 Posted June 21, 2011 Can you not ID the endpoint of a line to get the coordinates and make up your own point number (if it is not written on the drawing) Quote
SLW210 Posted June 21, 2011 Posted June 21, 2011 You need Civil 3D but until then try the command DATAEXTRACTION, don't know for sure if its in ACAD LT but it replaces the attext in ACAD with more power to it. I think from a similar problem with an LT user, no DATAEXTRACTION. If I find that thread I'll post it. Quote
risberg Posted June 21, 2011 Author Posted June 21, 2011 From what I've found out, the DATAEXTRACTION command doesn't work in LT. Nor does the EATTEXT command, so I think I'm stuck with trying to figure out ATTEXT. Eldon: With the risk of sounding a bit bird-brained, I still have to ask; would you mind explaining how I would go about that ID thing...? Quote
SLW210 Posted June 21, 2011 Posted June 21, 2011 Does 2010LT have tables? Can the data from the tables be sent to Excel? Quote
Murph_map Posted June 21, 2011 Posted June 21, 2011 From what I've found out, the DATAEXTRACTION command doesn't work in LT. Nor does the EATTEXT command, so I think I'm stuck with trying to figure out ATTEXT. Eldon: With the risk of sounding a bit bird-brained, I still have to ask; would you mind explaining how I would go about that ID thing...? The ATTEXT is short for Attribute Extract, so it only works with blocks that have attributes. What you can do is create a block with attriburtes and have a field attribute to get the x-y of the insertion point, insert that block for each point you have then use attext. Or if its a one time thing d/l the demo of Civil3D, or Map3D or full autocad and use one of those to get the data out. Quote
eldon Posted June 21, 2011 Posted June 21, 2011 Eldon: With the risk of sounding a bit bird-brained, I still have to ask; would you mind explaining how I would go about that ID thing...? The ID is part of the Inquiry menu which I find under the Tools menu. It allows you to get the coordinate of a point printed on the Command Line. Using the OSNAP, it gets the coordinates of exact points. Quote
BIGAL Posted June 22, 2011 Posted June 22, 2011 Further to Eldon use "ID" then copy and paste from command line say straight into notepad remove the X = y= etc search replace, then load into excell with space as the delimeter then just add point number this is ok for a few point but lots would be painfull. If you create a block I would use a circle with 1 attribute, pt no, make the centre pt the insert point so it always reflect the co-ords correct unfortunately you have to remember the last point number. then attext Quote
risberg Posted June 23, 2011 Author Posted June 23, 2011 The ATTEXT is short for Attribute Extract, so it only works with blocks that have attributes. What you can do is create a block with attriburtes and have a field attribute to get the x-y of the insertion point, insert that block for each point you have then use attext. Or if its a one time thing d/l the demo of Civil3D, or Map3D or full autocad and use one of those to get the data out. Unfortunately, I'm not the admin of this computer, which means I cannot install ANYTHING. Perfect, I know... Quote
risberg Posted June 23, 2011 Author Posted June 23, 2011 Further to Eldon use "ID" then copy and paste from command line say straight into notepad remove the X = y= etc search replace, then load into excell with space as the delimeter then just add point number this is ok for a few point but lots would be painfull. If you create a block I would use a circle with 1 attribute, pt no, make the centre pt the insert point so it always reflect the co-ords correct unfortunately you have to remember the last point number. then attext But then I would have to go through that procedure for every point, right? If that's the case, it's not possible, because our lines often consist of thousands of points... :/ Quote
SLW210 Posted June 23, 2011 Posted June 23, 2011 I will have to agree with Murph_map, you need to use the proper tools. You wouldn't drive a thousand 16d nails with a small pair of pliers would you? Quote
eldon Posted June 23, 2011 Posted June 23, 2011 To get back to the original posting, it now seems that the scale of work was inadvertently omitted. ATTEXT will only work if you know what the block is called, and you know what the Prompts are. A template file looks like this, where the first part is the Prompt, then the N or C for Number or Character, the next three digits are the field width and the last three digits are the number of decimal places for the N. point-number N004000 x N012003 y N012003 z N009003 Have you got blocks at your coordinate points or are you going to have to insert them? If you haven't got blocks, you could always List a polyline, and you get a screenful (40+ points) of coordinates at a time, so you don't have to ID each point. Quote
risberg Posted June 23, 2011 Author Posted June 23, 2011 To get back to the original posting, it now seems that the scale of work was inadvertently omitted. ATTEXT will only work if you know what the block is called, and you know what the Prompts are. A template file looks like this, where the first part is the Prompt, then the N or C for Number or Character, the next three digits are the field width and the last three digits are the number of decimal places for the N. point-number N004000 x N012003 y N012003 z N009003 Have you got blocks at your coordinate points or are you going to have to insert them? If you haven't got blocks, you could always List a polyline, and you get a screenful (40+ points) of coordinates at a time, so you don't have to ID each point. Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It worked!! The problem (or one of them) was that I didn't have any blocks. To be honest, I haven't really figured out the whole block thing yet, but at least the problem is solved. Again, thank you so much for helping a girl in distress! Quote
eldon Posted June 24, 2011 Posted June 24, 2011 Again, thank you so much for helping a girl in distress! Oh dear me. I hoped that my reply was gender-neutral Quote
risberg Posted June 24, 2011 Author Posted June 24, 2011 Totally neutral. But I was still in distress. And, last time I checked, a girl. Quote
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