CAD to Geodatabase in ArcToolbox, says success but not true

Question

Hello all,
I am having a little trouble with using the CAD to Geodatabase tool in ArcToolbox.

First, no this is not a simple problem of not having the CAD drawing georeferenced.  I have successfully done that and brought the dwg file into an ArcMap document.

What I am trying to do is create a geodatabase of georeferenced CAD drawings.  From ArcCatalog (the .dwg file is not open in either ACAD or ArcMap, just in case) I am opening the ArcToolbox, under Conversion tools I am choosing "CAD to Geodatabase".  I then navigate to my input CAD file, specify the Output Geodatabase and Spatial Reference etc. then "OK"

Then I actually get a success message!  No errors in the results message.  But when I go to look at the geodatabase, there is nothing there!  I have attempted this multiple times.  Same results, the teasing "Succeeded at......" message, but nothing in the Geodatabase....

Any ideas?

SheldonBkr · Answer

Have finally reached a solution or success with this problem,  possibly with a little input from someone on a GIS listerv that I am on.
One thing to remember, always refresh in ArcCatalog, although that wasn't the source of my problem. 
Will cut and paste a suggestion and my later actions in case somebody comes across a similar problem.

"There are a couple of things I have found when converting CAD to GIS. First, try turning off background processing under Geoprocessing options. It has been my experience that the CAD Conversion tools do not like background processing."

I did this, and I still had the same problem for several attempts afterwards, but kept this dis-enabled, and finally met with success. So who knows?

One less efficient method:  I went directly to the .dwg file and did export to a geodatabase, and that actually worked, but did not create a feature dataset, just several feature classes, which I then had to re-import into a feature dataset.

After I did that, I re-tried the CAD to Geodatabase tool, and it finally worked. And worked again...... One factor could have been a complete shutdown overnight, but not sure about that as the real solution.  Only the GIS gods know.

IanMurray · Answer

Could you post a screenshot of the CAD to Geodatabase Tool with your inputs before you run it?  Also, can you post a view of the geodatabase in either the catalog or ArcCatalog after the tool finishes?

SheldonBkr · Answer

What does the CAD file look like in ArcMap? Are there any objects that are recognized by ArcMap?

The CAD file displays just fine as a ".dwg Group Layer"  It is all georeferenced, orientated and to scale.  I can open an attribute table for the points polylines and polygons.   The main problem is getting the data into the geodatabase.  Using the "CAD to geodatabase" ttool gives me a false positive.

Sheldon