CAD/DWG Not Showing in ArcPro

[brettangel]

We have a developer sharing a CAD file and no layers are showing in GIS. I told the engineer ArcPro reads CAD files, showed several working, but they still believe it’s a GIS issue.

It was originally created in Civil 3D. It’s since been resaved in several different versions with the same result. I mentioned paper space versus model space, and they say it’s in model space.

I don't work in CAD and completely lost as to why this particular dwg shows no layers in GIS.

[DanPatterson]

open a new map without a basemap... add the cad layers to it

I suspect that the cad files don't have a defined coordinate system

Alternately, right-click on one of the cad layers and select "zoom to layer"

If they appear, then see my first point.

Also

CAD To Geodatabase (Conversion)—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

to get useful gis layers from the cad data

[brettangel]

Hi Dan, there are no layers to select. In the catalog view it shows the CAD.dwg file with layers, but when I drag it into a map it shows the dwg file with no layers. I tried importing to GDB and it creates an empty dataset.

[CodyPatterson]

Hey @brettangel 

Is this the first time something like this has happened with the CAD drawings?

Along with that, are there any other machines with Pro you'd be able to test with? I'd attempt with a colleagues computer to check. Finally, would it be possible for the developer you've worked with to resend the drawing, there's a chance that it could have gotten corrupted in transit, I'd have them open it back up to make sure everything's working out!

Cody

[brettangel]

Hi Cody, this is the first time. I don't know that I've ever had a DWG not show layers in ArcMap or ArcPro. Empty layers yes, but no layers is perplexing.

We've received other files from them and those worked. I've tried several machines with no luck, and they've created 5 different versions that did not work.

[SteveCole]

Autodesk tends to update its product software at a more aggressive rate compared with ESRI so sometimes it may be possible that the CAD file is saved in a newer Autodesk version than is supported inside of ESRI. By default, I tend to save CAD files back to and older Autodesk standard such as v2010 before I mess with it inside of ArcGIS. Ask your developer if they can save the CAD file back to an older Autodesk version and then try bringing it in again.

[brettangel]

Hi Steve, it was originally created using Civil 3D, then saved as 2010, 2013, and 2018. Still nothing.

I put in a call to Esri for help. 

[SteveCole]

That's too bad. I will say that has also happened to me before where, despite saving back versions, the resulting DWG will open in Pro without any features. In those situations, what I have done is gone back into Civil 3D and used the MAPEXPORT command which allows the CAD user to export the features in the CAD file as a shapefile or file GeoDatabase.

[ChristopherCounsell]

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/data/cad/supported-cad-formats-in-arcgis.htm#ESRI_SECT...

I think exporting it to 2018 is correct but you may also need to ensure that any functionality specific to a later release is downgraded correctly.

Ask the .dwg provider to send through as a shapefile.

If there is hatching (polygons) in the CAD file you may want to generate hatch boundaries in CAD so they get recognized as polygon features in Pro.

Also if they are using XREFs in their CAD drawing, they might not come into Pro correctly as it's referencing other drawings. They'll need to provide the source drawings or export it differently.

[brettangel]

Hi Christopher, thank you for the info. It was missing XREFs. After upgrading to ArcPro 3.4 the DWG displayed correctly.