CAD to Geodatabase tool corrupts .dxf

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05-02-2013 02:10 PM
SelitaAmmondt
New Contributor
Hi,

I am converting CAD data in .dxf format to a Geodatabase, using the 'CAD to Geodatabase' tool. It works fine on my end, however following the successful tool run, the CAD techs are subsequently unable to use the source .dxf, as it gives them the following error:

The following error was encountered while reading
in GEODATA starting at line 1100982:
DXF read error
Invalid or incomplete DXF input -- drawing discarded.

It seems that the esri software is writing something to the .dxf where AutoCAD (Civil 3d, 2013) reads it as corrupt. I'm using ArcGIS 10.1 SP1 for Desktop.

Has anyone else run into this problem and found a solution?

Thanks!
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3 Replies
KarenHodge
Esri Contributor
Intriguing!  I haven't heard of this problem before.  Any chance you can attach a sample DXF for me to debug with?  or even better, give tech support a call so we can formally log this?

The easiest workaround is to stop using DXF...can your CAD techs provide you with a DWG file instead?  They will need to save as 2012 format...2013 support is in the upcoming release.  I can't imagine why reading the DXF is corrupting the file, but I haven't reproduced this in my tests.

Hi,

I am converting CAD data in .dxf format to a Geodatabase, using the 'CAD to Geodatabase' tool. It works fine on my end, however following the successful tool run, the CAD techs are subsequently unable to use the source .dxf, as it gives them the following error:

The following error was encountered while reading
in GEODATA starting at line 1100982:
DXF read error
Invalid or incomplete DXF input -- drawing discarded.

It seems that the esri software is writing something to the .dxf where AutoCAD (Civil 3d, 2013) reads it as corrupt. I'm using ArcGIS 10.1 SP1 for Desktop.

Has anyone else run into this problem and found a solution?

Thanks!
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RobertBorchert
Frequent Contributor III
I have done it a number of times without issue.  However, I normally work with dwg

My preferred method now is to simply export all the cad features as shapefile and clean it up from there.

Note, you should normally work on a copy of the AutoCAD files.

Intriguing!  I haven't heard of this problem before.  Any chance you can attach a sample DXF for me to debug with?  or even better, give tech support a call so we can formally log this?

The easiest workaround is to stop using DXF...can your CAD techs provide you with a DWG file instead?  They will need to save as 2012 format...2013 support is in the upcoming release.  I can't imagine why reading the DXF is corrupting the file, but I haven't reproduced this in my tests.
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SelitaAmmondt
New Contributor
Thanks for the replies, we had the same issue with .dwg files yesterday. My workaround is to copy the CAD files to a local directory and work from there, to ensure they don't get corrupted for the CAD guys. It was just a very odd occurrence that I didn't have an answer for, and I will give tech support a call when I get a chance.

Thanks.
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