Export to CAD "Closing" Contour Lines

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03-15-2013 08:03 AM
ToddLusk
New Contributor III
I am using the "Export to CAD" tool to export some of our contour lines.  The resulting DWG file contains "closed" polygons for contour lines from the feature class where the contours happened to "close".  Is there a way I can prevent that from happening?  In other words, if all my inputs are lines, I want the output DWG file to only have lines (and no polygons).

The gory details:
ArcGIS 10 - ArcInfo
Windows 7
Input:  shapefile (or v10 FGDB feature class, it didn't seem to matter)
Output Type:  DWG_R2000 (I also tried DWG_R2010 and got the same results).

I've attached a sample of the input contours and screen caps of the results.
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by Anonymous User
Not applicable
Original User: khodge

The actual output to AutoCAD is always polylines.  The AutoCAD user will only see unfilled polylines, never filled polygons.  ArcGIS will represent the closed polylines as polygons, but you can simply turn off the polygon layer to see that the polylines are shown as unfilled in the Lines layer.

Does that help?

Karen

I am using the "Export to CAD" tool to export some of our contour lines.  The resulting DWG file contains "closed" polygons for contour lines from the feature class where the contours happened to "close".  Is there a way I can prevent that from happening?  In other words, if all my inputs are lines, I want the output DWG file to only have lines (and no polygons).

The gory details:
ArcGIS 10 - ArcInfo
Windows 7
Input:  shapefile (or v10 FGDB feature class, it didn't seem to matter)
Output Type:  DWG_R2000 (I also tried DWG_R2010 and got the same results).

I've attached a sample of the input contours and screen caps of the results.

View solution in original post

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3 Replies
by Anonymous User
Not applicable
Original User: khodge

The actual output to AutoCAD is always polylines.  The AutoCAD user will only see unfilled polylines, never filled polygons.  ArcGIS will represent the closed polylines as polygons, but you can simply turn off the polygon layer to see that the polylines are shown as unfilled in the Lines layer.

Does that help?

Karen

I am using the "Export to CAD" tool to export some of our contour lines.  The resulting DWG file contains "closed" polygons for contour lines from the feature class where the contours happened to "close".  Is there a way I can prevent that from happening?  In other words, if all my inputs are lines, I want the output DWG file to only have lines (and no polygons).

The gory details:
ArcGIS 10 - ArcInfo
Windows 7
Input:  shapefile (or v10 FGDB feature class, it didn't seem to matter)
Output Type:  DWG_R2000 (I also tried DWG_R2010 and got the same results).

I've attached a sample of the input contours and screen caps of the results.
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ToddLusk
New Contributor III
The actual output to AutoCAD is always polylines.  The AutoCAD user will only see unfilled polylines, never filled polygons.  ArcGIS will represent the closed polylines as polygons, but you can simply turn off the polygon layer to see that the polylines are shown as unfilled in the Lines layer.

Does that help?

Karen


Yup, it does.  I can't replicate the problem anymore and I just one of our CAD guys open a file and he didn't have any polygons.  I must have been misguided.

Thanks!
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by Anonymous User
Not applicable
Original User: khodge

Glad I could help!

Yup, it does.  I can't replicate the problem anymore and I just one of our CAD guys open a file and he didn't have any polygons.  I must have been misguided.

Thanks!
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