DOUBLECAD XT PRO
- BUY NOW
- FREE 30 Day Trial
- What's New in v2
- Product Overview
- Features Overview
- Architectural Tools
- - Walls & Compound Walls
- - Parametric Doors & Windows
- - Stairs, Rails, Slabs, & Roofs
- - Markers & Schedules
- - Styles Management
- - Terrain
- Hatch Pattern Creator
- Drafting Palette
- Parametric Constraints
- Parametric Parts Manager
- Design Director
- File Interop & Xrefs
- - SketchUp Workflow
- - AutoCAD Workflow
- Drawing Compare
Additional Links
- Advantages Over AutoCAD LT (.PDF)
- Full Feature List (.PDF)
- Paulthecad.co.uk - CAD Blog
- Community Forums
SKETCHUP WORKFLOW
DoubleCAD™ XT and XT PRO are able to open a Google™ SketchUp™ .SKP file directly. All geometry, colors (but not materials), layers and layer properties, groups, components, views, and even scenes with layer visibility are preserved. Components become blocks, and blocks work with the self-healing walls.
The biggest time savings comes from the quality of the geometry brought into DoubleCAD and the creation of viewports with specific layer visibility. Image if you have 40 views of the model to document, each with a specific selection of visible layers. Determining the correct views with the specific layer visibility options can be tedious and error prone when there are dozens, or even hundreds of layers.
If the views and layer visibility is set up in SketchUp scenes they will be generated automatically upon opening the SketchUp file in DoubleCAD. One limitation to the .SKP import is that circles, arcs, and curves are converted into polylines based on the number of segments the circle, or arc, was defined with in SketchUp. Using the Circle by Three Points, or Arc by Three Points commands, it is easy to create proper geometry over the polyline segmented geometry in order to perform proper dimensioning of radii, for example.
Additional productivity enhancements include the creation of elevations, floorplans, cross sections, and detail views with the drafting palette. Even use the .SKP file as an Xref, or use several in collaboration with a team.
DoubleCAD XT PRO saves files in several formats that SketchUp can open, including .DWG, .DXF, and .3ds. This means you can even begin your design in DoubleCAD XT PRO using the self-healing walls, the parametric stairs tool, setting up layers, layer colors, developing blocks, adding line work using Bezier curves, and various means of precision drawing.
If using .DWG, explode the walls and stairs before saving, then import the file into SketchUp. You will quickly, and precisely, launch your project. Better still, select everything in model and make it a block; then Save As COLLADA with the setup option to Save Blocks. This will be imported by SketchUp 7.1 and later with each architectural object being imported as a separate SketchUp component.
The images on this page were from a model called "Robie House - Frank Lloyd Wright" on the Google 3D Warehouse by "tintin et keke." The first image shows the model in a draft render mode, the bottom image is a floorplan created from a sectional view created with the drafting palette.