Resolved Uploading .DWG & .DXF files to 'Resources'?

middle.road

Granite Stoopid...
H-M Supporter Gold Member
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Apr 28, 2014
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What's the trick to uploading .DWG & .DXF files to the Resources area?
I drew up a clamp today and thought I would post it for use.
 
Dan,

I thought it would accept DWG. Maybe that was vBulletin. But in any case, most people aren't going to be able to open either DWG or DXF. Convert the file to a PDF and upload that.
 
Perhaps the Coders can crack that nut and allow the upload of .DWG or .DXF
You can upload a .DXF in a thread, so maybe it's just a matter of some tweaking.

With the free open-source 2D CAD packages that are available nowadays it's a shame to make do with .PDFs.

Plus AutoDesk has made their viewers available for free also. https://www.autodesk.com/products/dwg/viewers
Fusion360 was free to hobbists and businesses under 100K there for awhile, but I don't think that's the case any longer.
 
Sorry but no. One of the problems with DWG's is that some people can easily change them and if they make a mistake and then spread the file around to other sites, the original author may get the blame. So for that reason plus some others, I actively discourage easily editable files such as DWG, TIF, TXT, DOC, etc in Downloads.
 
Pardon me - but what exactly do you mean by "Sorry but no"? That statement makes no sense.
- .PDF files are no harder to change/edit than .DWG files. If you're capable of editing a .DWG file then you're more than capable of editing a .PDF.
Load up Adobe Illustrator or CoralDraw, or any other numerous open source program(s). and you can easily modify a .PDF without any difficultly.
- A .TIF is no different than a .JPG - they are both bitmap/raster files. They are the same type of file except that a .JPG is compressed.
It makes sense to restrict .TIF files which have been around since the early '90s, because they are so much larger than other newer versions of raster files, and can be very large is size. Using more modern types saves space on the server.

- Any electronic file is easily editable, it's a problem for the era that we are currently in.

You know, I started out thinking that I would upload a resource that would be of a benefit to the community here at HM.
I figured that perhaps there was a glitch in the latest upgrade and it would be of assistance to flag it.
 
First, you are thinking of uncompressed TIF files. Compressed they are usually within about 1% +/- of the PDF of the same data. JPG's are the worst possible choice for drawings and text. Because every time that you save one, you usually lose a little. Anyone willing to spend the money or "steal" or legally acquire the necessary software can edit a PDF file in the sense that you mean. But I have been in the business of scanning and reprinting vintage military technical manuals for nearly 20 years and doing it the hard way for more than 20 years before that. You cannot edit a PDF file in the sense that I mean. In order to do it, you must first convert it to a different suitable file type, which for scanned text and drawings (which covers about 98% of all of the manuals that we are concerned with here) will be B&W TIF. Then you can clean it up so that it looks new, crisp, clean, nothing but black on white, etc. and when you are finished, convert it back to a smaller PDF or print it as hard copy for actual use.
 
Dan,

I still have reservations but it's your risk so I reported a request to the Admins.
 
And BTW, if you do know of a program capable of turning this (as a .PDF. not as a .JPG)

Atlas M1-566L Orig.jpg


into this

Atlas M1-566L Clean.jpg


or of cleaning up this

Atlas M1-562 Orig.jpg


I would be more than glad to know about it.

The three files are actually uploaded as JPG's only because as PDF's they would show up as a small block that you would have to open with some other program in order to see.
 
The restriction turns out to be in the software that displays a Microsoft Explorer style Directory for finding the file(s) that you wish to upload. .DWG and .DXF aren't shown as choices. However, if you ZIP the DWG, it will upload. So at least for the time being, use that method if you want to upload a DWG.
 
Files should be converted and uploaded as PDFs.
 
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