6 Dec 2022

Model Derivative DWG translation optimizations

Performance and industry compatibility are key factors for the Model Derivative extractors. With that in mind, as announced here, the DWG extractor is preparing to roll out a few important changes: moving to SmartPDF for 2D views and reducing number of properties extracted. Please refer to the original call for feedback for additional details. This article will review details about the upcoming changes: (1) different dbIds; (2) different output visual in Viewer; and (3) which properties are no longer extracted.

Existing translations will not be affected, only for newly translated models. For ACC projects, this change will rollout gradually. If any of those changes affect your workflow, or if you are unsure, please reach APS.Help@autodesk.com for additional feedback & support.

1. Different dbIds

When a model is translated, a sequential id is assigned to each element. Although not guaranteed, when the exact same model is translated twice, the dbIds remains the same. With this move to SmartPDF, an entity in the DWG will have different dbIds. If your workflow depends on those values, changes will be required. As an example, the following image shows the same element with different dbId, for current and next behavior.

dbId from current & next

2. Visualization of drawing boundaries

DWG files translated with the next extractor will have a white background indicanting the drawing area, and a gray background indicanting outbound area. The following images demonstrate this new behavior:

Viewer showing DWG with gray area

3. Eliminated properties

The most significant change is reducing the number of properties extracted for each element in the DWG model. During the first years of Forge (now Autodesk Platform Services) we learned that many properties are never used, consuming precious extractor resourcesresources, and causing excessive extraction time. Most non-semantical properties will no longer be extracted. As an example, the following tables shows what it looks like today (current) and what is expected to be (next) for typical LINE. 

Current
displayName displayValue displayCategory attributeName type units hidden precision
parent 8 __parent__ parent 11   1 0
viewable_in Model __viewable_in__ viewable_in 20   1 0
viewable_in Model-3D __viewable_in__ viewable_in 20   1 0
elementId 29B   elementId 20   1 0
type AcDbLine   type 20   1 0
Handle 29b General Handle 20   false 0
Name Line General Name 20   false 0
Color ByLayer General Color 20   false 0
Layer 0 General Layer 20   false 0
Linetype ByLayer General Linetype 20   false 0
Linetype scale 1 General Linetype scale 3   false 0
Plot style ByColor General Plot style 20   false 0
Lineweight ByLayer General Lineweight 20   false 0
Transparency ByLayer General Transparency 20   false 0
Thickness 0 General Thickness 3 mm false 0
Material ByLayer 3D Visualization Material 20   false 0
Length 338.0314756820202 Geometry Length 3 mm false 0
Angle 274.6012071318744 Geometry Angle 3 deg false 0

 

New
displayName displayValue displayCategory attributeName type units hidden precision
parent 4 __parent__ parent 11   1 0
viewable_in Model __viewable_in__ viewable_in 20   1 0
viewable_in Model __viewable_in__ viewable_in 20   1 0
elementId 29B   elementId 20   1 0
type AcDbLine   type 20   1 0
Handle 29b General Handle 20   false 0
Layer 0 General Layer 20   false 0
Name Line General Name 20   false 0
Linetype ByLayer General Linetype 20   false 0

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