How to translate AutoCAD drawings
Thread poster: Yunping Yang
Yunping Yang
Yunping Yang  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 01:25
English to Chinese
+ ...
Mar 28, 2016

Dear fellows,

Does anyone know how to translate AutoCAD drawings in dwg. format?
I usually do the job in the program AutoCAD, but it's time-consuming as I spent much time on copying source texts and pasting in an Excel file. It will get worse when I'm not skillful in operation of the software. Personally, a translator shall never wast time on anything that has nothing to do with translation. So...
Any translation tool or valuable working experience advised?

... See more
Dear fellows,

Does anyone know how to translate AutoCAD drawings in dwg. format?
I usually do the job in the program AutoCAD, but it's time-consuming as I spent much time on copying source texts and pasting in an Excel file. It will get worse when I'm not skillful in operation of the software. Personally, a translator shall never wast time on anything that has nothing to do with translation. So...
Any translation tool or valuable working experience advised?

Thank you in advance.
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Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 20:25
English to Russian
TranslateCAD Mar 28, 2016

I use the above referenced software. It is very close to freeware (only $29 for unlimited use).

[Edited at 2016-03-28 19:37 GMT]


 
Ben Senior
Ben Senior  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 18:25
German to English
There is a way Mar 28, 2016

I have written an AutoCAD VBA program that will extract all of the text items from the dwg and insert them into an Excel spreadsheet which can be translated in your CAT tool. When the translation is finished the program can re-import the translated terms into AutoCAD and replace the original text.

If you are familiar with using macros in AutoCAD this might help you.

Ben


 
Yunping Yang
Yunping Yang  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 01:25
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Any more information? Mar 29, 2016

Stepan Konev wrote:

I use the above referenced software. It is very close to freeware (only $29 for unlimited use).

[Edited at 2016-03-28 19:37 GMT]



Thank you Stepan. Could you please provide offical website of the tool?


 
Yunping Yang
Yunping Yang  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 01:25
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
That sounds great Mar 29, 2016

Ben Senior wrote:

I have written an AutoCAD VBA program that will extract all of the text items from the dwg and insert them into an Excel spreadsheet which can be translated in your CAT tool. When the translation is finished the program can re-import the translated terms into AutoCAD and replace the original text.

If you are familiar with using macros in AutoCAD this might help you.

Ben


Thank you Ben. Could you please give more information on the program?


 
Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 20:25
English to Russian
Website Mar 29, 2016

All information is here:

http://www.translationtospanish.com/cad/download.htm


 
Ben Senior
Ben Senior  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 18:25
German to English
More info ... Mar 29, 2016

Here's a link where you can read more about it and how to use it:

https://app.box.com/s/orzd05xsn033uqtas0hbpwj4atbq6pu5

Ben


 
Ben Senior
Ben Senior  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 18:25
German to English
Important differences Mar 29, 2016

There are some important differences between TranslateCAD and my software:

TranslateCAD can only be used on DXF files and NOT on DWG files. So it depends what drawing format you have whether you can use TranslateCAD or not. If you have AutoCAD installed on your machine you could save a DXF file in DWG format, use TranslateCAD and if necessary afterwards save the DWG file as DXF.

My software can only be used if you have AutoCAD installed and only if it is a full Version.
... See more
There are some important differences between TranslateCAD and my software:

TranslateCAD can only be used on DXF files and NOT on DWG files. So it depends what drawing format you have whether you can use TranslateCAD or not. If you have AutoCAD installed on your machine you could save a DXF file in DWG format, use TranslateCAD and if necessary afterwards save the DWG file as DXF.

My software can only be used if you have AutoCAD installed and only if it is a full Version. It will not work on AutoCAD LT.

Ben
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Jorge Payan
Jorge Payan  Identity Verified
Colombia
Local time: 12:25
Member (2002)
German to Spanish
+ ...
You should also try Transtools Mar 29, 2016

It is a complete suite of utilities for Microsoft Office, AutoCAD and Visio. It is shareware, so you pay if you find it useful.

http://www.translatortools.net/about.html

Th
... See more
It is a complete suite of utilities for Microsoft Office, AutoCAD and Visio. It is shareware, so you pay if you find it useful.

http://www.translatortools.net/about.html

There is even a professional (and paid) version: http://www.translatortools.net/register-pro.html

Saludos
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Ben Senior
Ben Senior  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 18:25
German to English
You still need AutoCAD Mar 29, 2016

I have not tried the software out but you still need to have a full version of AutoCAD installed on your computer to be able to use it. I think the vast majority of translators do not have AutoCAD and as it costs around €4000 depending where you are located in the world I doubt if it would be bought just for translating. It is a highly specialised bit of software requiring specialist knowledge to be able to use it properly, I say that as a Certified AutoCAD Professional. At least with Translat... See more
I have not tried the software out but you still need to have a full version of AutoCAD installed on your computer to be able to use it. I think the vast majority of translators do not have AutoCAD and as it costs around €4000 depending where you are located in the world I doubt if it would be bought just for translating. It is a highly specialised bit of software requiring specialist knowledge to be able to use it properly, I say that as a Certified AutoCAD Professional. At least with TranslateCAD you can deal with drawings from not just AutoCAD but almost every other CAD system in the world, as they can all export DXF files.

Ben

[Edited at 2016-03-30 07:42 GMT]
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Tanami
Tanami  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 20:25
English to Russian
+ ...
AutoCAD analog Mar 29, 2016

Ben Senior wrote:

I have not tried the software out but you still need to have a full version AutoCAD installed on your computer to be able to use it.

Ben


Why spend a fortune on AutoCAD when there is DraftSight on the market? For our purposes, the free version is sufficient. It is simple to use and can convert any dwg (created by any version of AutoCAD) to dxf and back perfectly.
http://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight-cad-software/

There is another product, NanoCAD, also completely free (yet a bit more sophisticated).
http://nanocad.com/
(you only need to sign up to be able to download it)

I use both, but prefer DraftSight.
Hope it helps.

Natalia


 
Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 20:25
English to Russian
RE: You still need AutoCAD Mar 30, 2016

Yes, you do. Until you get TranslateCAD.

With TranslateCAD, you do not need AutoCAD. Neither for installation, nor for work.
Just ask your client to send you DXF or convert it yourself using numerous converters.

But whatever... How much is your software and how can I acquire it?


 
Ben Senior
Ben Senior  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 18:25
German to English
Further limitations Mar 30, 2016

A big disadvantage of the DXF translating software, or any other software that works outside of AutoCAD, is that you do not have the opportunity to see the translated text in the drawing and therefore you don't know if the translated text covers any other objects in the drawing. Does the title block text exceed the text box size? That can only be done within AutoCAD.

@ Jorge
It's the translator's job to just translate the text, not to become a proficient CAD operator. Working
... See more
A big disadvantage of the DXF translating software, or any other software that works outside of AutoCAD, is that you do not have the opportunity to see the translated text in the drawing and therefore you don't know if the translated text covers any other objects in the drawing. Does the title block text exceed the text box size? That can only be done within AutoCAD.

@ Jorge
It's the translator's job to just translate the text, not to become a proficient CAD operator. Working directly in any CAD system in order to translate the text is a very bad way of going about it. You can never be sure if you have translated all of the text and some text strings are either difficult to access or are not visible on the screen, such as XData. Most CAD systems can be customised so that you can get at this "hidden" text, but should the translator now become a programmer? The customisation programming languages of the different CAD systems may have the same name but the syntax and APIs are very different. For example, both AutoCAD and Intellicad (ProgeCAD) use LISP and Microsoft's VBA programming, but the code written for one of them will not run on the other one. MicroStation also uses VBA but that will also not run in any other system. The only way to do the job properly is to use some software to extract the text to be translated and afterwards to reinsert it back into the drawing or file. Even better is to work with software in AutoCAD so that you can see how the translated text fits in the drawing.

@ Stepan
If you are interested in my software drop me a PM with your email address.

Ben
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xin liu
 


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How to translate AutoCAD drawings






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