# Opening pc cad files



## kpttripp (Apr 12, 2002)

I have no experience with cad nor do I have the program. My husband works in housing and needs to look at drawings from cad,not manipulate them.
I have been told that vectorworks will simply open these  pc files. Is this correct and do I need a certain version or plugin? I have already located the program but have not installed it yet. Please info and reply.


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## Red Phoenix (Apr 12, 2002)

My fiancee is going for a masters in architecture, so we have the same problem when she needs to look at her AutoCAD files on my computer. My solution was to have the files exported as DXF, and then open them in QCAD, which I installed through Fink. This is probably not the optimal solution unless you already have Fink setup, since you will have to install quite a bit to support QCAD. However, that's the best that I've come up with so far.


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## Red Phoenix (Apr 12, 2002)

Rereading your post, I realize I'm an idiot. I don't know anything about VectorWorks, so I'm sorry to say that I can't help you.


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## JeffCGD (Apr 13, 2002)

We use Freehand at work for page layout, and I have noticed in it's use that it can import DXF files, which I assume it renders to a flat vector based image from the last saved viewport view that the DXF was exported from. I don't know what other vector apps support DXF import, but if your husband simply wants to view those files (and doesn't simply render them from the CAD software to an image), this might be a workable solution.


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