[Plugin] FreeDXF Importer

GraceAE1 · 4 Nov 2016, 08:15

I was loving this plug-in , really useful thank you!

But...alas.. it stopped working on me this morning, it gets to the import screen and then doesn't do anything once I click import. It says at the bottom that it is 'parsing' but nothing more. I have uninstalled and reinstalled. I wonder if anyone has had the problem and if there is either something I am doing wrong, or if this is a common problem?

I am using Sketchup Make 2016. and AutoCAD LT 2017. But i have tried saving in previous dxf versions of AutoCAD.
Hoping you can help.

Jim · 4 Nov 2016, 09:35

@graceae1 said:

I was loving this plug-in , really useful thank you!

But...alas.. it stopped working on me this morning, it gets to the import screen and then doesn't do anything once I click import. It says at the bottom that it is 'parsing' but nothing more. I have uninstalled and reinstalled. I wonder if anyone has had the problem and if there is either something I am doing wrong, or if this is a common problem?

I am using Sketchup Make 2016. and AutoCAD LT 2017. But i have tried saving in previous dxf versions of AutoCAD.
Hoping you can help.

That's odd. Did it stop working for one particular file, or for all files?

Did you make any other changes to your setup?

Can you please try to import with the Ruby Console window open and see if any errors show up there?

GraceAE1 · 4 Nov 2016, 17:02

Not sure if this contains errors but this is the last few lines of my ruby console:

FreeDXF/SKUI/window.rb:269:in block in add_callback' SketchUp:1:in call'

It has stopped working for all files. And i did keep with the same settings. I did try it with a lower circle segment geometry setting just to see if that made a difference...but it didn't.

Jim · 4 Nov 2016, 17:40

Actually, it is the top lines that are most important. Sorry for not being clear.

GraceAE1 · 4 Nov 2016, 18:09

Ah yes sorry this makes more sense:
Error: #<Encoding::UndefinedConversionError: "\x81" to UTF-8 in conversion from Windows-1252 to UTF-8>

Jim · 4 Nov 2016, 20:45

@graceae1 said:

Ah yes sorry this makes more sense:
Error: #<Encoding::UndefinedConversionError: "\x81" to UTF-8 in conversion from Windows-1252 to UTF-8>

This error is because I am guessing all DXF files are encoded using Windows-1252 which is not always correct. However, I don't know of a way to guess the encoding of the files in order to read them correctly in Ruby. From what I have found it is not easy.

If you need a quick fix you can try re-encoding the file in a text editor such as Notepad++ (see just a few posts previous).

I am interested in having the file so I can check the HEADER section. The HEADER section of DXF files may have the correct encoding. Can you share it here or in a private message?

gwirth · 28 Nov 2016, 22:37

Is there any way to get old plugins, specifically 0.57? I have some training material that uses SketchUp 8.0 and OpenStudio to do some energy modeling and the training material uses the FreeDXF 0.57 to import some DXF files.

I would like to try using the existing training material without having to go through and find out what is different so that I can concentrate on the concepts and not the software.

I saw that Jim has a site on GitHub but I didn't see any old releases there. I've tried searching all over with Google but I can't find it anywhere.

Gus Wirth, M.Sc.S.E
Chief Engineer
Anchors Aweigh Energy, LLC

Jim · 29 Nov 2016, 12:27

@gwirth said:

Is there any way to get old plugins, specifically 0.57? I have some training material that

Hi Gus,

You will need to wait until this afternoon but I can send you a version that works in SketchUp 8.

Jim · 29 Nov 2016, 22:43

Gus - check your messages.

juju · 30 Nov 2016, 06:35

Jim, would your importer be written in C/C++ by any chance? If so, how much of a stretch would it be to get it to work in LO?

Jim · 30 Nov 2016, 08:24

@juju said:

Jim, would your importer be written in C/C++ by any chance? If so, how much of a stretch would it be to get it to work in LO?

Well, it would be a huge stretch as FreeDXF is a Ruby extension. I don't have plans to re-write it as a C/C++ extension.

gwirth · 2 Dec 2016, 23:55

I did some more digging around and finally found the FreeDFX-v0.57 plugin that I was looking for that works with my training materials. Is there somewhere I can upload it to so that others can find it as well?

Smooth Sailing,

Gus

Jim · 4 Dec 2016, 15:43

@gwirth said:

I did some more digging around and finally found the FreeDFX-v0.57 plugin that I was looking for that works with my training materials. Is there somewhere I can upload it to so that others can find it as well?

Smooth Sailing,

Gus

You can just attach it to a reply here on this topic.

gwirth · 5 Dec 2016, 21:07

Here is the FreeDXF-0.57 plugin for use with SketchUp 8.0 It is needed to go with the training materials for the California Energy Commission (CEC) CBECC-Com energy modeling software using the OpenStudio plugin for SketchUp.

Gus

For use with SketchUp 8.0

Aurust · 14 Sept 2017, 18:24

I'm having an issue getting this to work on a DXF file saved as 2010 version. I get this error in the Ruby console when I try to import:

Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method empty?' for nil:NilClass> C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/freedxf.rb:1014:in draw_mtext'
C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/freedxf.rb:390:in draw' C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/freedxf.rb:286:in block in import'
C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/freedxf.rb:271:in each' C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/freedxf.rb:271:in import'
C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/freedxf.rb:236:in do_import' C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/freedxf.rb:136:in block in do_options'
C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/SKUI/events.rb:82:in call' C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/SKUI/events.rb:82:in block in trigger_event'
C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/SKUI/events.rb:78:in each' C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/SKUI/events.rb:78:in trigger_event'
C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/SKUI/window.rb:357:in event_control_callback' C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/SKUI/window.rb:311:in callback_handler'
C:/Users/TEMP.AAP.000/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/jf-FreeDXF/SKUI/window.rb:269:in block in add_callback' SketchUp:1:in call'

Any ideas what is going on?

TIG · 15 Sept 2017, 09:39

Until Jim fixes it...
I suspect you have a piece of Mtext in the DXF which is flaky.
Currently the code checks if its 'sting' is empty before continuing, but it doesn't check if it exists !
Edit the file using Notepad++ [TextWrangler on MAC].
Find line 1014 and edit it as follows...
return if txt.empty?
should become...
return if txt.nil?; return if txt.empty?

There might be other instances of this in the code ?
You can search for the other three uses of .empty? and ensure that before each test the existence of the relevant reference with .nil? is invoked. One is already trapped with a return, the next one needs a similar line adding as a fix. The line reading next if l.empty? needs a preceding **next** if l.nil? as that is inside a 'block' rather than in a 'method' and so it should not have a return.

ronjohnson936 · 13 Jan 2018, 21:17

I tried to import a .dxf file saved from Inkscape as an Autocad DXF R14 format and nothing happens.

TomDAYarch · 25 Jan 2018, 13:17

When I install the plugin and reopen SkUp (2017), I have an error message appear, telling me:

Error Loading File C:/Users/Resource/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/freedxf/freedxf.rb
Error: #<SyntaxError: C:/Users/Resource/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/freedxf/freedxf.rb:658: syntax error, unexpected ':', expecting keyword_then or ',' or ';' or '\n'
when 1: v = [0 , -h]

C:/Users/Resource/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/freedxf/freedxf.rb:659: syntax error, unexpected keyword_when, expecting keyword_end
when 2: v = [-w/2.0, -h]

C:/Users/Resource/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/freedxf/freedxf.rb:660: syntax error, unexpected keyword_when, expecting keyword_end
when 3: v = [-w , -h]

C:/Users/Resource/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/freedxf/freedxf.rb:661: syntax error, unexpected keyword_when, expecting keyword_end
when 4: v = [0 , -h/2.0]

C:/Users/Resource/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/freedxf/freedxf.rb:662: syntax error, unexpected keyword_when, expecting keyword_end
when 5: v = [-w/2.0, -h/2.0]

C:/Users/Resource/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/freedxf/freedxf.rb:663: syntax error, unexpected keyword_when, expecting keyword_end
when 6: v = [-w , -h/2.0]

C:/Users/Resource/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/freedxf/freedxf.rb:664: syntax error, unexpected keyword_when, expecting keyword_end
when 7: v = [0 , 0]

C:/Users/Resource/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/freedxf/freedxf.rb:665: syntax error, unexpected keyword_when, expecting keyword_end
when 8: v = [-w/2.0, 0]

C:/Users/Resource/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/freedxf/freedxf.rb:666: syntax error, unexpected keyword_when, expecting keyword_end

TIG · 25 Jan 2018, 15:40

Jim decided to no longer support it, and it's no longer available from the PluginStore.

As it's an RB file you can edit it using a plain-text editor like Notepad++.
C:/Users/Resource/AppData/Roaming/SketchUp/SketchUp 2017/SketchUp/Plugins/freedxf/**freedxf.rb**
Do this only for yourself, because posting or distributing an altered version might infringe the author's copyright?

The allowable syntax in ' case' structures changed with newer Ruby versions...
Find the lines throwing the error, they seem to start around line #658 - e.g.
when 1**:** v = [0 , -h]
and replace the : (colon) with a ; (semicolon) so it becomes:
when 1**;** v = [0 , -h]

Repeat this editing for all of the other when lines which include the troublesome **:**

Save the changed RB file and restart SketchUp...
See if the error has be sidestepped...

If not. then report the next set of error-messages !

Einstein · 10 Jul 2018, 16:56

Hi!
My friend has a problem with this plugin. Installed properly, using SketchUp 17 on Win10. She can choose a file to import but when she clicks Import in the plugin window, nothing happens. We tried to export an AutoCAD file into a few kinds of DXF but none of them worked. What could it be?