Open

This is the way to open an existing RealCADD file. Clicking "Open..." will bring up a standard Finder window allowing you to navigate through you folder hierarchy to the RealCADD file that you want. Select it and click the "Open" button at the bottom of the window (or double-click the file). The RealCADD file will load.

Import

RealCADD also uses the "Open" function to import DXF and DWG files. The process is pretty straightforward.

Click Open... in the usual way and navigate to the location where your DXF or DWG file is stored. Select the file and click the "Open" button at the bottom of the window (or double-click the file). This will bring up the window as shown to the right.

Scale. Generally you open a DXF/DWG file at the scale you want it to be in RealCAD, bearing in mind the scale at which it was exported to DXF/DWG. To take a simple example: A drawing of a circle 100mm in diameter is drawn full size and exported to DXF. You import it to RealCADD at 1:10. The circle's actual size on your imported drawing will be 10mm diameter (¹⁄₁₀^th its original size). The scale of your imported drawing will be set to 1:10. If you select the circle, it will show in the Edit pallet at 100mm diameter. And if you dimension it, it will dimension to 100mm diameter. All this is exactly as it should be.

If you don't know the scale at which the original drawing was exported to DXF/DWG, then you have to experiment.

Units. Generally you need to import a DXF/DWG file using the same units as it was exported in. So if the drawing was exported in mm, you should select mm from the drop-down menu. As with the scale, if you don't know the units, you will need to experiment a bit.

Tip: RealCADD exports to DXF/DWG at the scale the drawing is drawn at, but it converts everything to metres, regardless of the units of the drawing. So when importing a DXF/DWG drawing that has been exported from RealCADD, always set you units to "meters". But set the scale to the scale of the original drawing. Your imported file will be converted back to the units of the original. For example, if you export a 48" diameter circle drawn in decimal inches at 1:12 scale, you will import it in meters at 1:12. The imported drawing will however be correct and will be in decimal inches at 1:12 scale.

Checkboxes Generally you can leave the checkboxes at their default values. Which will be as shown for DXF; with DWG, the "Load the XRef files" will also be checked.

Tip: Object Space (also called Model Space) and Paper Space are a bit confusing. At its simplest, Object Space is what you use for drawing and Paper Space is what you use for printing. Normally for import, use Object Space.

Tip: If all your objects are not converted upon import, try unchecking "Delete objects out of page"

Erase the menu: Does what it says – erases the current menu of recent files to open so you can start again from scratch.

Number of files… Allows you to specify how many files you would like to have in the "Open recent" menu. Enter the number (between 0 and 50) and hit OK.