DraftSight integration
Dassault Systèmes DraftSight™ is a 2D computer-aided design (CAD) program. You can install DraftSight from the Surpac DVD or the Surpac installation file. If you have the Surpac licensing module, DraftSight Connector, you can then plot .dwf files directly to DraftSight rather than to the Plotting window.
You can set which plotting program to use in Default preferences > Plotting > Plotting window> Default plot editor. If you have installed DraftSight and are licensed to use it, the default plot editor is DraftSight rather than the Surpac Plotting window. When Default plot editor is set to DraftSight, and you instruct Surpac to open a .dwf file (for example, you right-click the .dwf file in the Navigator, or you use Autoplot to create a plot which opens automatically), the .dwf file opens in DraftSight rather than in the Surpac Plotting window.
Note: If DraftSight takes a long time to load, check which printers you have defined in Windows, and remove any that are unavailable, or which you do not need any more. When DraftSight starts up, it might attempt to establish communication with the unavailable printer, causing DraftSight to remain unavailable for half an hour or longer. Removing the unavailable printers fixes this problem.
Some of the tasks you can perform in DraftSight are as follows.
| Task | Method |
|---|---|
| Draw a circle | Choose Draw > Circle. |
| Draw a curved line | Choose Draw > Arc or Draw > Spline. |
| Draw a polyline or an irregular polygon, for example a building | Choose Draw > PolyLine. |
| Draw a text annotation | Choose Draw > Text > Note, and then choose Modify > Rotate if you want to rotate the text. |
| Add an image | Choose Insert > Reference image |
| Insert some markup, or other objects, into a plot | Choose Insert > Reference Drawing, with the Model tab, or a Sheet tab, active. |
| Print multiple sheets to one page | Make sure the data is displayed in one or more tabs (Model, Sheet, or Layout). Then use File > Export > PDF Export. Then in Adobe Reader X, use the Multiple option to print multiple plots on one page. |
| Hide annotation or markup | Choose Format > Layer in DraftSight to create a layer. Use Modify > Properties to show the properties for the selected object. Change the Layer property to move that object into the new layer. Hide the layer in the Layer Manager in DraftSight. |
For more information on how to use DraftSight, see the help available within DraftSight, or the DraftSight Getting Started Guide, which is available from www.solidworks.com. At the time of writing, the Getting Started Guide is available at this specific location.