3D Connection Warning: Some Exported Objects Are an Extremely Far Distance from the Origin (Using the Send Layer Feature in the 3D Connection)
Issue
You saw the following warning message when using the Send Layer feature within the Land F/X 3D Connection from AutoCAD:
Some exported objects are an extremely far distance from the origin. This can be an issue in some 3D programs. Use the New UCS tool to resolve this. Would you like to see more information?
Cause
The origin – or 0,0 location in AutoCAD – is more than 10,000km (6,213 miles) from one of the lines that were exported with the Send Layer feature. This is an extremely far distance that is not normal for 3D coordination. (For reference, this distance could easily span entire continents.)
The origin should usually be linked to a geographic reference point much closer to the design site. Excessive distances are especially inappropriate for most 3D design software (SketchUp, Rhino, Revit) because they prevent these platforms from running the necessary calculations for complex 3D visualization on your computer. Faced with such distances, calculations will fail in almost all plugins on those platforms, causing the platform to slow down drastically trying to render the image.
In addition, SketchUp zooms to extents when importing linework. If you are experiencing this issue with distances, it might appear as if nothing has imported, even if the import has occurred successfully.
What creates these types of distances in your drawings?
You might have an excessive distance in your drawing for one of two common reasons:
Possible reason #1: Your entire design is excessively far from point 0,0. If you zoom to extents in AutoCAD, you can easily see your design in the zoom window. If you import the linework into SketchUp, however, it will look as if nothing imported because it's zoomed out so far. (SketchUp zoom extents will always include the origin, while AutoCAD won't.)
Possible reason #2: Your entire design is close to point 0,0, but some stray lines are orphaned far off in the distance. If you zoom to extents in AutoCAD, it will zoom far out and the linework might be almost invisible or appear as tiny dots at far corners of the screen. The same will happen in a 3D program such as SketchUp if you zoom to extents.
Solution
1. Determine where 0,0 is in your CAD drawing. First, open the Polyline command by typing PL in the Command line and pressing Enter.
Type 0,0 to specify the start point, then press Enter again. Take note of the length of the resulting polyline, as well as and where in your drawing it starts.
2. You can now address the distance issue, depending on whether 0,0 is far away or close:
• If 0,0 is far away:
Use our New UCS tool to create an appropriate new 0,0 location to use while exporting with our 3D Connection, while maintaining the original 0,0 location as the World UCS. If you want, you can use the GEOGRAPHICLOCATION tool to help geolocate this plan if needed for coordination.
• If 0,0 is close:
Follow our steps to use Zoom to Extents to locate outlying linework, delete it, and fix the extents of your drawing. Here's how to do that
3. Use the Send Layer feature again. If you've corrected the issue successfully, you won't see the warning message again.
Contact
- Land F/X
Our software tailors AutoCAD® to the needs of landscape architects, irrigation designers, and other professionals. We automate your most tedious tasks and ensure accuracy, giving you more time to design.