Loss of clarity between programs`

[JJFRamirez]

This is SlimJ from days of old, but I apparently am blind as a bat when it comes to typing in the Captcha b.s. In any case:

 

I'm working as a graphics designer for production of an O&M manual. A problem that I keep coming across is transferring a DWG to something I can work with in Photoshop CS5 and/or Illustrator CS4 (what I mainly use for vector drawings).

 

The issue is mainly about the loss of clarity when exporting a DWG to be a .tiff, .wmf, .dxf, or even just opening the .dwg itself in Illustrator. Originally, I was experimenting with .tiffs and .wmfs, which caused issues with arcs/circles and hatches within. But it is 100% on lineweights and most text box widths.

 

So I started tinkering with .dwf and .dwgs; Illustrator was fantastic with arcs/circles, and redoing hatches was simple enough; but relative lineweights seem to change. I'll set one PL to be .025 width, and another to be .01, which is quite noticeable in CAD, but when I open the dwg in Illustrator, they look essentially the same width. Lineweights are off, and text boxes also seem to get shifted in terms of dimensions and the text "lineweight".

 

The rest of the office (technical writers, my main Requestors) is out today in the field taking pictures for their systems, so I have the day to experiment some more, but I was wondering if any of y'all may have undertaken a similar task and what the best method used was.

 

-SlimJRamirez

-Justin