Can Non–Land F/X Users Open or Edit Drawings Created With Land F/X? How CAD-Compatible is a DWG Created With Land F/X?
Updated on: May 17, 2022
Issue
An AutoCAD user who doesn’t have access to Land F/X needs to work in a drawing that includes smart objects originating from Land F/X, such as plants, Reference Notes (RefNotes), or irrigation equipment.
Solution
The most effective solution for users within your office: Additional licenses
While it’s possible for a non–Land F/X user to work in a Land F/X, it’s not a good idea. In fact, we have some better solutions.
All Land F/X licenses are network licenses. If you have one license, you can install Land F/X on multiple computers and have them all access the single license, but only one user would be able to access Land F/X at a time.
The best solution would be to share your Land F/X license around your office with all users who will need to edit plans that include smart Land F/X objects. If you need more than one user to use Land F/X at once, you would need to purchase more licenses – one for each additional Land F/X user who will be working at once. Note that Land F/X also helps enforce office style standards, so adding licenses would offer a twofold benefit.
If you choose to add licenses, you have a choice: Irrigation F/X, Planting F/X, and Detail F/X. See our Purchase page for more information and pricing.
We recommend Detail F/X for:
- Users who just need to access site annotation tools, RefNotes and details
- Multi-disciplinary firms that need to share Land F/X tools with engineers and architects in the office that need to edit landscape architects’ smart drawings
If you absolutely need non–Land F/X users to work in drawings created using our software – maybe on a one-off basis – keep the following considerations in mind:
Copying and pasting smart blocks or hatches
Non–Land F/X users shouldn't use the AutoCAD COPY command on our tree/shrub blocks or groundcovers/Shrub Areas. Instead, they should use the following keyboard commands:- Copying blocks or hatches: CTRL + C (Windows keyboard) or Command + C (Mac keyboard)
- Pasting blocks or hatches: CTRL + V (Windows keyboard) or Command + V (Mac keyboard)
Why is it necessary to use the keyboard commands instead of COPY?
Each block/hatch receives a data ID in AutoCAD or F/X CAD. The COPY command will make a copy with the identical ID. The keyboard commands listed above will create a copy with a unique ID. To verify labels properly, our software requires a unique ID for each smart block or hatch. For further information, see our Copying Plants & Other Blocks: How To (and How Not To) article.
Labeling
Non–Land F/X users should not label smart objects (such as plants or RefNotes) in a drawing created using our software. They should also avoid copying your existing smart labels and editing them manually. As soon as you re-open your drawing, the labels will update with your Land F/X data and won't be accurate.
Schedules
Non–Land F/ X users also won't be able to edit the information in an existing schedule (such as a plant, RefNote, or irrigation schedule). Land F/X won't read the changes into your project data and plant data, and will overwrite it if you run the schedule again.
Another possibility: Downsaving to DXF
Land F/X uses Extended Entity Data to add information to AutoCAD blocks. This is a technology Autodesk implemented with version 1.0 in 1981, meaning you could downsave a Land F/X file to a DXF file and it would still retain all Land F/X data. To any other CAD user in the world (who may or may not have Land F/X), a DWG with smart objects in it is just a plain drawing with blocks.