You can view a DWG drawing that has been uploaded to a project in Beamcore without a CAD program. Handy for a customer or colleague who just wants a quick look. The viewer is deliberately simple: you can look, pan and zoom, nothing more. The Beamcore interface is in Dutch, so button and menu names are shown in Dutch with a translation.
Opening a DWG
- Open the project and go to Documenten (Documents).
- Under Bestanden (Files), click Bekijken (View) next to the drawing.
- Wait until the message Tekening laden (Loading drawing) disappears.
- Click Volledig scherm (Full screen) if you want more space.
Beamcore recognises a drawing by the extension .dwg. You always see the latest version of the file. You download an older version via Versies (Versions).
What you can do
- Schuiven (Pan): drag the drawing with your mouse or finger.
- Zoomen (Zoom): use the scroll wheel, or pinch with two fingers on a touchscreen.
- Passend (Fit): fits the whole drawing in view again.
The drawing is shown on a dark background with light lines. On screen there is a counter with the number of entities drawn, for example 120 van 125 entiteiten (120 of 125 entities). If that number is clearly lower than the total, the viewer cannot display everything in the drawing. In that case download the file to view it in full.
What is not possible
- Placing comments or markings. Annotating only works on PDF files.
- Measuring in the drawing.
- Switching layers on or off.
- Editing or saving the drawing.
If you want to exchange comments on a drawing with a customer or contractor, also upload a PDF of that drawing. You can place pins and shapes on it. See Annotating PDFs with pins, shapes and replies.
If the drawing does not load
Not every DWG can be displayed in the browser. The viewer does not give a list of supported DWG versions. If it fails, you see a message and the link Download het bestand (Download the file). Possible messages are:
- Deze DWG kon niet worden gelezen. Mogelijk een niet-ondersteunde versie of beschadigd bestand. (This DWG could not be read. Possibly an unsupported version or a damaged file.)
- De tekening bevat geen weer te geven geometrie. (The drawing contains no geometry to display.)
- De tekening kon niet worden weergegeven. (The drawing could not be displayed.)
- Kon het tekeningbestand niet ophalen. (Could not fetch the drawing file.)
In all those cases the file itself is still simply available. Download it with the link in the message or with the button Download in the file list and open it in your own CAD program.
Who can see the drawing
The viewer follows the same rules as the file list. You must belong to the project and be allowed to view files. If the drawing is in a folder from which your role is excluded, you cannot open it. See Restricting folder access by role.
Tips
- A DWG can be up to 1 GB in size when uploading. The drawing is converted in your browser, so a heavy drawing loads more slowly.
- Put the DWG and the accompanying PDF in the same folder, so that everyone finds the source file and the discussion version together.
- If you have lost your way after zooming, click Passend.