AutoCAD File Import ...
 

I have a client who is trying to deliver me files to work on in Maya 2010 from their engineering dept. They're using AutoCAD 2009 and their CG
person says they can only deliver in 4 basic formats ... DWG (.dwg), DXF (.dxf), IGES (.igs) and STEP (.stp). Seems like there would be other formats available but I'm not familiar with AutoCAD so I don't know if they've explored all their options. I gave them a list of all Maya's "Import" file format options. Any instructions I can pass along to them would be greatly appreciated.

Go into the plugin manager, and there should be something that allows you to import dxf and dwg files. Otherwise, you can find many converters that will convert those files to .ai (illustrator) files that Maya can load (Version 7+)

there is dwf importer in maya. just drag and drop the cad file. u'll get a lot of emplysets and other unwanted nodes, which u can delete. like in 3D Max, they don't come in layers, but instead in a lot of confusing groups that doesn't make sense. so better take care of the groupings too.