DXF (drawing interchange format) has become a popular standard for transfer of CAD data between many micro-based CAD programs on different platforms. MiniCad+ 4.0v3 will read DXF 11 and write to DXF 10. MiniCad+ 4.0v3 will read all 2D and 3D entities in the DXF export file.
Choosing the desired file from the import dialog will begin the translation process. Because of the differences between programs, however, the process has some important guidelines that must be remembered when attempting file translation:
• Import the DXF file into a new or empty document. Remember that stationery or templates can open with the New command that are preformatted; sucessful DXF imports require a unformatted document (especially scale!)
• DXF files do not carry unit information; all coordinates appear as decimal numbers in DXF, regardless of the unit being used. MiniCad+ can get simple formatting information, but you must set the proper units in MiniCad+ before translating the file. This means that if, for example, you were drawing in meters in another CAD system, you must set MiniCad+ to meters before translating the file. Occasionally an alert may appear warning you that the drawing will not fit in the currently selected drawing units. Reducing the accuracy of the units by either reducing the number of decimal places or lowering the minimum stored unit in Custom units will allow the drawing to be read.
• DXF files do not carry scale information. This does not pose a big problem, however, since scale can be easily changed after the file has been read to reflect the desired scale. MiniCad+ will initially try to figure out a scale roughly based and the size of the page vs. the size of the drawing, but this will generally need to be adjusted to get the proper scale. Make sure to check the “All Layers” and “Scale Text” boxes in the scale dialog when changing the scale. Remember that MiniCad+ presumes the new file has no scale set, so it is adjusted accordingly on import. If the scale were set before import, any adjustment would be incorrect.
• DXF files do not carry page information. MiniCad+ attempts to center the imported DXF file on the current page, but changes in scale may cause the drawing to be improperly aligned with the page limits. See the section of the “Shift Drawing” menu command for information on how to align the drawing.
• Macintosh text often does not correlate to text on other platforms. When reading DXF files with text information, it will be translated to the currently selected font in MiniCad+. MiniCad+ preserves the height of the text and its insertion point, but due to differences in character widths and kerning, the width of the text block may vary.
Exporting DXF
DXF (drawing interchange format) has become a popular standard for transfer of CAD data between many micro-based CAD programs on different platforms. MiniCad+ 4 will export to DXF 10 and translate both the 2D portions and the 3D portions of the MiniCad+ file.
Because the platforms differ widely, there are some important considerations to make when exporting a file in DXF format:
• When choosing the name for a DXF file, knowing the operating system of the target program should guide your choice. MS-DOS systems, for example require that the name be less than nine characters in length and be appended with “.DXF” to be recognized.
• Some Macintosh conventions do not exist in DXF format, including fill patterns and line weights on some types of objects. Using white fills to cover objects will not work when using DXF translation, as the objects will appear transparent in the target system.
• Macintosh text often does not correlate to text on other platforms. When writing DXF files with text information, the height and insertion point are always preserved. Due to differences in fonts, however, text may appear different in the target system.
• Non-graphic attribute data can only be attached to symbols(BLOCKs) in DXF. Thus, when writing DXF files, records attached to objects other than symbols will not be translated.
