Export DXF

DXF Export

The mnemonic DXF stands for Drawing Interchange Format. It is a vector graphics CAD (Computer Aided Design) data file format defined by Autodesk. It is text based, human readable and well suited for the exchange of 2d CAD drawings. DXF is the adopted file extension for this drawing type.

The format was introduced in 1982 and has evolved with about 5 major revisions. The EazyDraw export supports the most commonly supported revisions.

Scale and units are an important part of a CAD drawing. The drawing units and axis directions in use at the time of export become the units and axis direction for the DXF file. Many of the CAD packages will assume an origin at the lower left of the drawing, with the y axis in the up direction. This is not a common arrangement on a Mac, but an EazyDraw drawing can be easily configured for this convention. Use the Scale palette to make adjustments if necessary.

This functionality is accessed from the File main menu, the Export selection. Then the top left (on the lower panel) popup menu is used to select DXF.

The DXF version popup menu is used to select a template for the exported DXF drawing. They are presented in time of release order from prior to year 2000 up through 2013. It is generally advised to use the newest version possible. When exchanging with older systems an older format may be necessary. The oldest R12/LT2 is the simplest format and my be needed for rudimentary exchange, but this older format should be avoided especially if the drawing has text.

DXF supports layers. The Layers popup provides choices for which layers will be included in the Export.

After setting selections are made and destination folder is specified, click Save to execute the export.

The exported file is a text file. It may be viewed and even edited with a text editor. The format consists of line pairs, with the first line of each pair specifying a group code. The files can be large but they compress to a reasonable core size for transmission.