Monday, September 19, 2016

DXF File Format

DXF stands for Drawing Exchange format.
DXF file is a CAD data file format developed by Autodesk .
DXF used for CAD (computer-aided design) vector image files, such as AutoCAD documents.
DXF files are similar to .DWG files, but are more compatible with other programs since they are ASCII (text) based.
The DXF format was developed as a universal format so that AutoCAD documents could be opened more easily with other programs.

The overall organization of a DXF file is as follows:

HEADER Section :

It contains general information about the drawing.
It consists of an AutoCAD database version number and a number of system variables. Each parameter contains a variable name and its associated value.

CLASSES Section :

Holds the information for application-defined classes, whose instances appear in the BLOCKS, ENTITIES, and OBJECTS sections of the database.
A class definition is permanently fixed in class hierarchy.

TABLES Section :

APPID (application identification table)

BLOCK_RECORD (block reference table)

DIMSTYLE (dimension style table)

LAYER (layer table)

LTYPE (linetype table)

STYLE (text style table)

UCS (User Coordinate System table)

VIEW (view table)

VPORT (viewport configuration table)

BLOCKS Section :

Contains block definition and drawing entities that make up each block reference in the drawing.

ENTITIES Section :

Contains the graphical objects (entities) in the drawing, including block references (insert entities).

OBJECTS Section :

Contains the nongraphical objects in the drawing. All objects that are not entities or symbol table records or symbol tables are stored in this section.
Examples of entries in the OBJECTS section are dictionaries that contain mline styles and groups.

THUMBNAIL IMAGE Section :

DXF file used to exchange the cad file with the Non-CAD files.for example,i want to convert the auto cad files to PDF files then you will use this .DXF file.