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dxf (by Andrew McIntyre)
Solvespace offers an option to export 2d drawings to .dxf but the version of .dxf it uses appears to be a rare bird. I can't open it in Bricscad, Rhino or Draftit. I finally managed to open one of its .dxf files by downloading and installing Freecad which both opened the drawing perfectly and saved in in a .dxf version my other software can read.All rather convoluted. Is there any possibility that Solvespace's version of dxf can be updated to resolve this problem?!
Reference materials (by DIV)
Hello, Andrew McIntyre.
Sorry I cannot answer your question, but here is a helpful reference on the DXF file format specification ...
https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000446.shtml
...and a few comments from me.
There are clearly a few versions of the DXF file format. SolveSpace's GUI indicates that it is using a version based on AutoCAD 2007. Inspection of a file saved from SolveSpace shows that it saved as "ASCII" characters, rather than binary, thereby increasing its compatibility (and also file size).
Based on the problems you encountered, we could guess that either:
* the 2007 version has simply become out-of-date; or
* SolveSpace has a buggy/incomplete implementation; or
* Bricscad, Rhino and Draftit are all using idiosyncratic non-standard implementations of the format (seems unlikely).
I can successfully open a simple SolveSpace DXF file in IrfanView (for viewing only).
But I couldn't open it in InkScape, whose GUI says its DXF interface supports AutoCAD Release 13 [circa 1995] and newer. (It also says they have limited support for Blocks.)
I suggest that you could compare the two DXF files you mentioned: the original file created by SolveSpace, and the file saved out of FreeCAD. They should be viewable in a program like WordPad. It may be helpful to post both files to this forum, in case there are some specific features of your design that trigger/exacerbate the incompatibility.
When I open the DXF file that I saved out of SolveSpace, the first lines are
"999
dxfrw 0.6.3"
This makes me think that SolveSpace is utilising the libdxfrw
library to read DWG & read/write DXF files, claimed to support versions of the DWG format from r14 to v2015 (which they call "today", because development of libdxfrw apparently stopped in 2015).
https://sourceforge.net/projects/libdxfrw/
—DIV
Sorry I cannot answer your question, but here is a helpful reference on the DXF file format specification ...
https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000446.shtml
...and a few comments from me.
There are clearly a few versions of the DXF file format. SolveSpace's GUI indicates that it is using a version based on AutoCAD 2007. Inspection of a file saved from SolveSpace shows that it saved as "ASCII" characters, rather than binary, thereby increasing its compatibility (and also file size).
Based on the problems you encountered, we could guess that either:
* the 2007 version has simply become out-of-date; or
* SolveSpace has a buggy/incomplete implementation; or
* Bricscad, Rhino and Draftit are all using idiosyncratic non-standard implementations of the format (seems unlikely).
I can successfully open a simple SolveSpace DXF file in IrfanView (for viewing only).
But I couldn't open it in InkScape, whose GUI says its DXF interface supports AutoCAD Release 13 [circa 1995] and newer. (It also says they have limited support for Blocks.)
I suggest that you could compare the two DXF files you mentioned: the original file created by SolveSpace, and the file saved out of FreeCAD. They should be viewable in a program like WordPad. It may be helpful to post both files to this forum, in case there are some specific features of your design that trigger/exacerbate the incompatibility.
When I open the DXF file that I saved out of SolveSpace, the first lines are
"999
dxfrw 0.6.3"
This makes me think that SolveSpace is utilising the libdxfrw
library to read DWG & read/write DXF files, claimed to support versions of the DWG format from r14 to v2015 (which they call "today", because development of libdxfrw apparently stopped in 2015).
https://sourceforge.net/projects/libdxfrw/
—DIV
dxf (by Andrew McIntyre)
DIV - thanks for that.
I attach 3 files to clarify where I am at. One is a simple dimensioned sketch in .slvs format.
The second is the above sketch exported from Solvespace as a .dxf file (which my cad programs either mess up or don't open at all).This file is headed "999/dxfrw 0.6.3" so agrees with your findings.
The third file is the same Solvespace .dxf file after it has been opened and resaved in FreeCAD. It now opens perfectly in Bricscad - which means that the original isn't buggy - it's just in a form my other three programs can't cope with.
So I have a procedure that works but in order to tweak a Solvespace drawing in Bricscad I must first open and save it in FreeCAD!
Trawling back through this forum I see some earlier reference to dxf problems Oliver (Feb 2 2017) KevinK (Jan 1 2018) and Vishal Gonsalves (Jul 2 2018).
Perhaps at some point in the not too distant future it will be possible to endow Solvespace with a version or versions of .dxf that addresses these issues!
I attach 3 files to clarify where I am at. One is a simple dimensioned sketch in .slvs format.
The second is the above sketch exported from Solvespace as a .dxf file (which my cad programs either mess up or don't open at all).This file is headed "999/dxfrw 0.6.3" so agrees with your findings.
The third file is the same Solvespace .dxf file after it has been opened and resaved in FreeCAD. It now opens perfectly in Bricscad - which means that the original isn't buggy - it's just in a form my other three programs can't cope with.
So I have a procedure that works but in order to tweak a Solvespace drawing in Bricscad I must first open and save it in FreeCAD!
Trawling back through this forum I see some earlier reference to dxf problems Oliver (Feb 2 2017) KevinK (Jan 1 2018) and Vishal Gonsalves (Jul 2 2018).
Perhaps at some point in the not too distant future it will be possible to endow Solvespace with a version or versions of .dxf that addresses these issues!
Solvespace 2-d drawing export (by Norman Owsley)
It is hard to believe that Solvespace does not support the export of 2-d drawings in either .dwg or a vintage of AutoCAD other than 2007 that doesn't seem to be compatible with current AutoCAD. It seems like a missed opportunity.
(no subject) (by Paul)
We currently use libdxfrw for these formats. There was a lot or work done to use LibreDWG which should have better compatibility. That development has not been merged yet. I was thinking of doing that soon after version 3.1. I cant comment on whether that will be better or not :-)
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