[alorenzParticipant]

What software for linux would you recoomand for reading / editing dxf files ?

[ChrisKeymaster]

@alorenz, Blender and Inkscape are probably good ones to start with.

[alorenzParticipant]

Well I have tried both and they don’t seem to work. Inkscape loads, but just show blank pages, where I can select the different layers but nothing seems to be there. Installed blender but that seemed to do nothing. Waited about 15 minutes … just in case. Could you post the panels individually. From reading the forum that seems to be some of the problems..( maybe ) Thanks.

[alorenzParticipant]

After doing more research, and according to documentation inkscape will only export dxf, not read it. No idea about what blender does. However I found Qcad will work, it takes forever to load the data. I went to sleep at 2:00 and the data was there at 7:00. Will list other software that works as I come across it.

[jstultsParticipant]

I tried viewing the dxf from the zip file download in Inkscape. The CUT_SHEET_* layers show up, but no part shapes.

The file open dialog on Inkscape for ‘DXF Input’ says:

- AutoCAD Release 13 and newer.

- assume dxf drawing is in mm.

- assume svg drawing is in pixels, at 90 dpi.

- layers are preserved only in File–>Open, not Import.

- limited support for BLOCKS, use AutoCAD Explode Blocks instead, if needed

The Options are ‘Use automatic scaling to size A4′, ‘Or, use manual scale factor’. What should the scaling factor be? Is there a ‘view’ setting I should change to be able to see the shapes?

The character encoding default is ‘Latin 1′, should I choose ‘UTF 8′?

Here’s a screen-shot of what I get if I use a scaling factor of 1.0 and zoom the view: http://goo.gl/IIBpD

Thanks for any pointers on trying to visualize these drawings on linux.

[jstultsParticipant]

I tried to open the dxf file in a couple different programs.

QCAD became unresponsive after spinning for 20 min, and did not successfully open the file. PythonCAD crashed immediately on trying to open the file. OpenOffice Draw seems to open the file (no error messages), but the only thing that shows up is a box with no drawing in it.

Any other ideas for software to try in Linux? I’m running Fedora, so I’d prefer something packaged for that OS, but I’d install from source at this point. Thanks for any tips/pointers.

[TaylorKeymaster]

@jstults,

Sorry to hear about your difficulty! I just got back from a conference/demo, so my Linux box is still packed up. I’ll look into this by the end of the week, and try to repost some additional file types if that helps.

In the meantime, I had a peek at your screen grab. It looks like the program you’re using is only rendering circles and arcs. This sounds like a DXF import/export issue. I’ve just knocked out three simple DWGs for you to test. Try each and let me know if they render funny. They should all give you an inch-UOM design that looks like this.

[jstultsParticipant]

Taylor, thanks for the test files; I will try them out with the various programs. I got the dxf in the zip file to open in Qcad (I just let it run overnight, so I’m not sure how long it took); screenshot.

[TaylorKeymaster]

@jstults,

I’ve also noticed that DXFs really tax Inkscape and Pycam (like you said, taking forever to open). I thought it was an issue specific to each application, but perhaps it’s an OS thing? Anyhow, with your help perhaps we’ll track down the best file type and improve the way we export the design.

[jstultsParticipant]

None of the programs seem to recognize DWG formated files; is there a tool to convert them to DXF? I tried Inkscape, OpenOffice Draw, Qcad and Blender (which needs an external script of some sort).

[TaylorKeymaster]

Hmm – let’s try a new set. SVG should be easy, though I can’t export that directly out of Rhino. Try this batch and let me know what you get. I also added one extra curve for kicks.

[T4bParticipant]

These DXFs open flawlessly in qcad and the svg one in inkscape, don’t know what program I should try with “.AI”.

I can’t open files for cutting the DIYLILCNC parts either.

[T4bParticipant]

“I can’t open files for cutting the DIYLILCNC parts either.”

Not completely true, I never waited long enough, now I did for at least an hour and now it finished loading and I can look at the file. Qcad lags, though.

Well, better than nothing.

[at2martyParticipant]

I personally use Fedora 15 for my OS and use a program called DraftSight for viewing and editing DXF and DWG files.

[TaylorKeymaster]

Thanks for your patience everybody! We’re doing a talk in NYC next week, then there should be more time for file management at the end of the month.

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