User Guide

Chapter 2: Documents and Setup
Using Drawing Interchange format (DXF)
Drawing Interchange Format (DXF) is a format developed by Autodesk, Inc., for exchanging data with
AutoCAD and other drawing applications. DXF format provides platform-independent storage of 2D
and 3D technical drawings and supports multiple layers. Canvas supports DXF files containing ASCII
data, but does not support DXF files that contain data in binary format.
Opening DXF files
When opening or placing DXF files, the DWG & DXF Import dialog box opens. The DXF filter fits a DXF
file to a specified page format. As with, the DWG import, you should know the Source Unit, Paper
Format, and Drawing Scale (see "To open DWG files:" on page 138).
When opening a DXF file, Canvas makes the following conversions from DXF objects to Canvas
objects:
DXF objects Canvas objects
Blocks Groups
Traces, Solids, and Quadratic
polylines
Polygons
B-spline Polylines Bézier curve paths
ATTDEF and ATTRIB Text objects
Canvas doesn’t support 3D objects (3D lines and 3D Face objects in DXF files), so these objects are
not imported into Canvas.
Exporting DXF files
When you save a document in DXF format, Canvas converts the following Canvas objects and
attributes to DXF objects and attributes:
Canvas objects/attributes DXF objects/attributes
Paint object Not converted
Pen and fill patterns Solid pens are exported; fills are not exported
Arcs Polylines
Calligraphic pen strokes Fixed-width pen strokes
Continuous dashes Dashes start in each segment
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