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Create an Electronic Drawing Set | 821
Design Web Format (DWF)
Files in Design Web Format (DWF) provide a compact and encapsulated rep-
resentation of drawing graphics that does not include the complete set of
underlying design data. Design Publisher generates DWF6 files that, because
they are compressed, can be opened and transmitted much faster than
AutoCAD drawing files. DWF files are created in a vector-based format
(except for inserted raster image content), ensuring that precision is main-
tained. DWF files are an ideal way to share AutoCAD drawings with others
who don’t have AutoCAD. Your original AutoCAD drawings are secure,
because, unlike DWG files, DWF files cannot be changed.
Drawing Set Descriptions (DSD) Files
The Drawing Set Descriptions (DSD) file contains collections of drawing path
names along with other information indexed by the drawing name, such as
lists of layouts within the drawings. A list of drawing sheets is saved as a DSD
file so that you can easily republish the same collection of sheets after the
drawings have been updated.
You can access Design Publisher by entering
PUBLISH on the command line,
and then using the procedures outlined to create either an electronic drawing
set or a paper drawing set. The
+PUBLISH command provides you with a quick
way to republish a Drawing Set Descriptions (DSD) file. The
-PUBLISH com-
mand provides you with a scriptable interface for Design Publisher.
Create an Electronic Drawing Set
You can assemble drawing sheets into a customized drawing set for publish-
ing to the Internet or an intranet. The electronic drawing set is saved as a
single multi-sheet DWF6 file that can be password protected. It can also be
viewed or plotted by anyone with the freely distributed external viewer,
Autodesk Express Viewer. You can send the published electronic drawing set
as an email attachment, share it using a project collaboration site such as
Buzzsaw, or you can post it to a website.
Design Publisher uses only the DWF6 ePlot.pc3 plotter configuration file.
You can use the default DWF6 ePlot.pc3 plotter driver as installed, or you can
modify configuration settings such as color depth, display resolution, file
compression, font handling, and other options. Once you modify the DWF6
ePlot.pc3 file, all future plotting and publishing of DWF files will be affected.
Warning! Before you make changes to the original DWF6 ePlot.pc3 file, make
sure you have backed up a copy in the event you wish to return to the default
settings.