topic Re: 3D Solid DXF in .NET Forum

3D Solid DXF

rnowak — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 17:39:06 GMT

Hi,

want to make 3DSolid in DXF from Code. Tried to read what Autocad does but it seems not readable. Need some tips or example how to make 3DSolid in DXF to make it read in Autocad. Want to be able to export solids from one application to Autocad.

Re: 3D Solid DXF

hgasty1001 — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 00:54:21 GMT

Hi,

ACIS 3DSolids information is encoded (by Autodesk in a proprietary way) in DXF, so it seems very difficult or maybe impossible to generate manually or by code a correct DXF list from scratch, Owen Wengerd has made some effort trying to decode the mess, but I'm not sure the state of his effort so far. Sure your software (what's the name?) has some export tools, check if AutoCAD or a vertical can read it.

Gaston Nunez

Re: 3D Solid DXF

rnowak — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 07:44:16 GMT

Thanks for Yours opinion. But this is really strange, because all other types like Lines, circles etc. are really easy to code by hand inside DXF. Want to Autodesk to answer this. Like You said the code inside DXF for 3DSolids it is non readable. Thought about using ACIS *.sat instead of DXF but it seems that there is no specs of their documentation and making such exports need buying licence from them? It is strange for me that 3DSolids are such big problem for AUTODESK to handle normal way... It could be some short code for vertices and their interaction or just some planar shape with extrusion details and after that some solid operations.

Re: 3D Solid DXF

artc2 — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 16:42:17 GMT

The others are correct, the data is encrypted and even if you unencrypt it, the data is still not in any format that we document.

Re: 3D Solid DXF

rnowak — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 17:04:18 GMT

Hi,

but please explain why it is so? It seems that You don't support 3D Solids in Yours file exchange formats. So what is the best documented way to import Solids into Autocad? ACIS *.sat I think that it is not free and there is no documentation available on the web, found sth but is not complete: https://www.google.pl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiLxeCg493RAhWC1ywKHe5pA0sQFggnMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpaulbourke.net%2Fdataformats%2Fsat%2Fsat.pdf&usg=AFQjCNFh6XoTh6PS8bbvcaI9mIoSCHZH-g&sig2=Vwn_aBkRV75Oceqfcpu4JQ&bvm=bv.145063293,d.bGg

Re: 3D Solid DXF

dgorsman — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 17:35:21 GMT

There is no "simple" method for encoding 3D solids as ASCII data as they can be anywhere from simple boxes and spheres to very, very complex. Just look at all the options available: IGES, STL, SAT, STP... and those are just the common neutral-language files, without getting into proprietary formats such as Rhino, Pro/E, or CATIA.

You might have better luck getting traction with the FBX format. It is well documented and in common use, especially among the game and visualization development community. You'll still probably end up having to purchase a pre-built module in order to work with the data though - building one from scratch based on the FBX standard is way too much work. Kind of like reverse engineering MSXML or System.XML for working with XML data.

Re: 3D Solid DXF

artc2 — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 00:11:19 GMT

The decisions about how to do solid data in dxf were made over 20 years ago and I don't remember the details. Since that time there has not been enough demand to justify the time and resources it would take to come up with a public format, implement it, and document it.

Re: 3D Solid DXF

kerry_w_brown — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 02:07:14 GMT

artc2 wrote:
The decisions about how to do solid data in dxf were made over 20 years ago and I don't remember the details. Since that time there has not been enough demand to justify the time and resources it would take to come up with a public format, implement it, and document it.

Art,

What would constitute "enough demand" ??

Regarding time and resources required:

Does Autodesk have internal design documents on the format .. and internal documentation on the format ??

Regards,

Re: 3D Solid DXF

artc2 — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:52:24 GMT

>>What would constitute "enough demand" ??
I don't know. I don't think anyone could answer that in a general way. For any given development cycle there has to be a prioritization of what is wanted to be done, and then the available resources are applied to that prioritzed list until they run out. So, what demand is required will depend on what other features are on the list for any given development cycle since that determines the prioritization.

>>Regarding time and resources required:
>>Does Autodesk have internal design documents on the format .. and internal
>>documentation on the format ??
I can't say.