DXF Export

По-русски

Furniture and exhibitions engineers are often faced with the requirement to provide all parts as flat outlines in a dxf file format. Although this technology has long been outdated, modern CAM programs have learned to control CNC machines directly from solid parts and directly from dwg. But people are conservative and dxf files are still needed. To fully automate this boring work, A>V>C> DXF-export program is intended. You just need to draw a 3d model of furniture from solid parts (solids). The program will do the rest:

• • Find the same parts regardless of their location in space.

  • Call Lay-program to layout the details of the main plane in a flat plane XY.

  • Writes, if necessary, the title to every detail with a description of the material and quantity.

  • Calls up the NC-prepare program for recognition of machining technologies and contour preparation. Contours for milling, drilling, sawing are recognized. Through and blind machining are recognized separately; tilt, rotate, lateral processing.

  • Makes flat contours of the part, pockets, dadoes, holes, sawing lines, edge lines of 5-axis machining surfaces.

  • Assign layers to contours that are understood by popular CAM programs: BiesseWorks, BSolid, WoodWop, Thermwood

  • In the layer names you can write down the milling depth, Z-position, drill diameters, any properties of detail and any text, for example, tool number.

  • Replaces drilling contours with blocks as required, for example WoodWop

  • Creates, if necessary, pseudo-3D contours from rotated lines and circles using the "Thickness" 3D property.

  • Creates, if necessary, a rectangle in the size of the workpiece.

  • Multiplicates the contours by the number of items in the batch.

  • Saves contours to DXF files

  • You can also save the original 3D solids themselves (rather than 2D contours) in DXF files - choose what your CAM program needs.

  • You can configure to save all the details in a single DXF file, or you can save all the details separately.

  • You can create subdirectories for the layers of the original solids, materials, colors, thicknesses.

  • Already configured 9 CNC-styles for different naming layers, different modes and machines.

    • Milling

    • Milling Through/Inside

    • Milling Inlay

    • Milling Biesse BSolid CNI

    • Milling BiesseWorks TCH

    • Milling Homag WoodWOP (German or English layer names)

    • Milling Thermwood

    • Laser

  • You can save in DXF all the dimensions and leaders that the Dimensions for detailing command can do, including creating leaders with edge bandings.

  • You can customize all options in the dialog box and in the AutoCAD settings window.

The program uses all the features of the Lay command: numbering parts, setting up headings, multiplying quantities, sorting parts, etc. The program can pull out all parts (solids) from assembly blocks.

All the possibilities of optimization of contours, rounding corners are also available, as in the Outside Loop program (OSL)

The program uses the capabilities of the NC-prepare to create the contours of the cutter exits out the part, select the cutter entry point, and so on.

The program can interact with the A>V>C> Properties Palette. The name of the part and other properties of the solid can be used in the title, in the name of the subdirectory and the dxf-file name.

The program works only with 3d-solids, does not work with meshes, surfaces. 

Just like the rest of the AutoCAD commands, A>V>C> program in most cases will not be able to work with solids imported from other programs.

The program does not know how to directly control CNC machines, does not create control programs in G-codes, does not assign machining modes and cutting tools. Only contours in DXF. You will have to use the CAM program installed on your machine. However, A>V>C> program will save you from acquiring a separate full-fledged CAM.

The program is suitable for 2D and 2.5D milling, sawing, drilling or laser cutting. Contours for 5-axis machining unfortunately are not transferred via DXF to any CAM program I know, but A>V>C> program can save the contours of the top and bottom of curved ends in DXF and you can build a 5-axis machining surface from them. Complex 3D surfaces are not processed.

Read about downloading and installing the program here.

To run the plugin, you will have to register account and top up your account balance or receiving bonuses. 

Then you can activate one of the licenses:

• • Annual license - 20 EUR.

  • Unlimited license - 100 EUR. Free updates for 1 year.

  • The trial period is 20 days.

The DXFExport command is also included in the set A>V>C> Pro.

Operating procedure

Create a 3d model of the product. Use only 3d-solids. All parts must have a basic flat surface. You can arrange the parts into layers with the names of materials or assign materials as for rendering. For placement fasteners convenient to use the program Fixture. For cutting dadoes and pockets - use program Dado Joint. To prepare the holes use the program Drill.

Call the DXFExport command. The program will ask you to select the necessary solid-details. You can choose the details in advance. You can inadvertently select texts and 2d objects, the program will not swear, but simply ignore them. In the settings you can specify the layers, the details of which will be ignored.

In the selection request, you will see options: 

• • LAYstyle - quickly switch all LAY-style by style number.

  • CNCstyle - quickly switch all CNC-style by number.

  • DimDetstyle - quickly switch all Dimensions for detailing command-style by number.

  • DXFstyle - quickly switch all DXF export settings by style number. The settings of the СNC commands and Lay-style remain the same.

  • TUNE - open a dialog with all settings.

After selecting objects, the program will do everything itself. Perhaps you will have time to notice how the program puts solids at the origin, makes the outlines. In the event of malfunctions, these temporary objects may be saved in the drawing.

You can abort the command using the Esc key.

Depending on the settings, the program will create the necessary folders and dxf-files and display statistics on the command line.

By default, after the export operation, the resulting dxf file will be opened. You can disable this feature. If you receive several dxf files the program will open the dialog with a list of all files and buttons for opening the selected file, all files and opening a folder in the explorer.

Customization

You can bring up the settings dialog by selecting the TUNE option. In addition, the AVC_Pro plugin connects additional settings pages to the AutoCAD settings dialog (Options command). See the CNC tab. In addition, the AVC_Pro plugin has a separate AvcOptions settings comman. The separate AVC_DxfExport plugin has its own DXFOptions configuration command.

The DXF-export operation is affected by the settings of the Lay command, the CNC Prepare commands, the Common Options of the A>V>C> commands and the own DXF-Export settings.

DXF-Export settings

There are many settings and for your convenience, you can use ready-made sets of settings, which I call DXF-Style. You can create up to 9 styles. You can switch the current style in the header of the settings window. And you can call the DXFStyle option and select the style by its number directly during the operation of the command. All options in dialog window have tooltips.

First you need to configure the LAY command and settings of NC Prepare commands. The work of the DXF-Export command largely depends on them. Lay-style and CNC-styles work regardless of the DXF-export style.

• • Style Name - The name for this style. Not used in the program. Only for convenience of choice.

• Folder - The name of the folder for saving dxf files. If you leave the field blank, the dwg-drawing folder will be used. You can use substitutions in the folder name.

• File names - String for you own file name mask. You can use substitutions of detail, drawing and time. Characters prohibited in file names will be automatically replaced with underscores _. Enter an empty string to revert to the default filename mask. The program chooses a default mask according to the setting of the Lay command. If you poorly configure the mask and the file names of different parts match, the program will automatically add the part number to the end of the file name. Use the %row% (virtual part table row number) substitution so that the names never match. As soon as you place the cursor in this field, a substitution button will appear immediately. It calls the substitution selection dialog. The result will be inserted at the current cursor position in the field and can replace the selected text fragment.

• DXF version - The version of the dxf file.

• Make 2D contours of parts for CNC - Make flat contours suitable for CNC machining. Use the NC-Prepare style to customize the outline and name the layers. If the option is disabled, the program will save 3D solids in a DXF file. This is also useful for exporting each part in a separate file. In any case, all the details will be laid out and rotated in accordance with the settings of the LAY program.

• Create Dimensions - call the Dimensions for detailing command

• Replace old files - If the dxf file already exists, it must be replaced with a new one. Otherwise, the program will add the version number to the end of the file name.

• Multi Detail - Write the contours of all parts of the group into one dxf file. If grouping is disabled in the Lay-style, you will get 1 dxf file for all parts. If this option is enabled, but the "Merge the same data" is disabled in the Lay-style, the program will make copies of the contours in accordance with the multiplier (the number of assemblies in the batch). This way you get as many contours as you need to make parts.

• Group Folders - Create subdirectories for Lay-groups. Grouping is configured in the current Lay-style. Typically, parts are grouped by assembly (block), material / color, or layer. If you want to create nested subfolders, separate the substitutions in the grouping string with "\". For example grouping "%block%\%material%" will create a folder for each assembly, and inside these folders there will be subfolders of materials. If the creation of group folders is not enabled, but "Multi details" are enabled, then a separate dxf-file will be created for each group.

• Dwg Folder - Create a sub-folder named dwg-drawing

• Explode multi-leaders and multi-line texts - Separate multi-leader (MLeader) and multi-line texts (MText) into separate lines and lines. This option will help you export dxf to AlphaCAM.

• Prohibit spaces - Replace all spaces in DXF file name with _ character. The option can be useful for exporting to CAMs that don't like files with spaces in their names. For example, for Homag WoodWOP.

Lay settings

For the DXF-export program it is important to properly configure the layout of the parts. You can create a separate Lay-style for use with DXF-Export. Usually there should be no texts in dxf-files - turn off the title in the Lay settings. To group parts into dxf-files or folders, Lay-grouping is used. For example, if you need to create catalogs for each material, then insert the %material% substitution into the grouping field, and in the DXF settings - the "Group folders" checkbox. Use multiple substitutions separated by backslash \ to create nested group subdirectories.

СNC Prepare settings

All NC-Prepare command settings affect the DXF-Export operation, except for the Annotations section. First, select the appropriate CNC-style available. Maybe after that you will not need to configure anything.

About substitutions allowed in the names of the layers, you can read here.