>
> I have been told that DXF files are over inflated ASCII files and can be
> reduced. Does anyone know if this is possible, and how?
>
yep they are ASCII, typically four lines per vertice (hence they get large
quickly)
Most DXF files from CAD systems carry all possible inbformation about
layers linestyles etc etc.. Most refernce material on DXF shows that a
DXF file can have much of the first sections (entities and blocks) absent,
also layers, colours etc for each feature....
the simplest DXF is discussed at www.autodesk.com/techpubs
In answer to a simple way to do this I do not know of one, I have used the
basic code examples at the above URL to generate a file that develops
minimum DXF code (for my own data formats).
The example they give also shows how to read only
essential information from a DXF. It may be possible to use this to strip
out only necessary lines from a DXF.
also - I limit myself to points, lines, polylines, circles and text -
these are simplest and the first 3 go 1:1 into ERV files.
As soon as you have fancy line types / CAD objects DXF grows very very
quickly.
As others have suggested, it is usually best to use the lowest
version of DXF that works - I think from memory that version 9 is o.k.
These tend to have less tendancy to go for fancy objects, ancillary
information etc THOUGH THEY MAY RESULT IN SOME DATA NOT BEING TRANSFERRED
IF YOUR SOURCE FILES USE THESE FANCY OBJECTS.
------
Recently I suggested to ERMapper that adoption of the open-DWG format (the
open source DWG binary that many share-whare CAD systems use (eg.
DesignCAD, TurboCAD, QuickCAD etc). It is essentially equivalent to
autocad 11/12 (depending on objects used), is binary and much less hassle
than DXF if you are coming from CAD systems (and even some GIS).
It would be nice to have a better CAD alternative than DXF and DGN
regards
Darren
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