Hello Steve, I've noticed that some cad or drawing programs destroy drawings created in Deltacad on opening them after they have been saved as dxf, notably Turbocad, which makes one of your beautiful azimuthal dials look like a pile of spaghetti! However, I have had very good success saving as dxf using a free drawing application called Autosketch (available for download on the web somewhere - try www.autosketch.com ). It uses AutoCad compatible files, which are used by a good number of commercial engravers in the UK; some plastic sign manufacturers here have cad engraving equiptment which can be used for brass or aluminium. If you can't get to deal with your engraver direct, send them a full size accurate print of the drawing as well as the file so you can have them check it is absolutely right before cutting. Autosketch was a most useful way to get hardcopies from earlier versions of Fer's Zonwvlak program, as it reads plt files. It's easy to use and you can still edit the drawing and select individual lines with dxf. File types supported: AutoCAD files (DWG and DXF); Drafix Port Files (POR); Hewlett Packard Graphics Language files (PLT and PRN); AutoCAD Drawing Web Format files (DWF); AutoSketch for Windows Release 2.0 and 2.1 files(SKD); Windows Metafiles (WMF)
___________________________________________________________ *Extract from Autosketch Help on file conversions* Copyright 1997 AutoDesk, Inc. AutoSketch imports and exports AutoCAD Drawing Interchange (DXF) files and exports AutoCAD's native drawing (DWG) files as Release 14 files. The DXF filter reads all versions through AutoCAD Release 14 and AutoCAD LT 97. Two DXF filters are provided when saving a file so you can create either Release 12/LT 2 or Release 14/LT 97 files. When you import DXF (or DWG) files, AutoSketch ignores objects it does not recognize (that is, objects that have no equivalent in AutoSketch). Entities ignored on import include 3D Solid, Body, feature control frames, OleFrame, Region, PolyFaceMesh, PolyMesh, Proxy, Viewport, and Shape. Similarly, external references, applications, elevation (z coordinates), extrusion direction, thickness, and XDATA are ignored on import. The following conversions occur when exporting to DXF or DWG: Dimensions are exploded into sub-entities so their visual integrity is preserved. Hatches are converted to anonymous symbols containing the individual line segments. Properties like pixel width are ignored. The following limitation should be observed when creating files in AutoSketch if you plan to export them to AutoCAD. Especially if you plan to bring the file back into AutoSketch. Limit names to alphanumeric characters without blanks for layers, fields, symbols, etc. Use only standard AutoCAD line types (styles) and hatch patterns. Do not use CAD vector fonts. Use only TrueType fonts included with AutoCAD equivalent SHX or TTF. Do not use pixel width for entities. Do not use fields assigned to entity types other than symbols. Copyright 1997 AutoDesk, Inc. _____________________________________________________________
