DXF is much easier for me to use than PDF.

Originally Posted by Roto Rob

DXF is much easier for me to use than PDF.

Sure it is. If you have a CAD or drawing package installed that opens dxf files and actually interprets it correctly. If I'm looking to build from a plan and not modify it then any CAD file adds no value.

Originally Posted by Hutch

Opened fine in Autosketch 10. It had to flatten the 3d elements but that's totally normal as Autosketch is a 2D only program.

-hutch

Thanks Hutch. That's interesting - can you tell me what 3D elements are there in there, exactly? I was expecting this to be a completely flat 2D drawing.

I am also still surprised by the filesize - I would have expected a DXF file, being vector based, to be a lot smaller than the 4MB we have here. Maybe by a factor of 10. Is there a way to get the filesize smaller by ripping anything else out?

Originally Posted by bullseye000

I've worked with CAD and drawing programs for most of my adult life and this has always been a perpetual thorn in the side. Even though dxf was supposed to be a common file exchange type I always seem to encounter something that is wonky. To be honest unless you are posting the files in a CAD format with the intention of letting a user modify them, I think a pdf file is an excellent alternative. Print and go. I think the pdf relieves the user of neeeding the right app to open a file.

Yes, that's the plan. The default format for all plans on Outerzone is pdf. This will remain so. I expect that all the CAD files that get added on top of this service will only ever appear as optional further bonus versions of a pdf plan.

That way, if you want the CAD file and if we have it available, then you can have it. Conversely if you don't want CAD, you ignore it, and continue as usual with the pdf.

Originally Posted by WMD

Thanks Hutch. That's interesting - can you tell me what 3D elements are there in there, exactly? I was expecting this to be a completely flat 2D drawing.

I am also still surprised by the filesize - I would have expected a DXF file, being vector based, to be a lot smaller than the 4MB we have here. Maybe by a factor of 10. Is there a way to get the filesize smaller by ripping anything else out?

I thought the file size was pretty big too. There are two "lighting locations" that show up outside of the plan that look like they are there to shade a 3d object. I'm not sure specifically what in the plan is 3D but I just assumed that the Fuel tank, bell crank, and elevator horn were drawn in 3D and not just flat isometric drawings.

I'll try opening it up in DWG True View and see if it sheds any more light on the subject.

-hutch

*EDIT* - Tru View Shows a lighting object off to the left bottom of your plan sheet. If you got rid of that I bet your file size would go down substantially.

Thanks - in fact thanks to everyone.

I think this has established for me that using TurboCAD as a viewer is really the problem, and if I instead recommend DraftSight to all site users as a viewer, and if we all use 2000 Ascii DXF as the standard format, we should be in a pretty good position for the future.

Originally Posted by WMD

Thanks - in fact thanks to everyone.

I think this has established for me that using TurboCAD as a viewer is really the problem, and if I instead recommend DraftSight to all site users as a viewer, and if we all use 2000 Ascii DXF as the standard format, we should be in a pretty good position for the future.

As a "professional" in the drafting/design field i could get behind the draftsight recommendation, its what I have on my home computer, just as good as Autocad LT(damn near a clone of the older versions). Ive tried turbocad in the past and just couldn't get into it. Draftsight is free as well.