FreeCAD and DXF Import

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Revision as of 21:57, 25 December 2014 by Renatorivo (talk | contribs) (Marked this version for translation)

Legal Notice

To be able to import DXF-Files you have to manually install several files. Why this? These libraries are published with another license than FreeCAD, so the developers of FreeCAD would not have them being bundled with the FreeCAD-Application.

How to install

To install Draft-dxf-importer:

  1. Go to Yorik's Github account and download these files (on the right side you can choose "download as ZIP").
  2. Put the files in your macro folder.
  • In Ubuntu, this is normally
/home/your_user_name/.FreeCAD 

The directory is hidden. You may need to unhide it to make it visible.

  • In Windows, your (standard) macro directory is
C:\Users\your_user_name\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD

If you are unsure of where your macro-directory is,

  1. open FreeCAD and go to "Edit > Preferences",
  2. select "General" in the left column and select category "Macro" on the top right corner of the preferences-window. There sould be a field named "Macro Path".

Tutorial: Dxf Importer Install

Setting Options

You can set several import options for DWG/DXF. Depending on your version you have to use a different method.

  • FreeCAD 0.14 and older
  1. Open FreeCAD.
  2. Switch to the Draft Workbench. (Otherwise you won't see the options)
  3. Go to "Edit > Preferences" and select "Draft" in the left column.
  4. Select "DXF / DWG-Options" in the top right corner of the preferences-window.
  • FreeCAD 0.15 and above
  1. Open FreeCAD.
  2. Switch to the Draft Workbench. (Otherwise you won't see the options)
  3. Go to "Edit > Preferences".
  4. Now you shoould see an icon labeled "Import-Export" in the left column. Select that.

Tips and Tricks

Sometimes DXF Files don't seem to import although they open up in 2D-DXF-CAD-Programs. In this case untick the option "join geometry" and try again. Often this solves the problem. But remember that maybe now you won't have coincident end-of-line-points. You will have to make them coincident yourself.

Good luck on importing.