Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!mips!apple!autodesk!bobert
From: bobert@Autodesk.COM (Robert Murphy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re: Generating DXF from the Mac
Keywords: DXF
Message-ID: <3212@autodesk.COM>
Date: 7 Mar 91 03:21:35 GMT
References: <4589@syma.sussex.ac.uk>
Organization: Autodesk, Inc., Sausalito, CA
Lines: 28

In article <4589@syma.sussex.ac.uk> paulr@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Paul T Russell) writes:
>I need to be able to drive a machine which accepts DXF data,
>from a Macintosh. I'm not sure what DXF is - I believe it's
>some sort of CAD interchange format used in the PC (spit!)
>world. So, what I need to know is: what is DXF and are there
>any applications or utilities (eg: plotter drivers ?) which
>would allow DXF to be generated directly from a Macintosh ?
>
>//Paul

DXF is a "data interchange format" for CAD and similar vector graphics data.
It differs from PICT, functionally, in that it supports 3-D information
and floating point coordinates.  It was originally defined for use with
AutoCAD on DOS machines, and has spread like a... well, I was going to
say disease, but that's unkind to my employer.  Anyway, it's supported by
a lot of CAD packages as an output format, and by a lot of other packages
(e.g. Mac Ventura Publisher and a lot of the Mac rendering programs) as an
input format.  I'm embarassed to say that I don't know what packages on
the Mac use it as an output format, other than AutoCAD.  Right now, Mac
AutoCAD runs $3,000 list, which may or may not be pricey depending on
what you're trying to do.

Bob Murphy
bobert@autodesk.com

Disclaimer?  Well, these are of course my remarks and don't represent
company policy, but I am one of the authors of the coming release of Mac
AutoCAD...