1.Do File menu > Open

In the Windows® 'File Open' interface,

2.Set the 'File of type' filter to DXF files (*.DXF)

3.Explore to find a DXF drawing file

4.Click the Open button

Do 1 to 4 again and again to open more DXF Files.

The DXF element in the Assembly-Tree:

•It is represented by the element

•You open many DXF drawings to add many DXF elements to the Assembly-Tree.

Top-Tip: rename the DXF element to the DXF drawing name.

In the image to the left, there are three DXF-Elements. Two DXF element have been renamed.

•DXF

•Bottle-1Litre

•Bottle-0.5Litre

To open the DXF element dialog-box

1.Double-click a DXF-element in the Assembly-Tree

- or - See 'How to edit an element'

DXF element dialog-box:

You can:

1.Click the Browse button, or the DXF File name box

2.Find and select a different DXF Drawing file

3.Click the Apply button to update the link to the DXF file.

DXF Units

To apply the correct scale to the drawing:

•Click the units of the drawing in the original DXF Drawing

(mm), (m), (cm), (inch).

Close the dialog:

1.Click the

CAD-Line : in the Graphic-Area

•CAD-Lines are Dark Green.

•There is one CAD-Line along the centre of each new Part, from its start-Point to its end-Point.

•To add new CAD-Lines to a Part, do Part-Editor: Geometry toolbar > Add CAD-Line

•The Origin (0,0) of a CAD-Lines is its start-Point (where you mouse-button-down).

•The +X-axis direction is from its start-Point to its end-Point.

•When you add new CAD-Lines to a Part , you must remember the start-Point.

CAD-Line : in the Assembly-Tree

•The CAD-Line is the only sketch-element to show in the Assembly-Tree.

•The CAD-Line is a child to a Part.

See and , which are children to Part3.

Edit a CAD-Line

1.Double-Click a CAD-Line in the Part-Editor or the Mechanism-Editor.

- or -

1.Click a DXF-element in the Assembly-Tree

2.Right-Click the DXF element in the Selection-Window

3.Click 'Edit'.. in the contextual-menu

MechDesigner opens the CAD-Line dialog-box.

1.Click the DXF tab in the dialog-box

2.Click the Select DXF element down-arrow

3.Select a DXF element and drawing from the list

When you select a DXF element, the DXF drawing shows immediately in the graphic-area.

Each DXF element name in the Select DXF Element drop-down list box has two parts:

•DXF element name -  the name of the DXF element in the Assembly-Tree

•DXF drawing name - the Cad-file-name of the DXF-Drawing

Default Alignment of the DXF-Drawing with the CAD-Line

The DXF drawing aligns its 0,0 and positive X-axis with the start-Point and positive X-axis direction of the CAD-Line.

If you cannot see the DXF Drawing, try to find it...

•Zoom-out to see if the DXF-Drawing is larger than the workspace.

•Zoom-in to see if the DXF-Drawing is very small

•Change the background color of the graphic-area.

Use Application Settings dialog > Graphics tab > Graphic colors | Background | Grey is frequently a good color.

If necessary use the:

•Edit Layers button to open the DXF Layers dialog-box - does not work in MD14.2+

•Clear Link button to remove the DXF File from the CAD-Line.

The default alignment may be as you intend. However, you can edit the alignment of the DXF drawing with the CAD-Line.

To re-align the DXF drawing:

1.Click the Align DXF to CAD-Line separator to expand

2.Click in the DXF Point at CAD-Line's Origin box

In the graphic-area:

3.Click a Point in the DXF drawing

When you select a Point in the DXF Drawing, the

•Point moves to the origin of the CAD-Line in the graphic-area

•Point's name shows in the box

In the graphic-area:

4.Click a Point in the DXF drawing that you want to align with the X-axis and CAD-Line. The

•Point moves to be on the X-axis of the CAD-Line

•Point's name shows in the box

If you want to align the DXF with different Points, do 2 to 4 again.

The DXF Entities - Lines, Arcs, Circles, Points - that show in the graphic-area are 'dumb'.

You can convert these DXF Entities to MechDesigner sketch-elements.

To Convert a DXF Entity to a sketch-element:

1.Click in the 'DXF Entity' box to make it active

2.Click a 'DXF Entity' (a DXF Line or DXF Arc) in the graphic-area

3.As options:

•Select a different 'Owner Part'. (However, usually, sketch-elements are on the same Part as the CAD-Line)

•Select the 'Enable-Loop Select' check-box, if you want MechDesigner to attempt to find a sketch-loop

•Select the 'Free or Locked Points' check-box, if you want to fix the Points to the Part.

•Optionally, edit the Merge Radius value to help make a sketch-loop with those DXF entities inside the radius

4.Click the Convert Entities button

Repeat 1 to 4 again, and again, to convert more DXF Entities to MechDesigner sketch-elements.

IMPORTANT:

Each time, you must click entry box for DXF entity box in the dialog to make active again, before you click a DXF Entity in the graphic-area.

Two tools in the Display Filters toolbar:

Display DXF Outlines in the graphic-area.

To see a DXF Outline, make sure this icon is 'Toggled IN'. That is, the light bulb is 'ON'

Note: A DXF Outline is a DXF Drawing for display only.

Display DXF Points in graphic-area.

To see DXF Points, make sure this icon is 'Toggled IN'. That is, the light bulb is 'ON'.

When you use the CAD-Line dialog, you may select DXF Points to re-align the DXF Drawing with the CAD-Line.

Sometimes you need to toggle this off, and back on, to see the DXF Points. This is a bug that we are trying to resolve.