In the Assembly-Tree:

Top-Tip: rename the DXF-element to the name of the DXF-Drawing.

In the image to the left, there are three DXF-Elements:

•DXF-Element : DXF

•DXF-Element : Bottle-1Litre

•DXF-Element : Bottle-0.5Litre

To open the DXF-Element dialog-box:

DXF-Element dialog-box:

The Drawing file-name and the DXF-Drawing folder-path are in the boxes below.

If you want to change the DXF-Drawing: that is referenced by the DXF-Element:

1.Click the button

2.Find and select a different DXF-Drawing.

3.Click the Apply button to update the link to the new DXF-Drawing.

DXF Units

The correct Linear-Units are those of the original DXF-Drawing.

1.Select (mm), (m), (cm), or (inch) that are those of the original DXF-Drawing

Of course, if you want to scale the DXF-Drawing, choose different units.

Close the dialog:

1.Click  

CAD-Line : in the Graphic-Area

•CAD-Lines are Dark Green.

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

•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 in the direction 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.

Edit a CAD-Line

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

- or -

1.Click a CAD-Line in the Assembly-Tree

2.Right-Click the CAD-Line in the Selection-Window

3.Click Edit element in the contextual-menu

or See How to open a dialog-box

The CAD-Line dialog-box is now open.

1.Click in the CAD-Line dialog-box > DXF tab

2.Click the Select DXF element down-arrow

3.Select a DXF element from the list

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

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

•DXF element name | the element-name 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 if the DXF-Drawing is larger than the workspace.

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

•Change the background color of the graphic-area.

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

to show/hide DXF Layers

to remove the DXF Drawing 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

2.Click in the DXF Point at CAD-Line's Origin box - it should be orange.

3.Click a Point in the DXF drawing in the graphic-area

3.Click in the DXF Point at CAD-Line's X-axis box - it should be orange

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

When you click this Point the DXF Drawing will move to align with the CAD-Line.

To re-align the DXF Drawing 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 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 DXF Drawing

3.As options:

•Select a different Owner Part - usually, sketch-elements are on the same Part as the CAD-Line

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

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

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

4.Click the button

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

IMPORTANT:

Each time, you must click the DXF entity box to make it 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.