DXF importing
7 messages in this thread
I was wondering why it takes so long to load dxf files. A 10000 vertex model
took about eight hours to load. Is there anyway I can speed this up, and will
a faster computer help.
There's a number of things "wrong" about DXF. DXF files are ASCII,
which means they're bulky and slow to read. Once you've got the data,
you need to massage it quite a bit before it becomes a useful 3DS
model. This takes time and memory. If you're in a situation where
there's little RAM left and 3DS's memory management starts swapping
to hard disk, again, this takes more and more time. Have you tried
the standalone "DXF3DS" converter from the library here?
If you are using Autocad, you might try to break up the DXF file by
using the entity selection set. I tested this a while back and it was
quicker to import multiple smaller DXF's than one large DXF. Probable
because of the disk paging going on. There are a few programs that
work inside of Autocad which create 3DS files form within. VisulLink
works the fastest and AutoVisions also works well. Keep in mind that
Autocad Rel. 13 will have a 3DS import and export routines built into
the program and it will be shipping at the end of November so they
say.
Also, if it is possible, export the DXF as binary. This speeds up the
import process by many, many, times.
What program allows you to export dxf files in binary format?
Autocad, for one. I know a few others, but It is doubtful you might have them.
> What program allows you to export dxf files in binary format?
AutoCAD since Release 10. Binary DXF is a absolutely valid format.
ASCII and binary DXF files contain 100% the identical information
(besides comments) and can be translated into each other without
loss. On the companion disk to my book on DXF (download DXFBK.TXT for
details) there are two utilities to convert from ASCII to binary and
vice versa.