DXF viewer. Check a drawing before it is cut.
Drop a .dxf file from any CAD, CAM or nesting program and see it in your browser, layer by layer, with zoom, pan and a measuring tool that snaps to the geometry.
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What a DXF file is, and why you need a viewer to read it
DXF is the open exchange form of a CAD drawing: plain text that almost every CAD, CAM, laser, router and waterjet program reads, but that no one can read by eye.
Autodesk published DXF (Drawing Exchange Format) with AutoCAD in 1982 so other programs could trade drawings with it, and has documented every version since. That openness made it the common language of 2D work: SolidWorks and Inventor export flat patterns as DXF, nesting and CAM software takes DXF in, and laser, plasma, waterjet and CNC router shops ask for it by name.
A DXF is a long list of numbered pairs: a group code, then a value. Code 0 starts an object, 8 names its layer, 10 and 20 are an X and a Y. Opened in a text editor, a simple part is thousands of lines of numbers. A viewer reads those pairs back into lines, arcs, text and blocks and draws them. Most DXF files are this ASCII text; some programs write a binary DXF, which is smaller but needs a reader that knows it.
This viewer reads both in your browser. An ASCII DXF goes straight to dxf-viewer, which parses it in a Web Worker and draws it with WebGL; a binary DXF is first rewritten as ASCII by acad-ts, an open-source port of the ACadSharp library. Nothing is uploaded.
How to open a DXF file
Four steps turn a DXF into a drawing you can check before it goes to a customer or a machine. This is the general method, and what this tool does at each step.
01Tell ASCII from binary
An ASCII DXF starts with a group code, usually "0" then "SECTION"; a binary DXF starts with the words "AutoCAD Binary DXF". The two need different readers.
This tool: reads the first bytes, not the file name, so a misnamed file is still read right. Binary DXF is rewritten as ASCII on your device; ASCII goes straight to the renderer.
02Read the sections
HEADER holds the units and the version, TABLES the layers and styles, BLOCKS the reusable parts, ENTITIES the drawing itself. The units matter: a DXF with no units set leaves a 600 ambiguous between millimeters and inches.
This tool: shows the units ($INSUNITS), the version ($ACADVER), the layer and entity counts and the overall size in the summary above the drawing, or says "no units set".
03Draw the entities
Each entity is turned into geometry at its coordinates, blocks are placed where they are inserted, and colors come from the object or its layer.
This tool: draws model space with WebGL in the file’s own colors on a black or white background, and fits the drawing to the frame. Paper-space layouts are not drawn.
04Check the geometry
Before a part is cut, the useful checks are its overall size, a few critical distances and whether construction or dimension layers would reach the machine.
This tool: a measure tool that snaps to ends, vertices and centers and gives the distance with its X and Y parts; the live cursor X/Y; a layer list to show or hide each layer; a PNG of the view.
What the DXF viewer draws, and what it skips
Cut files, flat patterns and 2D shop drawings show complete. The list below is what the renderer handles, and what it does not yet.
Lines, curves and points
LINE, LWPOLYLINE and POLYLINE (including bulged arcs), ARC, CIRCLE, ELLIPSE, SPLINE and POINT are drawn exactly where the file puts them, which is what a cut file is made of.
Blocks, hatches and fills
INSERT references, including nested blocks and their attributes, are drawn in place; HATCH draws its pattern lines or a solid fill; SOLID and 3DFACE are drawn filled.
Text and dimensions
TEXT and MTEXT are drawn in a single font, DejaVu Sans, whatever style the file names. A DIMENSION is drawn from the block the CAD program saved with it; without one, only linear and aligned dimensions are rebuilt. Leaders are skipped.
Line types and line weights
Lines are drawn one pixel wide and continuous: a dashed or center line looks solid, and a polyline with a width shows as its center line.
Paper space
Only model space is drawn. Layouts, viewports and anything placed only on a layout are left out.
Solids, images and external references
Objects the file stores as ACIS data (3DSOLID, REGION, BODY), raster IMAGE entities and xrefs to other files are skipped; a DXF exported for cutting rarely contains them.
Questions about the DXF viewer.
What it does, what it leaves to you, and what it costs.
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