DXF Translator

The DXF Translator requires a DXF Translator license from Sonnet.

The DXF Translator allows you to import DXF files using the Import Wizard. It also allows you to export a Sonnet layout to a DXF file using the Export Wizard.

Capabilities and Limitations

The DXF Translator reads the AutoCAD R14 DXF specification. The translator outputs a R12 DXF specification.

The DXF Translator can handle most methods of describing a circuit that are supported by the DXF file format. The DXF Translator does not handle any parts of the DXF format that are not meaningful to the description of a planar circuit, such as text, dimension lines, and 3D structures. The DXF Translator handles two basic methods of circuit description. Both of these methods can be used within a single DXF file:

  1. Zero width lines: The circuit is constructed using lines, polylines, circles, arcs, polygons, etc in the DXF file, all with a line width setting of zero. The metal area is assumed to be inside the perimeter of these objects. The objects may or may not be joined to form closed polygons. The preferred condition for translation to Sonnet is closed polygons. If they are not, the translator uses an algorithm to attempt to join the objects into closed polygons. The Combining Tolerance, entered in the Import Wizard, defines how close object endpoints must be in order to be joined. If the end points are automatically joined, often it will result in misshapen geometry, which may or may not trigger a warning message.
  2. Finite width lines: The circuit is constructed using lines, polylines, circles, arcs, polygons, etc in the DXF file, all with a finite line width. The metal area is assumed to be within the perimeter of these objects. The objects in this scenario typically are not joined to form closed polygons. The translator takes the object and its line width and converts this to a polygon. DXF files which use this method often require manual cleanup of overlapping polygons using the Sonnet Project Editor.

The following is a partial list of DXF file features and whether or not they are supported by the Sonnet DXF translator:

  • Circles and Arcs are supported but are converted to n-sided polygons in the Sonnet project. The Arc Conversion Angle in the Import Wizard sets the number of sides in the resulting polygons. The default value is 10 degrees which would convert a circle into a 36-sided polygon.
  • Blocks are supported by the DXF Translator, including scaling, rotation and row/column replication.
  • Groups are supported by the DXF Translator.
  • Regions are not supported by the DXF Translator.
  • Polyline curve-fit and spline-fit are not supported.
  • Entities not supported include: POINT, Fill, TEXT, SHAPE, ATTRIBUTES, 3DFACE, VIEWPORT and DIMENSION. Tables not supported include: APPID, DIMSTYLE, LTYPE, STYLE, UCS, VIEW and VPORT.
  • The only header variables read are: $EXTMIN, $EXTMAX, $LIMMIN and $LIMMAX. All others are ignored.
  • In the layer table, color, line type, frozen, and locked flags are ignored. The name, and on/off flags are read.
  • The Z coordinate of all objects is ignored. Only the layer is used to determine the Z position of the metal.
  • The color and line styles are always ignored.
  • Only the starting width of the first point in polylines is used, the ending width and both widths of other points are ignored.
  • No 3D structures are supported, including polygon mesh, polyface mesh, and smooth surface.

The Getting Started Tutorial includes a section on using the DXF Translator to import a simple layout.