CADMATIC Hull has its own (drawing) file format with the extension "mod". To exchange these drawing files with other CAD systems, CADMATIC Hull supports the DXF and DWG (AutoCAD tm) formats. These formats can be used for both 2D and 3D transfer.
In practice it is not always possible to achieve a 100 percent exact data transfer. This because there are always differences between the CAD systems. On the other hand it is not always useful that the data transfer is one to one exact, especially when the receiver wants to use there own type of pens, layers and hatch patterns. Proper agreements between several suppliers can simplify the differences between several CAD systems. In this way data transfer is handling not only the differences in pen types and dash patters but also the definition of the construction types and levels. To exchange this kind of information it is always important to know the requirements of the receiving party. Based upon these requirements a configuration should be made that defines the conversion.
Because these entities are often differently defined in other CAD systems special attention has to be paid to following items:
- hatches
- text and TTF text
- lines which are partially continuous and partially dashed
- dimensions.
In most cases the exported files will be used only to inform the receiver. In that case the information has to be exact like a plot. In other cases the receiver might want to use the information as a background layer or in some cases even to use detailed information. The highest possible level is to use the information for further manipulation in the CAD system of the receiver. This is only possible by using special requirements and good arrangements.
To control these differences as good as possible a number of import and export functions have been developed, each with their own specific properties. To take the best use of these functions you should carefully study these functions. Before these functions, each with their own specific possibilities, will be explained it is important to understand the general functionality:
- Entities are e.g. lines, texts and dimensions.
- Fragments are similar to the AutoCAD layers.
- Attributes are used to store specific information.
Apart from the difference in data structure there is no difference in how DXF or DWG is handled in the export or import process in CADMATIC Hull. All data will be translated in the same way. The DXF file is written as an ASCII file while the DWG file has a binary structure. In some cases the differences can be important for the receiver. However, in the CADMATIC Hull application we treat these files with no differences and for that reason we speak about export and import possibilities and not about DXF or DWG files.
Another possibility to transfer data between CADMATIC Hull and other CAD systems based on AutoCAD is the use of a ARX plug-in in AutoCAD. With this plug-in it is possible to load CADMATIC Hull models directly into the AutoCAD program. However this is only possible for 3D-models, so texts and dimensions will not be transferred.