Supported AutoCAD Entities

2D Polyline

The translator imports a polyline with a bulge as a composite of lines and arcs.  The translator does not support variable widths.

3D Face

Polygon.  A solid specified with 3D points, rather than the 2D points that pertain to a solid.

3D Mesh

Several 3D polylines.  Translator imports as individual polylines, not as a mesh.  A polygon mesh composed of vertices connected by lines.

3D Polyline

3D polylines.  Polylines with segments oriented in 3D space.

Arc

The translator imports an extruded arc as two arcs and some lines (down connect).

Attdef

Visible text imported as note.

Attrib

Visible text imported as note.

B-Spline

Polylines, NURBS Curve.

Block

Collection of entities (collectives).  If a block is crosshatched, then any lines inside the block are imported as witness lines.  A named collection of entities, often an entire drawing, that you can manipulate as a whole and insert anywhere.

Bulge

Collective of arcs and lines.  A curved segment connecting two vertices in a polyline.

Circle

The translator imports the extruded circle (thick circle) as two circles and some lines (down connect).

Color

Mapped to the appropriate color match.

Dimension

The translator supports linear, circular (radial and diametric), aligned, and ordinate dimensions.  It skips associated blocks.  The translator supports all attached attributes, as well as some special characters in the text, such as +/-, °, and the radius or diameter symbol.

Doughnut

A circular object with hole in the center composed of two concentric circles and a filled center.

EED

External entity data not currently supported.

Elevation/

All entities with thickness are mapped as collectives.

Thickness

For each AutoCAD entity with thickness, four entities are added to the database.  The height of an object.  It defines the object's position in the direction of the Z axis.  The projection of an object into 3D space.

Fit

Specified fixed height of text that expands or contracts to the character width between designated points only.

Handle

Entity ID not currently supported.  A unique identification number for each entity.

Insert

Collection of entities (collectives).  Each insert translates to a collective and an additional number of entities in the corresponding block.  Inserts a previously defined block into a drawing.  The block consists of a collection of entities.

Layer

Level.  The translator maps the first 255 layers to Levels 1 to 255.  The translator keeps these names.  Using the ”r;DWG/DXF Options” dialog box, you can configure layer mapping.  A layer is a transparent level, which can contain parts of a drawing that you might not want to view together.  It holds information about the drawing, such as color or line type.  The equivalent in this program is level.

Leader entity

Now supported.  A leader is a sequence of line segments with an arrowhead at one end, and typically, text at the other.

Line

A 2D or 3D line in space with optional extrusion; the translator imports a line extrusion as four lines.

Middle

Text that is vertically and horizontally centered at the middle point.

Model Space

One of the space concepts AutoCAD uses (paper space is the other).  Model space is where you create drawings and where you do most of your work; the equivalent in this program is Model Mode.

Multi-Text

Now supported. Imported as text.

Point

As a 2D or 3D point in space with optional extrusion, the translator imports extruded points as a collective of one line and two points, one at each end.

Polyface Mesh

Collective (Polygon Mesh).  3D vertices connected in a specified order.

Polyline

Connected sequence of lines and arc segments AutoCAD treats as a single entity.

Polyline+Vertex

Polyline.  An entity with multiple vertices, the translator connects each vertex to its adjacent vertex by a linear, quadratic, or cubic curve.  Widths not supported by translator.

Solid

Filled polygon.  Fill color mapped to approximate match; translator doesn't import invisible edge.  If you import the solid from AutoCAD, then export to AutoCAD, there may be some data loss.  Solid filled figures composed of quadrilateral (four-sided) or triangular (three-sided) polygons.

Spline

AD_ENT_SPLINE

Text

Note with user-defined font.  The translator imports the text in one font type.  In AutoCAD, you can stretch text, compress it, use an oblique slant, mirror text, draw it in a vertical column, align it, center it, fit it, middle it, or right it.

Trace

Polyline.  If filled, the translator maps fill colors to approximate color matches.  A solid line with a specified width.

Vertex

Usually follows a polyline.  The translator embeds the vertex inside the polyline.