Line Weight on DXF Export

[hubbardm]

We are trying to export to DXF, which will in turn be converted to PDF. There have been several issues with this process. All of them have been resolved with the exception of line weight. All of the line weights are coming out thin.

Does anyone know how to set line weights on DXF output similar to the way postscript works?

A little more background to the issue, this is for automated PDF generation of Pro/E drawings in TeamCenter. At this point in time, TeamCenter does not have an API that will use postscript, so we're stuck with DXF. The other alternatives are extremely ugly and expensive, so I need to exhaust this possibility.

Thanks in advance. ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

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[rastheimer1]

Mike,

I haven't been able to get confirmation plotting to DXF and PDF use the same mechanism, but this TPI talks about pen table files which may be contributing to the behavior you are seeing. I thought it was worth passing along.

https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=135301

If I find something more definitive regarding to DXF I'll let you know.

Rosemary

[rastheimer1]

Mikek

I received this statement from our development team this morning.

"The line thickness information is saved in the DXF files exported from Pro/ENGINEER. Perhaps the utility used to convert DXF to PDF ignores this information?"

I don't know how helpful this is in solving your problem, but it may explain the behavior you are seeing.

Rosemary

[FV]

Hi all,

Mike,

DXF line thickness ( weight) is controlled by two DXF group : 39 and 370. The group 39 ( thickness)appears ingeometric entity codeand group 370 (lineweight)could appear either in geometry or layer codes.

I don't know what DXF/PDF converter you are using. The majority of converters are taking group 370 as it appears in layer tablesection into consideration. The group 39 is usually reserved for polylines, majority of coverters ignore it, to my knowledge.

I don't think PTC DXF exporter outputs layer lineweights, we are using DXF-12. I did not check later formats...

If your converter supports layer lineweigths thenyou could:

-Write a simple script to alter DXF files by adding 370 group to layer table section.

-If you have a seat of AutoCADyou could make a template file with predefined layers/lineweights, layer names have to be the same as PROE output, insert PROE DXF into a temlate as an explodedwblock. In this casethe template settings will overruleinserted entitiessettings hence adding missing info... Write out a newDXF...

HIH.

Feliks.

[hubbardm]

All I have been able to determine is that the pen options have <u>obsolutely no affect</u> on either the PDF or DXF output using the follow config in WF4 build M140.

I also tried taking the pen options out and putting them into a table.pnt and pointing my config to that file. When I did that, I get a syntax error on line 7. So I deleted line 7, then I got a syntax error on line 6.

The config documentation say that the pens should be set to a number in the range of 1 to 16, so I don't think my pen setting are wrong. But just in case,I've changed all of the pens multiplyying their value by 25 to see if that was an issue. Still absolutely no affect on output. I'm about to try this experiment in WF3.

trail_dir /tmp

web_browser_homepage about:blank

dxf_out_stroke_text special

dxf_export_format 2007

!intf2d_out_acad_text_align fit

intf2d_out_acad_text_align as_is

intf2d_out_acad_mtext no

display_points no

display_axes no

display_planes no

display_coord_sys no

search_path /appl/proeWildfire4.0_m140/gdformats

!search_path /appl/UGS/gdformats

pen1_line_weight 8

pen2_line_weight 4

pen3_line_weight 2

pen4_line_weight 2

pen5_line_weight 2

pen6_line_weight 2

pen7_line_weight 2

pen8_line_weight 2

pdf_use_pentable yes

use_8_plotter_pens yes

[rastheimer1]

Mike,

I've confirmed that PTC does not provide DXF to PDF conversion, so the converter that you are using to export to PDF would be where you would have to make the changes to the line thickness.

Rosemary

If anyone thinks it would be helpful to have a TPI to document this discussion please let me know and I will see that one gets written.

[hubbardm]

Rosemary, I think you missed something. I probably was not clear enough.

I'm trying to do something using a DXF that is converted to PDF, this is true. But right now, I'm trying the verify that I can control line weight at all. I have not been able to control it on anything. Normally, I would be able to control making a simple PDF right out of Pro/E. That is not working.

I posted the same question on the CAD users forum. I have gotten a a few posts back that say I need to use the following format.

pen 1 thickness .025 cm
pen 2 thickness .015 cm
pen 3 thickness .01 cm
pen 4 thickness .03 cm

This seems to be consistant with the syntax error I'm getting. It looks like the help document I was looking at might be wrong.