DXF (Drawing Interchange Format) is a standard for exchanging files between most 3D graphics programs. PlantStudio exports a very basic form of the Version 14 DXF format which includes only polygons (3DFACE entries) to describe the plant. 

Special options: DXF colors are different

Because the DXF format was originally designed as an internal format for AutoCAD, the DXF file format specifies colors by indexes into a list of “AutoCAD colors”. In other words, the range of colors is limited. Some 3D programs can understand red-green-blue (RGB) colors as well as the standard AutoCAD color indexes. Try outputting RGB colors and see how well your 3D program reads the colors. If the colors are garbled, stick to the AutoCAD colors. 

To change how DXF colors are assigned to plant parts,

▪        In the Colors panel of the 3D export window, click use front-face RGB colors to output the long integer red-green-blue values PlantStudio uses to store colors.

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▪        Click use one color for all plants to output all the plants as one color. If you choose this option and separate your DXF plant into groups by type of plant part, you can assign new colors after you have imported the plant into your 3D program. This is the option we suggest, since it is probably easier to assign colors in your 3D program than here, and you probably have a much wider range of colors to choose from there.

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▪        Click use colors based on type of part to set different colors for each plant part type. Note that if you choose whole plant in the Group by box and choose use colors based on type of part in the Colors box, you will override the grouping option because setting a new color automatically creates a new grouping.

To change one of the colors used to write out a plant to the DXF file format,

▪        In the Colors panel of the 3D export window, click on the colored square labeled color for all plants.

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▪        Click on the colored area on any line in the list of plant part types under the radio button use colors based on type of plant part.

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▪        Select one or more lines in the list of plant part types and click Set color.

▪        In the Choose DXF color window that appears, click on an color, then click OK (or double-click on a color). When you return to the DXF options window the new color you selected will be shown in the spot where you clicked. 

Tips on saving and using DXF files from PlantStudio

▪        DXF files can be very large, up to 20 or 30 megabytes if you save several plants (and depending on the complexity of the plants). The DXF options window makes an estimate of the final file size, but the estimate is a coarse one. You should always try to have at least twice the estimated file size free on your hard drive before you save plants to a DXF file.

▪        PlantStudio outputs a very simple form of DXF files using only the 3DFACE entry to describe each polygon. This means that your plants might not come out with correct orientations in your 3D program. Use the Rotate by, Scale by and Translate plants options in the DXF window to make PlantStudio output work better with your 3D program.

▪        The DXF format allows only short names (16 characters) to identify the layers that group polygons. You might want to keep your plant names short if you plan to export many plants to DXF format. You can have PlantStudio truncate plant names when it writes plants out to DXF.

▪        If you choose the individual plant part option in the DXF options window, your 3D program may take a very long time to read and display the plant parts because you could have thousands of groups. We recommend you use this setting only for smaller or less-complicated plants.

▪        Because the DXF format is not very efficient, it sometimes takes 3D programs a long time to read it. And most 3D programs don’t expect DXF files to have as many points as PlantStudio plants have. If you open a large DXF file from PlantStudio in your 3D program and it seems to hang, go get a cup of coffee and see if the plants appear.

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