[Radiance-general] Re: Preparing an open DXF file for import

[Lars O. Grobe]

Hi!

R Fritz wrote:
> Also, thanks. One of the problems we run into here is that due to 
> Autodesk licensing it does not seem to be possible to bring out a free 
> dxf2rad.

You cannot do it using the libraries of the opendwg alliance (or 
whatever it was called). So basically you either support only anything 
but the ACIS stuff (well, this means that you build you models 
completely out of 3dfaces), or you stay away from Autocad. Which is a 
general rule, as they step-by-step removed all(!) exporters to 
non-Autodesk formats to lock in users. As soon as you move to 
standard-CAD-formats (such as step, iges, ...) you will have a choice of 
tools to do the conversion. Take a look at brlcad for example, it is a 
great conversion tool for 3d-geometry. But of course they support 
documented open standards, not propietary file-formats.

Cheers, Lars.