from Xara to AutoCad export

[VD]

New to the forum;
Is there any way to export from Xara to AutoCad?
Thank you

[gwpriester]

Hello VD and welcome to the Xara Conference.

Ross is a better person to answer this and I am sure as soon as he sees your message header he'll jump in and correct me.

Xara does not have an AutoCADD export filter.

So you will need to see what file formats AutoCADD can open or import and then see what Xara has in its export filters and see if there is a file format common to both.

Gary

[Ross Macintosh]

VD -- I assume you want the lines themselves and not just an image. You can export a .wmf format file and insert it into autocad. It will come in as a block. Unfortunately each line will comeinto autocad as two lines -- basically the two edges of the line.

You can also just cut and paste as an ole object but it won't be linework - just an image.

If you have access to CorelDraw or Illustrator, you can get your Xara graphic into them and then use their dxf exports.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Ross

[VD]

Than you
I find Xara very easy to use, whereas AutoCAD looks a bit intimidating; hoping to do some initial work in Xara and then polish it in AutoCAD ready for G-codes to load into CNC.

[Ross Macintosh]

You may well have to get a copy of CorelDraw or Illustrator to make it work. You don't need the latest versions. You can for instance draw in Xara X, where its fast & easy, then export as a .cmx file you can open in CorelDraw to export for autocad.

Best of luck to you!

Regards, Ross

[mckinney]

There are a couple of other public/free software routes you might try before resorting to purchasing a copy of CorelDraw or Illustrator...

1. Print to a file from Xara using an HPGL plotter driver or HPGL/2 plotter driver (either a native Windows driver or one downloaded from HP) and then convert the HPGL to DXF using HPGL2DXF from http://www.noliturbare.com/HPGL2DXF.html.

or

2. Print to a file from Xara using a generic postscript driver and use PS2EDIT from http://www.pstoedit.net/pstoedit to convert the postscript to DXF. Note that PS2EDIT requires Ghostscript, availabe from http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/. Ghostscript's companion program GSview is highly recommended and makes PS2EDIT easier to use.

Good luck,

- Pete

[Ross Macintosh]

Great Tips Pete!

Thanks, Ross

[gwpriester]

Yep, great tips.

What a terrific resource we have here.

Gary

[thorpug]

OK now how do I IMPORT a DXF file?? In FreeHand I can open a dxf file directly with retention of all levels.

I saw the posting above on exporting and that will certainly help me a lot... but thats only half the problem solved... any ideas fellers??

[David O'Neil]

Than you
I find Xara very easy to use, whereas AutoCAD looks a bit intimidating; hoping to do some initial work in Xara and then polish it in AutoCAD ready for G-codes to load into CNC.

CNC is a three-dimensional process (for the most part). AutoCAD is a powerful three-dimensional program. Xara is only two-dimensional. What type of CNC work are you doing, and how would Xara's output be even close to what you really need? Other than drilling holes in a 2-d plate, or laying out sheet metal bends (again, on a 2-d plate), I can't see Xara being any use for CNC work.

[edit]I suppose you could be doing lathe work? If you know AutoCAD, you can lay out a design much quicker and more precisely than you could in Xara. But you don't know it...

Best wishes,
David