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Importing DXF Files Into Inkscape

September 07, 08 by Andy

If you search around for ideas on how to import DXF files into Inkscape or convert DXF files to SVG files, there are a lot of results. But they mostly seem to be shareware or orphaned applications that haven’t been updated for years. However there is a simple, obvious (once you see it) and free solution to converting DXF files to SVG files (which Inkscape can load).

It’s called Open Office Draw.

Yes, that’s right. Open Office Draw can load a DXF file and save an SVG file. I’ve tried it and it worked - I was able to take a DXF file, convert to SVG, load into Inkscape, edit, save as DXF (see my other posting from a couple of days ago on this) then load into CamBam for CAM processing.

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• Date Sunday, 07 Sep 08 at 11:05 am
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3 responses for this post

1. W. Basson Says: 21.10.08 at 4:25 am

   I have tried it: importing a DXF-file created by Autocad2002, but it didn’t work. It opened in Open Office Draw, alright, but the SVG file created from it wouldn’t open in Inkscape.

   Perhaps it depends on the program used to create the DXF?

2. Andy Says: 21.10.08 at 8:50 am

   I don’t have Autocad but I tried it with SolidEdge 2D and it worked fine. Also with some DXFs I downloaded from various websites.

3. tomrgb Says: 25.10.08 at 12:11 pm

   comming up to dxf from autocad 2002:
   you should save it as autocad2000dxf,
   then you will be fine…

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