interfacing .dxf with opengl

[IckyThump]

Hello,

 

I am new to the AutoCAD topic and hopefully thus have picked the correct forum. I need to understand how 3d models are stored in the dxf. file format. Besides, my main concern is, I want to visualize AutoCAD data from a .dxf file in opengl.

 

Since I have no idea about the AutoCAD side of this - I'm an experienced programmer though - I'd like to know in what way to approach this problem best.

 

Is there any way to achieve this by extracting the necessary data? Or via another file format?

 

I know there are file converters for .dxf data I just don't know how reliable/efficient they are.

 

Any start on this helps!

[fuccaro]

Welcome in the forum!

 

In a new drawing put a point and save the document in DXF format. Open it with Notepad and see what it contains. Now draw a line and repeat as above. (the end of the file is more relevant).

When you get tired, go to the AutoDesk home page and read about the DXF codes.

As a side note: it is simple to describe the points, lines, polylines and even surfaces. But I would stay apart from solids.