Acad Manual

AutoCAD 2010
DXF Reference
February 2009
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Contents
Chapter 1 DXF Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Organization of This Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Revisions to the DXF Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Formatting Conventions in This Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Object and Entity Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Group Code Value Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Group Codes in Numerical Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Chapter 2 HEADER Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

HEADER Section Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Revised VPORT Header Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Special Handling of Date/Time Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chapter 3 CLASSES Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

CLASSES Section Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Default Class Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Chapter 4 TABLES Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Symbol Table Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Common Symbol Table Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Common Group Codes for Symbol Table Entries . . . . . . . . . 37
APPID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
iii
BLOCK_RECORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
DIMSTYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
LAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
LTYPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
STYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
UCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
VIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
VPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Chapter 5 BLOCKS Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

BLOCKS Section Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
BLOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
ENDBLK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Chapter 6 ENTITIES Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Common Group Codes for Entities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3DFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3DSOLID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
ACAD_PROXY_ENTITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
ARC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
ATTDEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
ATTRIB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
BODY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
CIRCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
DIMENSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Common Dimension Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Aligned Dimension Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Linear and Rotated Dimension Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Radial and Diameter Dimension Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Angular Dimension Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Ordinate Dimension Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Dimension Style Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
ELLIPSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
H AT C H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7
Boundary Path Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Pattern Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
HELIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
IMAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
INSERT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
LEADER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
LIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
LWPOLYLINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
MLINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
MULTILEADER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
iv | Contents
MLEADERSTYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Common MLeaderStyle Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
MLeaderStyle Context Data Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
MLeaderStyle Leader Node Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
MLeaderStyle Leader Line Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
MTEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
OLEFRAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
OLE2FRAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
POINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
POLYLINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Polyface Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
RAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
REGION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
SECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
SEQEND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
SHAPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
SOLID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
SPLINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
SUBDIVISION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
SUN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
SURFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Extruded Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Lofted Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Revolved Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Swept Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
TA B L E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 9
TEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
TOLERANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
TRACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
UNDERLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
VERTEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
VIEWPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
WIPEOUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
XLINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Chapter 7 OBJECTS Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

OBJECT Section Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Object Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Common Group Codes for Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
ACAD_PROXY_OBJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
ACDBDICTIONARYWDFLT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
ACDBPLACEHOLDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
DATATABLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
DICTIONARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
DICTIONARYVAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
DIMASSOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Contents | v
FIELD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
GEODATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
GROUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
IDBUFFER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
IMAGEDEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
IMAGEDEF_REACTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
LAYER_INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
LAYER_FILTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
LAYOUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
LIGHTLIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
MATERIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
MLINESTYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
OBJECT_PTR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
PLOTSETTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
RASTERVARIABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
RENDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
RENDERENVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
MENTALRAYRENDERSETTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
RENDERGLOBAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
SECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Section Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Section Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Section Type Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Section Geometry Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
SPATIAL_INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
SPATIAL_FILTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
SORTENTSTABLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
TABLESTYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
UNDERLAYDEFINITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
VISUALSTYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
VBA_PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
WIPEOUTVARIABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
XRECORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Chapter 8 THUMBNAILIMAGE Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

THUMBNAILIMAGE Section Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Chapter 9 Drawing Interchange File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

ASCII DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
General DXF File Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Group Codes in DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
ASCII Control Characters in DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Header Group Codes in DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Class Group Codes in DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Symbol Table Group Codes in DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
vi | Contents
Symbol Table Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Blocks Group Codes in DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Entity Group Codes in DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Object Group Codes in DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Writing a DXF Interface Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Reading a DXF File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Writing a DXF File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Binary DXF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Slide Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Old Slide Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Slide Library Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Chapter 10 Advanced DXF Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Database Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Persistent Inter-Object Reference Handles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Pointer and Ownership References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Hard and Soft References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Arbitrary Handles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
1005 Group Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Subclass Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Extension Dictionary and Persistent Reactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Extended Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Object Coordinate Systems (OCS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Arbitrary Axis Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Contents | vii
viii
DXF Format
1
The DXF™ format is a tagged data representation of all the information contained in an
AutoCAD® drawing file. Tagged data means that each data element in the file is preceded by
an integer number that is called a group code. A group code's value indicates what type of data
element follows. This value also indicates the meaning of a data element for a given object
(or record) type. Virtually all user-specified information in a drawing file can be represented
in DXF format.
Organization of This Reference

The DXF Reference presents the DXF™ group codes found in DXF files and
encountered by AutoLISP® and ObjectARX® applications. This chapter describes
the general DXF conventions. The remaining chapters list the group codes
organized by object type. The group codes are presented in the order in which
they are found in a DXF file, and each chapter is named according to the
associated section of a DXF file. Although the DXF file format is used as the
organizing mechanism for this reference, specific information on the actual
formatting of DXF files is found in Drawing Interchange File Formats on page
217 Advanced concepts relating to DXF group codes as they pertain to both
applications and DXF files are found in Advanced DXF Issues on page 239
For descriptions of the AutoLISP functions that use group codes, see "Using
AutoLISP to Manipulate AutoCAD Objects" in the AutoLISP Developer's Guide.
Revisions to the DXF Reference

This topic lists revisions since the last update of the DXF Reference. The version
number of this DXF Reference is u19.1.01.
■ “ENTITIES Section”
1
■ “OBJECTS Section”
Formatting Conventions in This Reference

Each group code listed in this reference is presented by a numeric group code
value and a description. All group codes can apply to DXF™ files, applications
(AutoLISP or ObjectARX), or both. When the description of a code is different
for applications and DXF files (or applies to only one or the other), the
description is preceded by the following indicators:
■ APP.Application-specific description.
■ DXF.DXF file-specific description.
If the description is common to both DXF files and applications, no indicator

is provided.
Optional codes are indicated as “optional” in the description.
Object and Entity Codes

In the DXF™ format, the definition of objects differs from entities: objects
have no graphical representation and entities do. For example, dictionaries
are objects, and not entities. Entities are also referred to as graphical objects
while objects are referred to as nongraphical objects.
Entities appear in both the BLOCK and ENTITIES sections of the DXF file. The
use of group codes in the two sections is identical.
Some group codes that define an entity always appear; others are optional
and appear only if their values differ from the defaults.
Do not write programs that rely on the order given here. The end of an entity
is indicated by the next 0 group, which begins the next entity or indicates the
end of the section.
NOTE Accommodating DXF files from future releases of AutoCAD® will be easier
if you write your DXF processing program in a table-driven way, ignore undefined
group codes, and make no assumptions about the order of group codes in an
entity. With each new AutoCAD release, new group codes will be added to entities
to accommodate additional features.
2 | Chapter 1 DXF Format

Group Code Value Types
Group codes define the type of the associated value as an integer, a
floating-point number, or a string, according to the following table of group
code ranges. For information about abbreviations and formatting used in this
table, see Formatting Conventions in This Reference on page 2.
Group code value types

Code range Group value type
0-9 String (with the introduction of extended symbol names in AutoCAD 2000, the 255-character
limit has been increased to 2049 single-byte characters not including the newline at the end
of the line)
10-39 Double precision 3D point value
40-59 Double-precision floating-point value
60-79 16-bit integer value
100 String (255-character maximum; less for Unicode strings)
102 String (255-character maximum; less for Unicode strings)
105 String representing hexadecimal (hex) handle value
110-119 Double precision floating-point value
140-149 Double precision scalar floating-point value
Group Code Value Types | 3

290-299 Boolean flag value
300-309 Arbitrary text string
310-319 String representing hex value of binary chunk
320-329 String representing hex handle value
330-369 String representing hex object IDs
410-419 String
430-439 String
450-459 Long
470-479 String
999 Comment (string)
1000-1009 String (same limits as indicated with 0-9 code range)

1071 32-bit integer value
Group Codes in Numerical Order

The following table gives the group code or group code range accompanied
by an explanation of the group code value. In the table, “fixed” indicates that
the group code always has the same purpose. If a group code isn't fixed, its
purpose depends on the context. For information about abbreviations and
formatting used in this table, see Formatting Conventions in This Reference
on page 2.
Group codes by number

Group code Description
-5 APP: persistent reactor chain
-4 APP: conditional operator (used only with ssget)
-3 APP: extended data (XDATA) sentinel (fixed)
-2 APP: entity name reference (fixed)
-1 APP: entity name. The name changes each time a drawing is opened. It is never saved (fixed)
0 Text string indicating the entity type (fixed)
1 Primary text value for an entity
2 Name (attribute tag, block name, and so on)
3-4 Other text or name values
5 Entity handle; text string of up to 16 hexadecimal digits (fixed)
6 Linetype name (fixed)
Group Codes in Numerical Order | 5

7 Text style name (fixed)
8 Layer name (fixed)
9 DXF: variable name identifier (used only in HEADER section of the DXF file)
10 Primary point; this is the start point of a line or text entity, center of a circle, and so on
DXF: X value of the primary point (followed by Y and Z value codes 20 and 30)
APP: 3D point (list of three reals)
11-18 Other points

DXF: X value of other points (followed by Y value codes 21-28 and Z value codes 31-38)
APP: 3D point (list of three reals)
20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of the primary point
21-28, 31-37 DXF: Y and Z values of other points
38 DXF: entity's elevation if nonzero
39 Entity's thickness if nonzero (fixed)
40-48 Double-precision floating-point values (text height, scale factors, and so on)
48 Linetype scale; double precision floating point scalar value; default value is defined for all entity
types
49 Repeated double-precision floating-point value. Multiple 49 groups may appear in one entity
for variable-length tables (such as the dash lengths in the LTYPE table). A 7x group always appears
before the first 49 group to specify the table length
50-58 Angles (output in degrees to DXF files and radians through AutoLISP and ObjectARX applications)
60 Entity visibility; integer value; absence or 0 indicates visibility; 1indicates invisibility
62 Color number (fixed)
66 “Entities follow” flag (fixed)
67 Space—that is, model or paper space (fixed)

68 APP: identifies whether viewport is on but fully off screen; is not active or is off
69 APP: viewport identification number
70-78 Integer values, such as repeat counts, flag bits, or modes
90-99 32-bit integer values
100 Subclass data marker (with derived class name as a string). Required for all objects and entity
classes that are derived from another concrete class. The subclass data marker segregates data
defined by different classes in the inheritance chain for the same object.
This is in addition to the requirement for DXF names for each distinct concrete class derived
from ObjectARX (see Subclass Markers on page 241)
102 Control string, followed by “{<arbitrary name>” or “}”. Similar to the xdata 1002 group code,
except that when the string begins with “{“, it can be followed by an arbitrary string whose
interpretation is up to the application. The only other control string allowed is “}” as a group
terminator. AutoCAD does not interpret these strings except during drawing audit operations.
They are for application use
105 Object handle for DIMVAR symbol table entry
110 UCS origin (appears only if code 72 is set to 1)

DXF: X value; APP: 3D point
111 UCS X-axis (appears only if code 72 is set to 1)

DXF: X value; APP: 3D vector
112 UCS Y-axis (appears only if code 72 is set to 1)

120-122 DXF: Y value of UCS origin, UCS X-axis, and UCS Y-axis
130-132 DXF: Z value of UCS origin, UCS X-axis, and UCS Y-axis
140-149 Double-precision floating-point values (points, elevation, and DIMSTYLE settings, for example)
170-179 16-bit integer values, such as flag bits representing DIMSTYLE settings
210 Extrusion direction (fixed)

DXF: X value of extrusion direction
APP: 3D extrusion direction vector
220, 230 DXF: Y and Z values of the extrusion direction
270-279 16-bit integer values
290-299 Boolean flag value
300-309 Arbitrary text strings
310-319 Arbitrary binary chunks with same representation and limits as 1004 group codes: hexadecimal
strings of up to 254 characters represent data chunks of up to 127 bytes
320-329 Arbitrary object handles; handle values that are taken “as is”. They are not translated during
INSERT and XREF operations
330-339 Soft-pointer handle; arbitrary soft pointers to other objects within same DXF file or drawing.
Translated during INSERT and XREF operations
340-349 Hard-pointer handle; arbitrary hard pointers to other objects within same DXF file or drawing.
350-359 Soft-owner handle; arbitrary soft ownership links to other objects within same DXF file or
drawing. Translated during INSERT and XREF operations
360-369 Hard-owner handle; arbitrary hard ownership links to other objects within same DXF file or
drawing. Translated during INSERT and XREF operations
370-379 Lineweight enum value (AcDb::LineWeight). Stored and moved around as a 16-bit integer.
Custom non-entity objects may use the full range, but entity classes only use 371-379 DXF
group codes in their representation, because AutoCAD and AutoLISP both always assume a
370 group code is the entity's lineweight. This allows 370 to behave like other “common” entity
fields
380-389 PlotStyleName type enum (AcDb::PlotStyleNameType). Stored and moved around as a 16-bit
integer. Custom non-entity objects may use the full range, but entity classes only use 381-389
DXF group codes in their representation, for the same reason as the Lineweight range above

390-399 String representing handle value of the PlotStyleName object, basically a hard pointer, but has
a different range to make backward compatibility easier to deal with. Stored and moved around
as an object ID (a handle in DXF files) and a special type in AutoLISP. Custom non-entity objects
may use the full range, but entity classes only use 391-399 DXF group codes in their represent-
ation, for the same reason as the lineweight range above
400-409 16-bit integers
410-419 String
420-427 32-bit integer value. When used with True Color; a 32-bit integer representing a 24-bit color
value. The high-order byte (8 bits) is 0, the low-order byte an unsigned char holding the Blue
value (0-255), then the Green value, and the next-to-high order byte is the Red Value. Convering
this integer value to hexadecimal yields the following bit mask: 0x00RRGGBB. For example, a
true color with Red==200, Green==100 and Blue==50 is 0x00C86432, and in DXF, in decimal,
13132850
430-437 String; when used for True Color, a string representing the name of the color
440-447 32-bit integer value. When used for True Color, the transparency value
450-459 Long
470-479 String
480-481 Hard-pointer handle; arbitrary hard pointers to other objects within same DXF file or drawing.
999 DXF: The 999 group code indicates that the line following it is a comment string. SAVEAS does
not include such groups in a DXF output file, but OPEN honors them and ignores the comments.
You can use the 999 group to include comments in a DXF file that you've edited
1000 ASCII string (up to 255 bytes long) in extended data
1001 Registered application name (ASCII string up to 31 bytes long) for extended data
1002 Extended data control string (“{” or “}”)

1003 Extended data layer name
1004 Chunk of bytes (up to 127 bytes long) in extended data
1005 Entity handle in extended data; text string of up to 16 hexadecimal digits
1010 A point in extended data

DXF: X value (followed by 1020 and 1030 groups)
APP: 3D point
1020, 1030 DXF: Y and Z values of a point
1011 A 3D world space position in extended data

APP: 3D point
1021, 1031 DXF: Y and Z values of a world space position
1012 A 3D world space displacement in extended data

APP: 3D vector
1022, 1032 DXF: Y and Z values of a world space displacement
1013 A 3D world space direction in extended data

APP: 3D vector
1023, 1033 DXF: Y and Z values of a world space direction
1040 Extended data double-precision floating-point value
1041 Extended data distance value
1042 Extended data scale factor
1070 Extended data 16-bit signed integer
1071 Extended data 32-bit signed long

HEADER Section
2
The group codes described in this chapter pertain only to DXF™ files. The HEADER section
of a DXF file contains the settings of variables associated with the drawing. Each variable is
specified by a 9 group code giving the variable's name, followed by groups that supply the
variable's value. This chapter lists only the variables that are saved in the drawing file.
HEADER Section Group Codes

The following table lists the variables that are represented in the HEADER section
of a DXF™ file. For information about abbreviations and formatting used in this
DXF header variables

Variable Group code Description
$ACADMAINTVER 70 Maintenance version number (should be ignored)
$ACADVER 1 The AutoCAD drawing database version number:

AC1006 = R10;
AC1009 = R11 and R12;
AC1012 = R13; AC1014 = R14;
AC1015 = AutoCAD 2000;
AC1024 = AutoCAD 2010
$ANGBASE 50 Angle 0 direction
$ANGDIR 70 1 = Clockwise angles

0 = Counterclockwise angles
11
$ATTMODE 70 Attribute visibility:

0 = None
1 = Normal
2 = All
$AUNITS 70 Units format for angles
$AUPREC 70 Units precision for angles
$CECOLOR 62 Current entity color number:

0 = BYBLOCK; 256 = BYLAYER
$CELTSCALE 40 Current entity linetype scale
$CELTYPE 6 Entity linetype name, or BYBLOCK or BYLAYER
$CELWEIGHT 370 Lineweight of new objects
$CEPSNID 390 Plotstyle handle of new objects; if CEPSNTYPE is 3, then

this value indicates the handle
$CEPSNTYPE 380 Plot style type of new objects:

0 = Plot style by layer
1 = Plot style by block
2 = Plot style by dictionary default
3 = Plot style by object ID/handle
$CHAMFERA 40 First chamfer distance
$CHAMFERB 40 Second chamfer distance
$CHAMFERC 40 Chamfer length
$CHAMFERD 40 Chamfer angle
$CLAYER 8 Current layer name
$CMLJUST 70 Current multiline justification:

0 = Top; 1 = Middle; 2 = Bottom
12 | Chapter 2 HEADER Section

$CMLSCALE 40 Current multiline scale
$CMLSTYLE 2 Current multiline style name
$CSHADOW 280 Shadow mode for a 3D object:

0 = Casts and receives shadows
1 = Casts shadows
2 = Receives shadows
3 = Ignores shadows
$DIMADEC 70 Number of precision places displayed in angular dimensions
$DIMALT 70 Alternate unit dimensioning performed if nonzero
$DIMALTD 70 Alternate unit decimal places
$DIMALTF 40 Alternate unit scale factor
$DIMALTRND 40 Determines rounding of alternate units
$DIMALTTD 70 Number of decimal places for tolerance values of an altern-

ate units dimension
$DIMALTTZ 70 Controls suppression of zeros for alternate tolerance values:

0 = Suppresses zero feet and precisely zero inches
1 = Includes zero feet and precisely zero inches
2 = Includes zero feet and suppresses zero inches
3 = Includes zero inches and suppresses zero feet
$DIMALTU 70 Units format for alternate units of all dimension style family
members except angular:
1 = Scientific; 2 = Decimal; 3 = Engineering;
4 = Architectural (stacked); 5 = Fractional (stacked);
6 = Architectural; 7 = Fractional
$DIMALTZ 70 Controls suppression of zeros for alternate unit dimension

values:
HEADER Section Group Codes | 13

$DIMAPOST 1 Alternate dimensioning suffix
$DIMASO 70 1 = Create associative dimensioning

0 = Draw individual entities
$DIMASSOC 280 Controls the associativity of dimension objects

0 = Creates exploded dimensions; there is no association
between elements of the dimension, and the lines, arcs,
arrowheads, and text of a dimension are drawn as separate
objects
1 = Creates non-associative dimension objects; the elements
of the dimension are formed into a single object, and if the
definition point on the object moves, then the dimension
value is updated
2 = Creates associative dimension objects; the elements of
the dimension are formed into a single object and one or
more definition points of the dimension are coupled with
association points on geometric objects
$DIMASZ 40 Dimensioning arrow size
$DIMATFIT 70 Controls dimension text and arrow placement when space

is not sufficient to place both within the extension lines:
0 = Places both text and arrows outside extension lines
1 = Moves arrows first, then text
2 = Moves text first, then arrows
3 = Moves either text or arrows, whichever fits best
AutoCAD adds a leader to moved dimension text when
DIMTMOVE is set to 1
$DIMAUNIT 70 Angle format for angular dimensions:

0 = Decimal degrees; 1 = Degrees/minutes/seconds;
2 = Gradians; 3 = Radians; 4 = Surveyor's units
$DIMAZIN 70 Controls suppression of zeros for angular dimensions:

0 = Displays all leading and trailing zeros
1 = Suppresses leading zeros in decimal dimensions
2 = Suppresses trailing zeros in decimal dimensions

3 = Suppresses leading and trailing zeros
$DIMBLK 1 Arrow block name
$DIMBLK1 1 First arrow block name
$DIMBLK2 1 Second arrow block name
$DIMCEN 40 Size of center mark/lines
$DIMCLRD 70 Dimension line color:

range is 0 = BYBLOCK; 256 = BYLAYER
$DIMCLRE 70 Dimension extension line color:

$DIMCLRT 70 Dimension text color:

$DIMDEC 70 Number of decimal places for the tolerance values of a

primary units dimension
$DIMDLE 40 Dimension line extension
$DIMDLI 40 Dimension line increment
$DIMDSEP 70 Single-character decimal separator used when creating di-

mensions whose unit format is decimal
$DIMEXE 40 Extension line extension
$DIMEXO 40 Extension line offset
$DIMFAC 40 Scale factor used to calculate the height of text for dimen-
sion fractions and tolerances. AutoCAD multiplies DIMTXT
by DIMTFAC to set the fractional or tolerance text height
$DIMGAP 40 Dimension line gap
$DIMJUST 70 Horizontal dimension text position:

0 = Above dimension line and center-justified between ex-
tension lines
1 = Above dimension line and next to first extension line
2 = Above dimension line and next to second extension
line
3 = Above and center-justified to first extension line
4 = Above and center-justified to second extension line
$DIMLDRBLK 1 Arrow block name for leaders
$DIMLFAC 40 Linear measurements scale factor
$DIMLIM 70 Dimension limits generated if nonzero
$DIMLUNIT 70 Sets units for all dimension types except Angular:

1 = Scientific; 2 = Decimal; 3 = Engineering;
4 = Architectural; 5 = Fractional; 6 = Windows desktop
$DIMLWD 70 Dimension line lineweight:

-3 = Standard
-2 = ByLayer
-1 = ByBlock
0-211 = an integer representing 100th of mm
$DIMLWE 70 Extension line lineweight:

-3 = Standard
-2 = ByLayer
-1 = ByBlock
0-211 = an integer representing 100th of mm
$DIMPOST 1 General dimensioning suffix
$DIMRND 40 Rounding value for dimension distances
$DIMSAH 70 Use separate arrow blocks if nonzero
$DIMSCALE 40 Overall dimensioning scale factor
$DIMSD1 70 Suppression of first extension line:

0 = Not suppressed; 1 = Suppressed

$DIMSD2 70 Suppression of second extension line:

0 = Not suppressed; 1 = Suppressed
$DIMSE1 70 First extension line suppressed if nonzero
$DIMSE2 70 Second extension line suppressed if nonzero
$DIMSHO 70 1 = Recompute dimensions while dragging

0 = Drag original image
$DIMSOXD 70 Suppress outside-extensions dimension lines if nonzero
$DIMSTYLE 2 Dimension style name
$DIMTAD 70 Text above dimension line if nonzero
$DIMTDEC 70 Number of decimal places to display the tolerance values
$DIMTFAC 40 Dimension tolerance display scale factor
$DIMTIH 70 Text inside horizontal if nonzero
$DIMTIX 70 Force text inside extensions if nonzero
$DIMTM 40 Minus tolerance
$DIMTMOVE 70 Dimension text movement rules:

0 = Moves the dimension line with dimension text
1 = Adds a leader when dimension text is moved
2 = Allows text to be moved freely without a leader
$DIMTOFL 70 If text is outside extensions, force line extensions between

extensions if nonzero
$DIMTOH 70 Text outside horizontal if nonzero
$DIMTOL 70 Dimension tolerances generated if nonzero
$DIMTOLJ 70 Vertical justification for tolerance values:

0 = Top; 1 = Middle; 2 = Bottom

$DIMTP 40 Plus tolerance
$DIMTSZ 40 Dimensioning tick size:

0 = No ticks
$DIMTVP 40 Text vertical position
$DIMTXSTY 7 Dimension text style
$DIMTXT 40 Dimensioning text height
$DIMTZIN 70 Controls suppression of zeros for tolerance values:

$DIMUPT 70 Cursor functionality for user-positioned text:

0 = Controls only the dimension line location
1 = Controls the text position as well as the dimension line
location
$DIMZIN 70 Controls suppression of zeros for primary unit values:

$DISPSILH 70 Controls the display of silhouette curves of body objects in

Wireframe mode:
0 = Off; 1 = On
$DRAGVS 349 Hard-pointer ID to visual style while creating 3D solid

primitives. The defualt value is NULL
$DWGCODEPAGE 3 Drawing code page; set to the system code page when a
new drawing is created, but not otherwise maintained by
AutoCAD
$ELEVATION 40 Current elevation set by ELEV command

$ENDCAPS 280 Lineweight endcaps setting for new objects:

0 = none; 1 = round; 2 = angle; 3 = square
$EXTMAX 10, 20, 30 X, Y, and Z drawing extents upper-right corner (in WCS)
$EXTMIN 10, 20, 30 X, Y, and Z drawing extents lower-left corner (in WCS)
$EXTNAMES 290 Controls symbol table naming:

0 = Release 14 compatibility. Limits names to 31 characters
in length. Names can include the letters A to Z, the numer-
als 0 to 9, and the special characters dollar sign ($), under-
score (_), and hyphen (-).
1 = AutoCAD 2000. Names can be up to 255 characters in
length, and can include the letters A to Z, the numerals 0
to 9, spaces, and any special characters not used for other
purposes by Microsoft Windows and AutoCAD
$FILLETRAD 40 Fillet radius
$FILLMODE 70 Fill mode on if nonzero
$FINGERPRINTGUID 2 Set at creation time, uniquely identifies a particular drawing
$HALOGAP 280 Specifies a gap to be displayed where an object is hidden

by another object; the value is specified as a percent of one
unit and is independent of the zoom level. A haloed line is
shortened at the point where it is hidden when HIDE or
the Hidden option of SHADEMODE is used
$HANDSEED 5 Next available handle
$HIDETEXT 290 Specifies HIDETEXT system variable:

0 = HIDE ignores text objects when producing the hidden
view
1 = HIDE does not ignore text objects
$HYPERLINKBASE 1 Path for all relative hyperlinks in the drawing. If null, the
drawing path is used

$INDEXCTL 280 Controls whether layer and spatial indexes are created and
saved in drawing files:
0 = No indexes are created
1 = Layer index is created
2 = Spatial index is created
3 = Layer and spatial indexes are created
$INSBASE 10, 20, 30 Insertion base set by BASE command (in WCS)
$INSUNITS 70 Default drawing units for AutoCAD DesignCenter blocks:

0 = Unitless; 1 = Inches; 2 = Feet; 3 = Miles; 4 = Millimeters;
5 = Centimeters; 6 = Meters; 7 = Kilometers; 8 = Mi-
croinches;
9 = Mils; 10 = Yards; 11 = Angstroms; 12 = Nanometers;
13 = Microns; 14 = Decimeters; 15 = Decameters;
16 = Hectometers; 17 = Gigameters; 18 = Astronomical
units;
19 = Light years; 20 = Parsecs
$INTERFERECOLOR 62 Represents the ACI color index of the "interference objects"

created during the interfere command.Default value is 1
$INTERFEREOBJVS 345 Hard-pointer ID to the visual style for interference objects.

Default visual style is Conceptual.
$INTERFEREVPVS 346 Hard-pointer ID to the visual style for the viewport during
interference checking. Default visual style is 3d Wireframe.
$INTERSECTIONCOLOR 70 Specifies the entity color of intersection polylines:

Values 1-255 designate an AutoCAD color index (ACI)
0 = Color BYBLOCK
256 = Color BYLAYER
257 = Color BYENTITY
$INTERSECTIONDISPLAY 290 Specifies the display of intersection polylines:

0 = Turns off the display of intersection polylines
1 = Turns on the display of intersection polylines
$JOINSTYLE 280 Lineweight joint setting for new objects:

0=none; 1= round; 2 = angle; 3 = flat

$LIMCHECK 70 Nonzero if limits checking is on
$LIMMAX 10, 20 XY drawing limits upper-right corner (in WCS)
$LIMMIN 10, 20 XY drawing limits lower-left corner (in WCS)
$LTSCALE 40 Global linetype scale
$LUNITS 70 Units format for coordinates and distances
$LUPREC 70 Units precision for coordinates and distances
$LWDISPLAY 290 Controls the display of lineweights on the Model or Layout

tab:
0 = Lineweight is not displayed
1 = Lineweight is displayed
$MAXACTVP 70 Sets maximum number of viewports to be regenerated
$MEASUREMENT 70 Sets drawing units: 0 = English; 1 = Metric
$MENU 1 Name of menu file
$MIRRTEXT 70 Mirror text if nonzero
$OBSCOLOR 70 Specifies the color of obscured lines. An obscured line is a

hidden line made visible by changing its color and linetype
and is visible only when the HIDE or SHADEMODE com-
mand is used. The OBSCUREDCOLOR setting is visible only
if the OBSCUREDLTYPE is turned ON by setting it to a value
other than 0.
0 and 256 = Entity color
1-255 = An AutoCAD color index (ACI)
$OBSLTYPE 280 Specifies the linetype of obscured lines. Obscured linetypes

are independent of zoom level, unlike regular AutoCAD
linetypes. Value 0 turns off display of obscured lines and is
the default. Linetype values are defined as follows:
0 = Off
1 = Solid

2 = Dashed
3 = Dotted
4 = Short Dash
5 = Medium Dash
6 = Long Dash
7 = Double Short Dash
8 = Double Medium Dash
9 = Double Long Dash
10 = Medium Long Dash
11 = Sparse Dot
$ORTHOMODE 70 Ortho mode on if nonzero
$PDMODE 70 Point display mode
$PDSIZE 40 Point display size
$PELEVATION 40 Current paper space elevation
$PEXTMAX 10, 20, 30 Maximum X, Y, and Z extents for paper space
$PEXTMIN 10, 20, 30 Minimum X, Y, and Z extents for paper space
$PINSBASE 10, 20, 30 Paper space insertion base point
$PLIMCHECK 70 Limits checking in paper space when nonzero
$PLIMMAX 10, 20 Maximum X and Y limits in paper space
$PLIMMIN 10, 20 Minimum X and Y limits in paper space
$PLINEGEN 70 Governs the generation of linetype patterns around the

vertices of a 2D polyline:
1 = Linetype is generated in a continuous pattern around
vertices of the polyline
0 = Each segment of the polyline starts and ends with a
dash
$PLINEWID 40 Default polyline width

$PROJECTNAME 1 Assigns a project name to the current drawing. Used when

an external reference or image is not found on its original
path. The project name points to a section in the registry
that can contain one or more search paths for each project
name defined. Project names and their search directories
are created from the Files tab of the Options dialog box
$PROXYGRAPHICS 70 Controls the saving of proxy object images
$PSLTSCALE 70 Controls paper space linetype scaling:

1 = No special linetype scaling
0 = Viewport scaling governs linetype scaling
$PSTYLEMODE 290 Indicates whether the current drawing is in a Color-Depend-

ent or Named Plot Style mode:
0 = Uses named plot style tables in the current drawing
1 = Uses color-dependent plot style tables in the current
drawing
$PSVPSCALE 40 View scale factor for new viewports:

0 = Scaled to fit
>0 = Scale factor (a positive real value)
$PUCSBASE 2 Name of the UCS that defines the origin and orientation
of orthographic UCS settings (paper space only)
$PUCSNAME 2 Current paper space UCS name
$PUCSORG 10, 20, 30 Current paper space UCS origin
$PUCSORGBACK 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
paper space UCS to BACK when PUCSBASE is set to WORLD
$PUCSORGBOTTOM 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
paper space UCS to BOTTOM when PUCSBASE is set to
WORLD
$PUCSORGFRONT 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
paper space UCS to FRONT when PUCSBASE is set to
WORLD

$PUCSORGLEFT 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
paper space UCS to LEFT when PUCSBASE is set to WORLD
$PUCSORGRIGHT 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
paper space UCS to RIGHT when PUCSBASE is set to
WORLD
$PUCSORGTOP 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
paper space UCS to TOP when PUCSBASE is set to WORLD
$PUCSORTHOREF 2 If paper space UCS is orthographic (PUCSORTHOVIEW not

equal to 0), this is the name of the UCS that the orthograph-
ic UCS is relative to. If blank, UCS is relative to WORLD
$PUCSORTHOVIEW 70 Orthographic view type of paper space UCS:

0 = UCS is not orthographic;
1 = Top; 2 = Bottom;
3 = Front; 4 = Back;
5 = Left; 6 = Right
$PUCSXDIR 10, 20, 30 Current paper space UCS X axis
$PUCSYDIR 10, 20, 30 Current paper space UCS Y axis
$QTEXTMODE 70 Quick Text mode on if nonzero
$REGENMODE 70 REGENAUTO mode on if nonzero
$SHADEDGE 70 0 = Faces shaded, edges not highlighted

1 = Faces shaded, edges highlighted in black
2 = Faces not filled, edges in entity color
3 = Faces in entity color, edges in black
$SHADEDIF 70 Percent ambient/diffuse light; range 1-100; default 70
$SHADOWPLANELOCA- 40 Location of the ground shadow plane. This is a Z axis ordin-

TION ate.
$SKETCHINC 40 Sketch record increment

$SKPOLY 70 0 = Sketch lines; 1 = Sketch polylines
$SORTENTS 280 Controls the object sorting methods; accessible from the
Options dialog box User Preferences tab. SORTENTS uses
the following bitcodes:
0 = Disables SORTENTS
1 = Sorts for object selection
2 = Sorts for object snap
4 = Sorts for redraws
8 = Sorts for MSLIDE command slide creation
16 = Sorts for REGEN commands
32 = Sorts for plotting
64 = Sorts for PostScript output
$SPLFRAME 70 Spline control polygon display: 1 = On; 0 = Off
$SPLINESEGS 70 Number of line segments per spline patch
$SPLINETYPE 70 Spline curve type for PEDIT Spline
$SURFTAB1 70 Number of mesh tabulations in first direction
$SURFTAB2 70 Number of mesh tabulations in second direction
$SURFTYPE 70 Surface type for PEDIT Smooth
$SURFU 70 Surface density (for PEDIT Smooth) in M direction
$SURFV 70 Surface density (for PEDIT Smooth) in N direction
$TDCREATE 40 Local date/time of drawing creation (see “Special Handling

of Date/Time Variables”)
$TDINDWG 40 Cumulative editing time for this drawing (see “Special

Handling of Date/Time Variables”)
$TDUCREATE 40 Universal date/time the drawing was created (see “Special


$TDUPDATE 40 Local date/time of last drawing update (see “Special

$TDUSRTIMER 40 User-elapsed timer
$TDUUPDATE 40 Universal date/time of the last update/save (see “Special

$TEXTSIZE 40 Default text height
$TEXTSTYLE 7 Current text style name
$THICKNESS 40 Current thickness set by ELEV command
$TILEMODE 70 1 for previous release compatibility mode; 0 otherwise
$TRACEWID 40 Default trace width
$TREEDEPTH 70 Specifies the maximum depth of the spatial index
$UCSBASE 2 Name of the UCS that defines the origin and orientation
of orthographic UCS settings
$UCSNAME 2 Name of current UCS
$UCSORG 10, 20, 30 Origin of current UCS (in WCS)
$UCSORGBACK 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
model space UCS to BACK when UCSBASE is set to WORLD
$UCSORGBOTTOM 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
model space UCS to BOTTOM when UCSBASE is set to
WORLD
$UCSORGFRONT 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
model space UCS to FRONT when UCSBASE is set to
WORLD
$UCSORGLEFT 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
model space UCS to LEFT when UCSBASE is set to WORLD

$UCSORGRIGHT 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
model space UCS to RIGHT when UCSBASE is set to WORLD
$UCSORGTOP 10, 20, 30 Point which becomes the new UCS origin after changing
model space UCS to TOP when UCSBASE is set to WORLD
$UCSORTHOREF 2 If model space UCS is orthographic (UCSORTHOVIEW not

equal to 0), this is the name of the UCS that the orthograph-
ic UCS is relative to. If blank, UCS is relative to WORLD
$UCSORTHOVIEW 70 Orthographic view type of model space UCS:

0 = UCS is not orthographic;
1 = Top; 2 = Bottom;
3 = Front; 4 = Back;
5 = Left; 6 = Right
$UCSXDIR 10, 20, 30 Direction of the current UCS X axis (in WCS)
$UCSYDIR 10, 20, 30 Direction of the current UCS Y axis (in WCS)
$UNITMODE 70 Low bit set = Display fractions, feet-and-inches, and survey-

or's angles in input format
$USERI1 - 5 70 Five integer variables intended for use by third-party de-

velopers
$USERR1 - 5 40 Five real variables intended for use by third-party developers
$USRTIMER 70 0 = Timer off; 1 = Timer on
$VERSIONGUID 2 Uniquely identifies a particular version of a drawing. Up-

dated when the drawing is modified
$VISRETAIN 70 0 = Don't retain xref-dependent visibility settings

1 = Retain xref-dependent visibility settings
$WORLDVIEW 70 1 = Set UCS to WCS during DVIEW/VPOINT

0 = Don't change UCS
$XCLIPFRAME 290 Controls the visibility of xref clipping boundaries:

0 = Clipping boundary is not visible
1 = Clipping boundary is visible
$XEDIT 290 Controls whether the current drawing can be edited in-
place when being referenced by another drawing.
0 = Can't use in-place reference editing
1 = Can use in-place reference editing
Revised VPORT Header Variables

The following header variables existed before AutoCAD® Release 11 but now
have independent settings for each active viewport. OPEN honors these
variables when read from DXF™ files. If a VPORT symbol table with *ACTIVE
entries is present (as is true for any DXF file produced by Release 11 or later),
the values in the VPORT table entries override the values of these header
variables.
Revised VPORT header variables

$FASTZOOM 70 Fast zoom enabled if nonzero
$GRIDMODE 70 Grid mode on if nonzero
$GRIDUNIT 10, 20 Grid X and Y spacing
$SNAPANG 50 Snap grid rotation angle
$SNAPBASE 10, 20 Snap/grid base point (in UCS)
$SNAPISOPAIR 70 Isometric plane: 0 = Left; 1 = Top; 2 = Right
$SNAPMODE 70 Snap mode on if nonzero
$SNAPSTYLE 70 Snap style: 0 = Standard; 1 = Isometric
$SNAPUNIT 10, 20 Snap grid X and Y spacing
$VIEWCTR 10, 20 XY center of current view on screen

Revised VPORT header variables
$VIEWDIR 10, 20, 30 Viewing direction (direction from target in

WCS)
$VIEWSIZE 40 Height of view
Special Handling of Date/Time Variables

The CDATE and DATE system variables provide access to the current date and
time. The TDCREATE, TDINDWG, TDUPDATE, and TDUSRTIMER system
variables (and the $TDCREATE, $TDUCREATE, $TDUPDATE, and
$TDUUPDATE DXF header variables) provide access to times and dates
associated with the current drawing. The values are represented as real numbers
with special meanings, as described below.
DATE is the current date and time represented as a Julian date and fraction
of a day in a real number.
<Julian date>.<Fraction of day>
For example, on December 31, 1999, at 9:58:35 p.m. GMT, the DATE variable
contains
2451544.91568287
The date and time are taken from the computer's clock when the variable is
read. The time is represented as a fraction of a day, and the times returned by
DATE may be truly subtracted to compute differences in time. To extract the
seconds since midnight from the value returned by DATE, use the AutoLISP
expressions
(setq s (getvar "DATE"))
(setq seconds (* 86400.0 (- s (fix s))))
Note that DATE returns only a true Julian date if the system's clock is set to
UTC/Zulu (Greenwich Mean Time). TDCREATE and TDUPDATE have the same
format as DATE, but their values represent the creation time and last update
time of the current drawing.
TDINDWG and TDUSRTIMER (and the $TDINDWG and $TDUSRTIMER DXF
header variables) use a format similar to that of DATE, but their values represent
elapsed times, as in
<Number of days>.<Fraction of day>
Special Handling of Date/Time Variables | 29

CDATE is the current date and time in calendar and clock format. The value
is returned as a real number in the form
YYYYMMDD.HHMMSShsec
where
YYYY = year
MM = month (01-12)
DD = day (01-31)
HH = hour (00-23)
MM = minute (00-59)
SS = second (00-59)
hsec = hundredths of a second (00-99)
For example, if the current date is December 31, 2005, and the time is
9:58:35.75 p.m., CDATE would return the value:
20051231.21583575
Note that CDATE values can be compared for later and earlier values but that
subtracting them yields numbers that are not meaningful.

CLASSES Section
3
The group codes described in this chapter are found only in DXF™ files. The CLASSES section
holds the information for application-defined classes whose instances appear in the BLOCKS,
ENTITIES, and OBJECTS sections of the database. It is assumed that a class definition is
permanently fixed in the class hierarchy. All fields are required.
CLASSES Section Group Codes

Each entry in the CLASSES section contains the groups described in the following
table.
CLASSES section group codes

0 Record type (CLASS). Identifies beginning of a CLASS record
1 Class DXF record name; always unique
2 C++ class name. Used to bind with software that defines object class
behavior; always unique
3 Application name. Posted in Alert box when a class definition listed in

this section is not currently loaded
90 Proxy capabilities flag. Bit-coded value that indicates the capabilities of

this object as a proxy:
0 = No operations allowed (0)
1 = Erase allowed (0x1)
2 = Transform allowed (0x2)
4 = Color change allowed (0x4)
8 = Layer change allowed (0x8)
31
CLASSES section group codes
16 = Linetype change allowed (0x10)
32 = Linetype scale change allowed (0x20)
64 = Visibility change allowed (0x40)
128 = Cloning allowed (0x80)
256 = Lineweight change allowed (0x100)
512 = Plot Style Name change allowed (0x200)
895 = All operations except cloning allowed (0x37F)
1023 = All operations allowed (0x3FF)
1024 = Disables proxy warning dialog (0x400)
32768 = R13 format proxy (0x8000)
91 Instance count for a custom class
280 Was-a-proxy flag. Set to 1 if class was not loaded when this DXF file was
created, and 0 otherwise
281 Is-an-entity flag. Set to 1 if class was derived from the AcDbEntity class
and can reside in the BLOCKS or ENTITIES section. If 0, instances may
appear only in the OBJECTS section
Default Class Values

AutoCAD® registers the classes listed in the following table. (This may not be
a complete list of the classes found in a DXF file. It depends on the applications
currently in use by AutoCAD.)
Default class values

DXF record name C++ class name Code Code Code
code 1 code 2 90 280 281
ACDBDICTIONARYWDFLT AcDbDictionaryWithDefault 0 0 0
ACDBPLACEHOLDER AcDbPlaceHolder 0 0 0
ARCALIGNEDTEXT AcDbArcAlignedText 0 0 1
DICTIONARYVAR AcDbDictionaryVar 0 0 0
HATCH AcDbHatch 0 0 1
32 | Chapter 3 CLASSES Section

Default class values
DXF record name C++ class name Code Code Code
code 1 code 2 90 280 281
IDBUFFER AcDbIdBuffer 0 0 0
IMAGE AcDbRasterImage 127 0 1
IMAGEDEF AcDbRasterImageDef 0 0 0
IMAGEDEF_REACTOR AcDbRasterImageDefReactor 1 0 0
LAYER_INDEX AcDbLayerIndex 0 0 0
LAYOUT AcDbLayout 0 0 0
LWPOLYLINE AcDbPolyline 0 0 1
OBJECT_PTR CAseDLPNTableRecord 1 0 0
OLE2FRAME AcDbOle2Frame 0 0 1
PLOTSETTINGS AcDbPlotSettings 0 0 0
RASTERVARIABLES AcDbRasterVariables 0 0 0
RTEXT RText 0 0 1
SORTENTSTABLE AcDbSortentsTable 0 0 0
SPATIAL_INDEX AcDbSpatialIndex 0 0 0
SPATIAL_FILTER AcDbSpatialFilter 0 0 0
WIPEOUT AcDbWipeout 127 0 1
WIPEOUTVARIABLES AcDbWipeoutVariables 0 0 0
Default Class Values | 33

34
TABLES Section
4
The group codes described in this chapter are found in DXF™ files and used by applications.
The TABLES section contains several tables, each of which can contain a variable number of
entries. These codes are also used by AutoLISP® and ObjectARX® applications in entity
definition lists.
Symbol Table Group Codes

The order of the tables may change, but the LTYPE table always precedes the
LAYER table. Each table is introduced with a 0 group code with the label TABLE.
This is followed by a 2 group code identifying the particular table (APPID,
DIMSTYLE, LAYER, LTYPE, STYLE, UCS, VIEW, VPORT, or BLOCK_RECORD),
a 5 group code (a handle), a 100 group code (AcDbSymbolTable subclass marker),
and a 70 group code that specifies the maximum number of table entries that
may follow. Table names are output in uppercase. The DIMSTYLE handle is a
105 group code, and not a 5 group code.
The tables in a drawing can contain deleted items, but these are not written to
the DXF file. As a result, fewer table entries may follow the table header than
are indicated by the 70 group code, so do not use the count in the 70 group
code as an index to read in the table. This group code is provided so that a
program that reads DXF files can allocate an array large enough to hold all the
table entries that follow.
Following this header for each table are the table entries. Each table entry consists
of a 0 group identifying the item type (same as table name, such as LTYPE or
LAYER), a 2 group giving the name of the table entry, a 70 group specifying
flags relevant to the table entry (defined for each following table), and additional
groups that give the value of the table entry. The end of each table is indicated
by a 0 group with the value ENDTAB.
Both symbol table records and symbol tables are database objects. At a very
minimum, with all prevailing usage within AutoCAD®, this implies that a handle
35
is present, positioned after the 2 group codes for both the symbol table record
objects and the symbol table objects.
The DIMSTYLE table is the only record type in the system with a handle code
of 105 because of its earlier usage of group code 5. As a rule, programmers
should not be concerned about this exception unless it is in the context of
the DIMSTYLE table section. This is the only context in which this exception
should occur.
Common Symbol Table Group Codes

The following table shows group codes that apply to all symbol tables. For
information about abbreviations and formatting used in this table, see
Formatting Conventions in This Reference on page 2.
Group codes that apply to all symbol tables

-1 APP: entity name (changes each time a drawing is opened)
0 Object type (TABLE)
2 Table name
5 Handle
102 “{ACAD_XDICTIONARY” indicates the start of an extension dictionary group. This group exists
only if persistent reactors have been attached to this object (optional)
360 Hard owner ID/handle to owner dictionary (optional)
102 End of group, “}” (optional)
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner object
100 Subclass marker (AcDbSymbolTable)
70 Maximum number of entries in table
36 | Chapter 4 TABLES Section

Common Group Codes for Symbol Table Entries
The following table shows group codes that apply to all symbol table entries.
When you refer to the table of group codes by entity type, which lists the
codes associated with specific entities, keep in mind that the codes shown
here can also be present. For information about abbreviations and formatting
used in this table, see Formatting Conventions in This Reference on page 2.
Group codes that apply to all symbol table entries

-1 APP: entity name (changes each time a drawing is opened)
0 Entity type (table name)
5 Handle (all except DIMSTYLE)
105 Handle (DIMSTYLE table only)
102 Start of application-defined group “{application_name”. For example, “{ACAD_REACTORS” in-

dicates the start of the AutoCAD persistent reactors group (optional)
application- Codes and values within the 102 groups are application defined (optional)
defined codes
102 “{ACAD_REACTORS” indicates the start of the AutoCAD persistent reactors group. This group
exists only if persistent reactors have been attached to this object (optional)
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary (optional)
360 Hard-owner ID/handle to owner dictionary (optional)
Common Group Codes for Symbol Table Entries | 37

Group codes that apply to all symbol table entries
100 Subclass marker (AcDbSymbolTableRecord)
APPID
The following group codes apply to APPID symbol table entries. In addition
to the group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Symbol
Table Entries on page 37. For information about abbreviations and formatting
APPID group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbRegAppTableRecord)
2 User-supplied (or application-supplied) application name (for extended data). These table
entries maintain a set of names for all registered applications
70 Standard flag values (bit-coded values):

16 = If set, table entry is externally dependent on an xref
32 = If both this bit and bit 16 are set, the externally dependent xref has been successfully re-
solved
64 = If set, the table entry was referenced by at least one entity in the drawing the last time
the drawing was edited. (This flag is for the benefit of AutoCAD commands. It can be ignored
by most programs that read DXF files and need not be set by programs that write DXF files)
BLOCK_RECORD
The following group codes apply to BLOCK_RECORD symbol table entries.
In addition to the group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for
Symbol Table Entries on page 37. For information about abbreviations and
formatting used in this table, see Formatting Conventions in This Reference
on page 2.
BLOCK_RECORD group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbBlockTableRecord)

BLOCK_RECORD group codes
2 Block name
340 Hard-pointer ID/handle to associated LAYOUT object
70 Block insertion units.
280 Block explodability
281 Block scalability
310 DXF: Binary data for bitmap preview (optional)
1001 Xdata application name “ACAD” (optional)
1000 Xdata string data “DesignCenter Data” (optional)
1002 Begin xdata “{“ (optional)
1070 Autodesk Design Center version number
1070 Insert units:

0 = Unitless; 1 = Inches; 2 = Feet; 3 = Miles; 4 = Millimeters;
5 = Centimeters; 6 = Meters; 7 = Kilometers; 8 = Microinches;
9 = Mils; 10 = Yards; 11 = Angstroms; 12 = Nanometers;
13 = Microns; 14 = Decimeters; 15 = Decameters;
16 = Hectometers; 17 = Gigameters; 18 = Astronomical units;
19 = Light years; 20 = Parsecs
1002 End xdata “}“
DIMSTYLE
The following group codes apply to DIMSTYLE symbol table entries. The
DIMSTYLE system variables are described in “System Variables,” in the
Command Reference. In addition to the group codes described here, see Common
Group Codes for Symbol Table Entries on page 37. For information about
DIMSTYLE | 39
abbreviations and formatting used in this table, see Formatting Conventions
in This Reference on page 2.
DIMSTYLE group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbDimStyleTableRecord)
2 Dimension style name

solved
3 DIMPOST
4 DIMAPOST
5 DIMBLK (obsolete, now object ID)
6 DIMBLK1 (obsolete, now object ID)
7 DIMBLK2 (obsolete, now object ID)
40 DIMSCALE
41 DIMASZ
42 DIMEXO
43 DIMDLI
44 DIMEXE
45 DIMRND
46 DIMDLE
47 DIMTP

48 DIMTM
140 DIMTXT
141 DIMCEN
142 DIMTSZ
143 DIMALTF
144 DIMLFAC
145 DIMTVP
146 DIMTFAC
147 DIMGAP
148 DIMALTRND
71 DIMTOL
72 DIMLIM
73 DIMTIH
74 DIMTOH
75 DIMSE1
76 DIMSE2
77 DIMTAD
78 DIMZIN
79 DIMAZIN
170 DIMALT
DIMSTYLE | 41
171 DIMALTD
172 DIMTOFL
173 DIMSAH
174 DIMTIX
175 DIMSOXD
176 DIMCLRD
177 DIMCLRE
178 DIMCLRT
179 DIMADEC
270 DIMUNIT (obsolete, now use DIMLUNIT AND DIMFRAC)
271 DIMDEC
272 DIMTDEC
273 DIMALTU
274 DIMALTTD
275 DIMAUNIT
276 DIMFRAC
277 DIMLUNIT
278 DIMDSEP
279 DIMTMOVE
280 DIMJUST

281 DIMSD1
282 DIMSD2
283 DIMTOLJ
284 DIMTZIN
285 DIMALTZ
286 DIMALTTZ
287 DIMFIT (obsolete, now use DIMATFIT and DIMTMOVE)
288 DIMUPT
289 DIMATFIT
340 DIMTXSTY (handle of referenced STYLE)
341 DIMLDRBLK (handle of referenced BLOCK)
342 DIMBLK (handle of referenced BLOCK)
343 DIMBLK1 (handle of referenced BLOCK)
344 DIMBLK2 (handle of referenced BLOCK)
371 DIMLWD (lineweight enum value)
372 DIMLWE (lineweight enum value)
LAYER
The following group codes apply to LAYER symbol table entries. In addition
LAYER | 43
LAYER group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbLayerTableRecord)
2 Layer name
70 Standard flags (bit-coded values):

1 = Layer is frozen; otherwise layer is thawed
2 = Layer is frozen by default in new viewports
4 = Layer is locked
solved
64 = If set, the table entry was referenced by at least one entity in the drawing the last time the
drawing was edited. (This flag is for the benefit of AutoCAD commands. It can be ignored by
most programs that read DXF files and need not be set by programs that write DXF files)
62 Color number (if negative, layer is off)
6 Linetype name
290 Plotting flag. If set to 0, do not plot this layer
370 Lineweight enum value
390 Hard-pointer ID/handle of PlotStyleName object
347 Hard-pointer ID/handle to Material object
Xref-dependent layers are output during SAVEAS. For these layers, the
associated linetype name in the DXF file is always CONTINUOUS.
LTYPE
The following group codes apply to LTYPE symbol table entries. In addition

LTYPE group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbLinetypeTableRecord)
2 Linetype name

solved
3 Descriptive text for linetype
72 Alignment code; value is always 65, the ASCII code for A
73 The number of linetype elements
40 Total pattern length
49 Dash, dot or space length (one entry per element)
74 Complex linetype element type (one per element). Default is 0 (no embedded shape/text)
The following codes are bit values:
1 = If set, code 50 specifies an absolute rotation; if not set, code 50 specifies a relative rotation
2 = Embedded element is a text string
4 = Embedded element is a shape
75 Shape number (one per element) if code 74 specifies an embedded shape

If code 74 specifies an embedded text string, this value is set to 0
If code 74 is set to 0, code 75 is omitted
340 Pointer to STYLE object (one per element if code 74 > 0)
46 S = Scale value (optional); multiple entries can exist
LTYPE | 45
LTYPE group codes
50 R = (relative) or A = (absolute) rotation value in radians of embedded shape or text; one per
element if code 74 specifies an embedded shape or text string
44 X = X offset value (optional); multiple entries can exist
45 Y = Y offset value (optional); multiple entries can exist
9 Text string (one per element if code 74 = 2)
The group codes 74, 75, 340, 46, 50, 44, 45, and 9 are not returned by the
tblsearch or tblnext functions. You must use tblobjname to retrieve these
values within an application.
STYLE
The following group codes apply to STYLE symbol table entries. In addition
STYLE group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbTextStyleTableRecord)
2 Style name

1 = If set, this entry describes a shape
4 = Vertical text
solved
the drawing was edited. (This flag is for the benefit of AutoCADcommands. It can be ignored
40 Fixed text height; 0 if not fixed

STYLE group codes
41 Width factor
50 Oblique angle
71 Text generation flags:

2 = Text is backward (mirrored in X)
4 = Text is upside down (mirrored in Y)
42 Last height used
3 Primary font file name
4 Bigfont file name; blank if none
1071 A long value which contains a truetype font’s pitch and family, charset, and italic and bold flags
A STYLE table item is also used to record shape file LOAD command requests.
In this case the first bit (1) is set in the 70 group flags and only the 3 group
(shape file name) is meaningful (all the other groups are output, however).
UCS
The following group codes apply to UCS symbol table entries. In addition to
the group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Symbol Table
Entries on page 37. For information about abbreviations and formatting used
in this table, see Formatting Conventions in This Reference on page 2.
UCS group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbUCSTableRecord)
2 UCS name

solved
UCS | 47
UCS group codes
10 Origin (in WCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of origin (in WCS)
11 X-axis direction (in WCS)

21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of X-axis direction (in WCS)
12 Y-axis direction (in WCS)

22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of Y-axis direction (in WCS)
79 Always 0
146 Elevation
346 ID/handle of base UCS if this is an orthographic. This code is not present if the 79 code is 0. If
this code is not present and 79 code is non-zero, then base UCS is assumed to be WORLD
71 Orthographic type (optional; always appears in pairs with the 13, 23, 33 codes):
1 = Top; 2 = Bottom
3 = Front; 4 = Back
5 = Left; 6 = Right
13 Origin for this orthographic type relative to this UCS

DXF: X value of origin point; APP: 3D point
23, 33 DXF: Y and Z values of origin point
Each 71/13,23,33 pair defines the UCS origin for a particular orthographic
type relative to this UCS. For example, if the following pair is present, then
invoking the UCS/LEFT command when UCSBASE is set to this UCS will cause
the new UCS origin to become (1,2,3).

71: 5
13: 1.0
23: 2.0
33: 3.0
If this pair were not present, then invoking the UCS/LEFT command would
cause the new UCS origin to be set to this UCS's origin point.
VIEW
The following group codes apply to VIEW symbol table entries. In addition
VIEW group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbViewTableRecord)
2 Name of view

1 = If set, this is a paper space view
solved
by most programs that read DXF files and does not need to be set by programs that write DXF
files)
40 View height (in DCS)
10 View center point (in DCS)

20 DXF: Y value of view center point (in DCS)
41 View width (in DCS)
11 View direction from target (in WCS)

VIEW | 49
VIEW group codes
21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of view direction from target (in WCS)
12 Target point (in WCS)

22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of target point (in WCS)
42 Lens length
43 Front clipping plane (offset from target point)
44 Back clipping plane (offset from target point)
50 Twist angle
71 View mode (see VIEWMODE system variable)
281 Render mode:

0 = 2D Optimized (classic 2D)
1 = Wireframe
2 = Hidden line
3 = Flat shaded
4 = Gouraud shaded
5 = Flat shaded with wireframe
6 = Gouraud shaded with wireframe
All rendering modes other than 2D Optimized engage the new 3D graphics pipeline. These
values directly correspond to the SHADEMODE command and the AcDbAbstractViewTableRe-
cord::RenderMode enum
72 1 if there is a UCS associated to this view; 0 otherwise
73 1 if the camera is plottable
332 Soft-pointer ID/handle to background object (optional)
334 Soft-pointer ID/handle to live section object (optional)
348 Hard-pointer ID/handle to visual style object (optional)
361 Sun hard ownership ID

The following codes appear only if code 72 is set to 1. They define the UCS
that is associated to this view. This UCS will become the current UCS whenever
this view is restored (if code 72 is 0, the UCS is unchanged).
VIEW with UCS group codes

110 UCS origin (appears only if code 72 is set to 1)

120, 130 DXF: Y and Z values of UCS origin
111 UCS X-axis (appears only if code 72 is set to 1)

121, 131 DXF: Y and Z values of UCS X-axis
112 UCS Y-axis (appears only if code 72 is set to 1)

122, 132 DXF: Y and Z values of UCS Y-axis
79 Orthographic type of UCS (appears only if code 72 is set to 1):

0 = UCS is not orthographic
1 = Top; 2 = Bottom
3 = Front; 4 = Back
5 = Left; 6 = Right
146 UCS elevation (appears only if code 72 is set to 1)
345 ID/handle of AcDbUCSTableRecord if UCS is a named UCS. If not present, then UCS is
unnamed (appears only if code 72 is set to 1)
346 ID/handle of AcDbUCSTableRecord of base UCS if UCS is orthographic (79 code is non-
zero). If not present and 79 code is non-zero, then base UCS is taken to be WORLD (appears
only if code 72 is set to 1)
VPORT
The following group codes apply to VPORT symbol table entries. The VPORT
table is unique: it may contain several entries with the same name (indicating
a multiple-viewport configuration). The entries corresponding to the active
VPORT | 51
viewport configuration all have the name *ACTIVE. The first such entry
describes the current viewport. In addition to the group codes described here,
see Common Group Codes for Symbol Table Entries on page 37. For
VPORT group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbViewportTableRecord)
2 Viewport name

solved
by most programs that read DXF files and does not need to be set by programs that write DXF
files)
10 Lower-left corner of viewport

20 DXF: Y value of lower-left corner of viewport
11 Upper-right corner of viewport

21 DXF: Y value of upper-right corner of viewport

22 DXF: Y value of view center point (in DCS)
13 Snap base point (in DCS)

23 DXF: Y value of snap base point (in DCS)
14 Snap spacing X and Y

VPORT group codes
24 DXF: Y value of snap spacing X and Y
15 Grid spacing X and Y

25 DXF: Y value of grid spacing X and Y
16 View direction from target point (in WCS)

26, 36 DXF: Y and Z values of view direction from target point

(in WCS)
17 View target point (in WCS)

27, 37 DXF: Y and Z values of view target point (in WCS)
42 Lens length
43 Front clipping plane (offset from target point)
44 Back clipping plane (offset from target point)
45 View height
50 Snap rotation angle
51 View twist angle
72 Circle sides
331 or 441 Soft or hard-pointer ID/handle to frozen layer objects; repeats for each frozen layers
70 Bit flags and perspective mode
1 Plot style sheet
VPORT | 53
VPORT group codes
281 Render mode:

1 = Wireframe
2 = Hidden line
3 = Flat shaded
4 = Gouraud shaded
71 View mode (see VIEWMODE system variable)
74 UCSICON setting
110 UCS origin

111 UCS X-axis

112 UCS Y-axis

345 ID/handle of AcDbUCSTableRecord if UCS is a named UCS. If not present, then UCS is unnamed
346 ID/handle of AcDbUCSTableRecord of base UCS if UCS is orthographic (79 code is non-zero).
If not present and 79 code is non-zero, then base UCS is taken to be WORLD
79 Orthographic type of UCS

1 = Top; 2 = Bottom
3 = Front; 4 = Back

VPORT group codes
5 = Left; 6 = Right
146 Elevation
170 Shade plot setting
61 Major grid lines
332 Soft-pointer ID/handle to background object (optional)
333 Soft-pointer ID/handle to shade plot object (optional)
348 Hard-pointer ID/handle to visual style object (optional)
292 Default Lighting On flag
282 Default Lighting type

0 = One distant light
1 = Two distant lights
141 Brightness
142 Contrast
63, 421, 431 Ambient color (only output when non-black)
VPORT | 55
56
BLOCKS Section
5
The group codes described in this chapter are found in DXF™ files and used by applications.
The BLOCKS section contains an entry for each block reference in the drawing.
BLOCKS Section Group Codes

The BLOCKS section of the DXF file contains all the block definitions, including
anonymous blocks generated by the HATCH command and by associative
dimensioning. Each block definition contains the entities that make up that
block as it is used in the drawing. The format of the entities in this section is
identical to those in the ENTITIES section. All entities in the BLOCKS section
appear between block and endblk entities. Block and endblk entities appear
only in the BLOCKS section. Block definitions are never nested (that is, no block
or endblk entity ever appears within another block-endblk pair), although a
block definition can contain an insert entity.
External references are written in the DXF file as block definitions, except that
they also include a string (group code 1) that specifies the path and file name
of the external reference.
The block table handle, along with any xdata and persistent reactors, appears
in each block definition immediately following the BLOCK record, which
contains all of the specific information that a block table record stores.
57
BLOCK
The following group codes apply to block entities. For information about
Block group codes

0 Entity type (BLOCK)
5 Handle

defined codes
100 Subclass marker (AcDbEntity)
8 Layer name
100 Subclass marker (AcDbBlockBegin)
2 Block name
70 Block-type flags (bit-coded values, may be combined):

0 = Indicates none of the following flags apply
1 = This is an anonymous block generated by hatching, associative dimensioning, other internal
operations, or an application
2 = This block has non-constant attribute definitions (this bit is not set if the block has any at-
tribute definitions that are constant, or has no attribute definitions at all)
4 = This block is an external reference (xref)
8 = This block is an xref overlay
16 = This block is externally dependent
32 = This is a resolved external reference, or dependent of an external reference (ignored on
input)
64 = This definition is a referenced external reference (ignored
on input)
58 | Chapter 5 BLOCKS Section

Block group codes
10 Base point
20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of base point
3 Block name
1 Xref path name
4 Block description (optional)
The UCS in effect when a block definition is created becomes the WCS for all
entities in the block definition. The new origin for these entities is shifted to
match the base point defined for the block definition. All entity data is
translated to fit this new WCS.
Model Space and Paper Space Block Definitions

Three empty definitions always appear in the BLOCKS section. They are titled
*Model_Space, *Paper_Space and *Paper_Space0. These definitions manifest
the representations of model space and paper space as block definitions
internally. The internal name of the first paper space layout is *Paper_Space,
the second is *Paper_Space0, the third is *Paper_Space1, and so on.
Model Space and Paper Space Entity Segregation

The interleaving between model space and paper space no longer occurs.
Instead, all paper space entities are output, followed by model space entities.
The flag distinguishing them is the group code 67.
ENDBLK
The following group codes apply to endblk objects. For information about
Endblk group codes

0 Entity type (ENDBLK)
ENDBLK | 59
Endblk group codes
5 Handle

defined codes
8 Layer name
100 Subclass marker (AcDbBlockEnd)
60 | Chapter 5 BLOCKS Section

ENTITIES Section
6
This chapter presents the group codes that apply to graphical objects. These codes are found
in the ENTITIES section of a DXF™ file and are used by AutoLISP® and ObjectARX® applications
in entity definition lists.
Common Group Codes for Entities

The following table shows group codes that apply to virtually all graphical
objects. Some of the group codes shown here are included with an entity
definition only if the entity has nondefault values for the property. When you
refer to the group codes by entity type, the lists of codes associated with specific
entities, keep in mind that the codes shown here are also present.
NOTE Do not write programs that rely on the order shown in these DXF code tables.
Although these tables show the order of group codes as they usually appear, the
order can change under certain conditions or may be changed in a future AutoCAD®
release. The code that controls an entity should be driven by a case (switch) or a
table so that it can process each group correctly even if the order is unexpected.
When a group is omitted, its default value upon input (when using OPEN) is
indicated in the third column. If the value of a group code is equal to the default,
it is omitted upon output (when using SAVEAS). For information about
Group codes that apply to all graphical objects

Group code Description If omitted,
defaults to…
-1 APP: entity name (changes each time a drawing is opened) not omitted
61
defaults to…
0 Entity type not omitted
5 Handle not omitted
102 Start of application-defined group no default

“{application_name” (optional)
application- Codes and values within the 102 groups are application-defined (optional) no default
defined codes
102 End of group, “}” (optional) no default
102 “{ACAD_REACTORS” indicates the start of the AutoCAD persistent reactors no default
group. This group exists only if persistent reactors have been attached
to this object (optional)
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary (optional) no default
102 “{ACAD_XDICTIONARY” indicates the start of an extension dictionary no default

group. This group exists only if an extension dictionary has been attached
to the object (optional)
360 Hard-owner ID/handle to owner dictionary (optional) no default
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner BLOCK_RECORD object not omitted
100 Subclass marker (AcDbEntity) not omitted
67 Absent or zero indicates entity is in model space. 1 indicates entity is in 0

paper space (optional).
410 APP: layout tab name not omitted
8 Layer name not omitted
62 | Chapter 6 ENTITIES Section

defaults to…
6 Linetype name (present if not BYLAYER). The special name BYBLOCK in- BYLAYER
dicates a floating linetype (optional)
347 Hard-pointer ID/handle to material object (present if not BYLAYER) BYLAYER
62 Color number (present if not BYLAYER); zero indicates the BYBLOCK BYLAYER
(floating) color; 256 indicates BYLAYER; a negative value indicates that
the layer is turned off (optional)
370 Lineweight enum value. Stored and moved around as a 16-bit integer. not omitted
48 Linetype scale (optional) 1.0
60 Object visibility (optional): 0 = Visible; 1 = Invisible 0
92 Number of bytes in the proxy entity graphics represented in the sub- no default
sequent 310 groups, which are binary chunk records (optional)
310 Proxy entity graphics data (multiple lines; 256 characters max. per line) no default
(optional)
420 A 24-bit color value that should be dealt with in terms of bytes with values no default
of 0 to 255. The lowest byte is the blue value, the middle byte is the
green value, and the third byte is the red value. The top byte is always
0. The group code cannot be used by custom entities for their own data
because the group code is reserved for AcDbEntity, class-level color data
and AcDbEntity, class-level transparency data
430 Color name. The group code cannot be used by custom entities for their no default
own data because the group code is reserved for AcDbEntity, class-level
color data and AcDbEntity, class-level transparency data
440 Transparency value. The group code cannot be used by custom entities no default
for their own data because the group code is reserved for AcDbEntity,
class-level color data and AcDbEntity, class-level transparency data
390 Hard-pointer ID/handle to the plot style object no default
284 Shadow mode no default
Common Group Codes for Entities | 63

defaults to…
0 = Casts and receives shadows
1 = Casts shadows
2 = Receives shadows
3 = Ignores shadows
3DFACE
The following group codes apply to 3dface entities. In addition to the group
codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Entities on page 61. For
3dface group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbFace)
10 First corner (in WCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of first corner (in WCS)
11 Second corner (in WCS)

21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of second corner (in WCS)
12 Third corner (in WCS)

22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of third corner (in WCS)
13 Fourth corner (in WCS). If only three corners are entered, this is the same as the third corner
23, 33 DXF: Y and Z values of fourth corner (in WCS)
70 Invisible edge flags (optional; default = 0):

3dface group codes
1 = First edge is invisible
2 = Second edge is invisible
4 = Third edge is invisible
8 = Fourth edge is invisible
3DSOLID
The following group codes apply to 3dsolid entities. In addition to the group
3dsolid group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbModelerGeometry)
70 Modeler format version number (currently = 1)
1 Proprietary data (multiple lines < 255 characters each)
3 Additional lines of proprietary data (if previous group 1 string is greater than 255 characters)
(optional)
100 Subclass marker (AcDb3dSolid)
350 Soft-owner ID/handle to history object
ACAD_PROXY_ENTITY
The following group codes apply to proxy entities. In addition to the group
3DSOLID | 65
Acad_proxy_entity group codes

100 DXF: AcDbProxyEntity
90 DXF: Proxy entity class ID (always 498)
91 DXF: Application entity's class ID. Class IDs are based on the order of the class in the CLASSES
section. The first class is given the ID of 500, the next is 501, and so on
92 DXF: Size of graphics data in bytes
310 DXF: Binary graphics data (multiple entries can appear) (optional)
93 DXF: Size of entity data in bits
310 DXF: Binary entity data (multiple entries can appear) (optional)
330 or 340 DXF: An object ID (multiple entries can appear) (optional)

or 350 or 360
94 DXF: 0 (indicates end of object ID section)
95 DXF: Object drawing format when it becomes a proxy (a 32-bit unsigned integer):
Low word is AcDbDwgVersion
High word is MaintenanceReleaseVersion
70 DXF: Original custom object data format:

0 = DWG format
1 = DXF format
ARC
The following group codes apply to arc entities. In addition to the group codes
described here, see Common Group Codes for Entities on page 61. For

Arc group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbCircle)
39 Thickness (optional; default = 0)
10 Center point (in OCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of center point (in OCS)
40 Radius
100 Subclass marker (AcDbArc)
50 Start angle
51 End angle
210 Extrusion direction (optional; default = 0, 0, 1)

220, 230 DXF: Y and Z values of extrusion direction (optional)
ATTDEF
The following group codes apply to attdef (attribute definition) entities. In
addition to the group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for
Entities on page 61. For information about abbreviations and formatting used
Attdef group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbText)
ATTDEF | 67
Attdef group codes
10 First alignment point (in OCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of text start point (in OCS)
40 Text height
1 Default value (string)
50 Text rotation (optional; default = 0)
41 Relative X scale factor (width) (optional; default = 1). This value is also adjusted when fit-type
text is used
51 Oblique angle (optional; default = 0)
7 Text style name (optional; default = STANDARD)
71 Text generation flags (optional; default = 0); see TEXT on page 144 group codes
72 Horizontal text justification type (optional; default = 0); see TEXT on page 144 group codes
11 Second alignment point (in OCS) (optional)

Meaningful only if 72 or 74 group values are nonzero
21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of second alignment point (in OCS) (optional)

220, 230 DXF: Y and Z values of extrusion direction
100 Subclass marker (AcDbAttributeDefinition)
280 Version number:

0 = 2010
3 Prompt string

Attdef group codes
2 Tag string (cannot contain spaces)
70 Attribute flags:
1 = Attribute is invisible (does not appear)
2 = This is a constant attribute
4 = Verification is required on input of this attribute
8 = Attribute is preset (no prompt during insertion)
73 Field length (optional; default = 0) (not currently used)
74 Vertical text justification type (optional, default = 0); see group code 73 inTEXT on page 144
280 Lock position flag. Locks the position of the attribute within the block reference
100 Subclass marker (AcDbXrecord)
280 Duplicate record cloning flag (determines how to merge duplicate entries):
1 = Keep existing
70 MText flag:
2 = multiline attribute
4 = constant multiline attribute definition
70 isReallyLocked flag:
0 = unlocked
1 = locked
70 Number of secondary attributes or attribute definitions
340 hard-pointer id of secondary attribute(s) or attribute definition(s)
10 Alignment point of attribute or attribute definition

20,30 DXF: Y and Z values of insertion point
40 current annotation scale
2 attribute or attribute definition tag string
ATTDEF | 69
Attdef group codes
0 Entity type (MTEXT)
67 Absent or zero indicates entity is in model space. 1 indicates entity is in paper space (optional)
8 Layer name
100 Subclass marker (AcDbMText)
10 Insertion point
40 Nominal (initial) text height
41 Reference rectangle width
46 Defined annotation height
71 Attachment point:
1 = Top left; 2 = Top center; 3 = Top right
4 = Middle left; 5 = Middle center; 6 = Middle right
7 = Bottom left; 8 = Bottom center; 9 = Bottom right
72 Drawing direction:
1 = Left to right
3 = Top to bottom
5 = By style (the flow direction is inherited from the associated text style)
1 Text string
If the text string is less than 250 characters, all characters appear in group 1. If the text string
is greater than 250 characters, the string is divided into 250-character chunks, which appear
in one or more group 3 codes. If group 3 codes are used, the last group is a group 1 and has
fewer than 250 characters.
3 Additional text (always in 250-character chunks) (optional)
7 DXF: X value; APP: 3D vectText style name (STANDARD if not provided) (optional)

Attdef group codes

220,230 DXF: Y and Z values of extrusion direction (optional)
11 X-axis direction vector (in WCS)

21,31 DXF: Y and Z values of X-axis direction vector (in WCS)
42 Horizontal width of the characters that make up the mtext entity.

This value will always be equal to or less than the value of group code 41 (read-only, ignored
if supplied).
43 Vertical height of the mtext entity (read-only, ignored if supplied)
50 Rotation angle in radians
73 Mtext line spacing style (optional):

1 = At least (taller characters will override)
2 = Exact (taller characters will not override)
44 Mtext line spacing factor (optional):

Percentage of default (3-on-5) line spacing to be applied.
Valid values range from 0.25 to 4.00
90 Background fill setting:

0 = Background fill off
1 = Use background fill color
2 = Use drawing window color as background fill color
63 Background color (if color index number)
420-429 Background color (if RGB color)
430-439 Background color (if color name)
45 Fill box scale (optional):

Determines how much border is around the text.
ATTDEF | 71
Attdef group codes
63 Background fill color (optional):

Color to use for background fill when group code 90 is 1.
441 Transparency of background fill color (not implemented)
If group 72 and/or 74 values are nonzero then the first alignment point values
are ignored and new values are calculated by AutoCAD, based on the second
alignment point and the length and height of the text string itself (after
applying the text style). If the 72 and 74 values are zero or missing, then the
second alignment point is meaningless.
ATTRIB
The following group codes apply to attrib (attribute) entities. In addition to
the group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Entities on
page 61. For information about abbreviations and formatting used in this
Attrib group codes

10 Text start point (in OCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of text start point (in OCS)
40 Text height
1 Default value (string)
100 Subclass marker (AcDbAttribute)
280 Version number:

0 = 2010

Attrib group codes
2 Attribute tag (string; cannot contain spaces)
70 Attribute flags:
1 = Attribute is invisible (does not appear)
2 = This is a constant attribute
4 = Verification is required on input of this attribute
8 = Attribute is preset (no prompt during insertion)
73 Field length (optional; default = 0) (not currently used)
41 Relative X scale factor (width) (optional; default = 1). This value is also adjusted when fit-type
text is used
7 Text style name (optional; default = STANDARD)
71 Text generation flags (optional; default = 0). See TEXT on page 144 group codes
72 Horizontal text justification type (optional; default = 0). See TEXT on page 144 group codes
74 Vertical text justification type (optional; default = 0). See group code 73 inTEXT on page 144
11 Alignment point (in OCS) (optional)

Present only if 72 or 74 group is present and nonzero
21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of alignment point (in OCS) (optional)
210 Extrusion direction. Present only if the entity's extrusion direction is not parallel to the WCS Z
axis (optional; default = 0, 0, 1)
280 Lock position flag. Locks the position of the attribute within the block reference
ATTRIB | 73
Attrib group codes
1 = Keep existing
70 MText flag:
2 = multiline attribute
4 = constant multiline attribute definition
70 isReallyLocked flag:
0 = unlocked
1 = locked
70 Number of secondary attributes or attribute definitions
340 Hard-pointer id of secondary attribute(s) or attribute definition(s)
10 Alignment point of attribute or attribute definition

40 current annotation scale
2 attribute or attribute definition tag string
0 Entity type (MTEXT)
67 Absent or zero indicates entity is in model space. 1 indicates entity is in paper space (optional)
8 Layer name
10 Insertion point

Attrib group codes
46 Defined annotation height
1 = Left to right
3 = Top to bottom
1 Text string
If the text string is less than 250 characters, all characters appear in group 1. If the text string
is greater than 250 characters, the string is divided into 250-character chunks, which appear
in one or more group 3 codes. If group 3 codes are used, the last group is a group 1 and has
fewer than 250 characters.
7 DXF: X value; APP: 3D vectText style name (STANDARD if not provided) (optional)

220,230 DXF: Y and Z values of extrusion direction (optional)

21,31 DXF: Y and Z values of X-axis direction vector (in WCS)
42 Horizontal width of the characters that make up the mtext entity.

This value will always be equal to or less than the value of group code 41 (read-only, ignored
if supplied).
ATTRIB | 75
Attrib group codes


Percentage of default (3-on-5) line spacing to be applied.
Valid values range from 0.25 to 4.00

420-429 Background color (if RGB color)
430-439 Background color (if color name)

Determines how much border is around the text.

If group 72 and/or 74 values are nonzero then the text insertion point values
are ignored, and new values are calculated by AutoCAD based on the text
alignment point and the length of the text string itself (after applying the text
style). If the 72 and 74 values are zero or missing, then the text alignment
point is ignored and recalculated based on the text insertion point and the
length of the text string itself (after applying the text style).

BODY
The following group codes apply to body entities. In addition to the group
Body group codes

(optional)
CIRCLE
The following group codes apply to circle entities. In addition to the group
Circle group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbCircle)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of center point (in OCS)
40 Radius

BODY | 77
Circle group codes
DIMENSION
Dimension entity definitions consist of group codes that are common to all
dimension types, followed by codes specific to the type.
Common Dimension Group Codes

The following group codes apply to all dimension entity types. In addition to
the group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Entities on
Common dimension group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbDimension)
280 Version number:

0 = 2010
2 Name of the block that contains the entities that make up the dimension picture
10 Definition point (in WCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of definition point (in WCS)
11 Middle point of dimension text (in OCS)

21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of middle point of dimension text (in OCS)
70 Dimension type:
Values 0-6 are integer values that represent the dimension type. Values 32, 64, and 128
are bit values, which are added to the integer values (value 32 is always set in R13 and
later releases)

0 = Rotated, horizontal, or vertical; 1 = Aligned
2 = Angular; 3 = Diameter; 4 = Radius
5 = Angular 3 point; 6 = Ordinate
32 = Indicates that the block reference (group code 2) is referenced by this dimension
only
64 = Ordinate type. This is a bit value (bit 7) used only with integer value 6. If set, ordinate
is X-type; if not set, ordinate is Y-type
128 = This is a bit value (bit 8) added to the other group 70 values if the dimension text
has been positioned at a user-defined location rather than at the default location
72 Dimension text line-spacing style (optional):

1 (or missing) = At least (taller characters will override)
41 Dimension text-line spacing factor (optional):

Percentage of default (3-on-5) line spacing to be applied. Valid values range from 0.25
to 4.00
42 Actual measurement (optional; read-only value)
1 Dimension text explicitly entered by the user. Optional; default is the measurement. If
null or “<>”, the dimension measurement is drawn as the text, if ““ (one blank space),
the text is suppressed. Anything else is drawn as the text
53 The optional group code 53 is the rotation angle of the dimension text away from its default
orientation (the direction of the dimension line) (optional)
51 All dimension types have an optional 51 group code, which indicates the horizontal direc-
tion for the dimension entity. The dimension entity determines the orientation of dimension
text and lines for horizontal, vertical, and rotated linear dimensions
This group value is the negative of the angle between the OCS X axis and the UCS X axis.
It is always in the XY plane of the OCS

Common Dimension Group Codes | 79

Xdata belonging to the application ID "ACAD" follows a dimension entity if

any dimension overrides have been applied to this entity. See Dimension Style
Overrides on page 86.
For all dimension types, the following group codes represent 3D WCS points:
■ (10, 20, 30)
■ (13, 23, 33)
■ (14, 24, 34)
■ (15, 25, 35)
For all dimension types, the following group codes represent 3D OCS points:
■ (11, 21, 31)
■ (12, 22, 32)
■ (16, 26, 36)
Aligned Dimension Group Codes

The following group codes apply to aligned dimensions. In addition to the
group codes described here, those listed in Common Group Codes for Entities
on page 61 and Common Dimension Group Codes on page 78 can also be
present. For information about abbreviations and formatting used in this table,
see Formatting Conventions in This Reference on page 2.
Aligned dimension group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbAlignedDimension)
12 Insertion point for clones of a dimension—Baseline and Continue (in OCS)


Aligned dimension group codes
22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of insertion point for clones of a dimension—Baseline and Continue (in
OCS)
13 Definition point for linear and angular dimensions (in WCS)

23, 33 DXF: Y and Z values of definition point for linear and angular dimensions (in WCS)

The point (13,23,33) specifies the start point of the first extension line and
the point (14,24,34) specifies the start point of the second extension line.
Point (10,20,30) specifies the dimension line location. The point (11,21,31)
specifies the midpoint of the dimension text.
Linear and Rotated Dimension Group Codes

The following group codes apply to linear and rotated dimensions (note that
linear and rotated dimensions are part of the AcDbAlignedDimension subclass).
In addition to the group codes described here, those listed in Common Group
Codes for Entities on page 61 and Common Dimension Group Codes on page
78 can also be present. For information about abbreviations and formatting
Linear and rotated dimension group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbAlignedDimension)
12 Insertion point for clones of a dimension—Baseline and Continue (in OCS)
Linear and Rotated Dimension Group Codes | 81

Linear and rotated dimension group codes
22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of insertion point for clones of a dimension—Baseline and Continue (in
OCS)


50 Angle of rotated, horizontal, or vertical dimensions
52 Linear dimension types with an oblique angle have an optional group code 52. When added
to the rotation angle of the linear dimension (group code 50), it gives the angle of the extension
lines
100 Subclass marker (AcDbRotatedDimension)
Radial and Diameter Dimension Group Codes

The following group codes apply to radial and diameter dimensions. In
addition to the group codes described here, those listed in Common Group
Codes for Entities on page 61 and Common Dimension Group Codes on page
78 can also be present. For information about abbreviations and formatting
Radial and diameter dimension group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbRadialDimension or AcDbDiametricDimension)
15 Definition point for diameter, radius, and angular dimensions (in WCS)

Radial and diameter dimension group codes
25, 35 DXF: Y and Z values of definition point for diameter, radius, and angular dimensions (in
WCS)
40 Leader length for radius and diameter dimensions
The point (15,25,35) specifies the first point of the dimension line on the
circle/arc and the point (10,20,30) specifies the point opposite the first point.
The point (11,21,31) specifies the midpoint of the dimension text.
The point (15,25,35) specifies the first point of the dimension line on the
circle/arc and the point (10,20,30) specifies the center of the circle/arc. The
point (11,21,31) specifies the midpoint of the dimension text.
Angular Dimension Group Codes

The following group codes apply to angular dimensions. In addition to the
Angular Dimension Group Codes | 83

Angular dimension group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDb3PointAngularDimension)


15 Definition point for diameter, radius, and angular dimensions (in WCS) DXF: X value; APP: 3D
point
25, 35 DXF: Y and Z values of definition point for diameter, radius, and angular dimensions (in WCS)
16 Point defining dimension arc for angular dimensions (in OCS)

26, 36 DXF: Y and Z values of point defining dimension arc for angular dimensions (in OCS)
The points (13,23,33) and (14,24,34) specify the endpoints of the line used
to determine the first extension line. Points (10,20,30) and (15,25,35) specify
the endpoints of the line used to determine the second extension line. Point
(16,26,36) specifies the location of the dimension line arc. The point (11,21,31)
specifies the midpoint of the dimension text.
The point (15,25,35) specifies the vertex of the angle. The points (13,23,33)
and (14,24,34) specify the endpoints of the extension lines. The point

(10,20,30) specifies the location of the dimension line arc and the point
(11,21,31) specifies the midpoint of the dimension text.
Ordinate Dimension Group Codes

The following group codes apply to ordinate dimensions. In addition to the
Ordinate dimension group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbOrdinateDimension)


The point (13,23,33) specifies the feature location and the point (14,24,34)
specifies the leader endpoint. The point (11,21,31) specifies the midpoint of
the dimension text. Point (10,20,30) is placed at the origin of the UCS that is
current when the dimension is created.
Ordinate Dimension Group Codes | 85

Dimension Style Overrides
Dimension style overrides can be applied to dimension, leader, and tolerance
entities. Any overrides applied to these entities are stored in the entity as
xdata. The overridden dimension variable group codes and the related values
are contained within group 1002 control strings. The following example shows
the xdata of a dimension entity where the DIMTOL and DIMCLRE variables
have been overridden.
(setq diment (car (entsel))) ; Select dimension entity
(setq elst (entget diment '("ACAD"))) ; Get entity definition list
(assoc -3 elst) ; Extract xdata only
This code returns the following:

(-3 ("ACAD" Start of the ACAD APPID section
of xdata
(1000 . "DSTYLE") (1002 . "{") Beginning of the dimstyle subsec
tion
(1070 . 177) (1070 . 3) The DIMCLRE (code 177) override +
value (3)
(1070 . 71) (1070 . 1) The DIMTOL (code 71) override +
value (1)
(1002 . "}") )) End dimstyle subsection and ACAD
section
ELLIPSE
The following group codes apply to ellipse entities. In addition to the group

Ellipse group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbEllipse)
10 Center point (in WCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of center point (in WCS)
11 Endpoint of major axis, relative to the center (in WCS)

21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of endpoint of major axis, relative to the center (in WCS)

40 Ratio of minor axis to major axis
41 Start parameter (this value is 0.0 for a full ellipse)
42 End parameter (this value is 2pi for a full ellipse)
HATCH
The following group codes apply to hatch and MPolygon entities. In addition
to the group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Entities on
Hatch group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbHatch)
10 Elevation point (in OCS)
HATCH | 87
Hatch group codes
DXF: X value = 0; APP: 3D point (X and Y always equal 0, Z represents the elevation)
20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of elevation point (in OCS)

Y value = 0, Z represents the elevation

2 Hatch pattern name
70 Solid fill flag (solid fill = 1; pattern fill = 0); for MPolygon, the version of MPolygon
63 For MPolygon, pattern fill color as the ACI
71 Associativity flag (associative = 1; non-associative = 0); for MPolygon, solid-fill flag (has solid
fill = 1; lacks solid fill = 0)
91 Number of boundary paths (loops)
varies Boundary path data. Repeats number of times specified by code 91. See Boundary Path Data
on page 90
75 Hatch style:
0 = Hatch “odd parity” area (Normal style)
1 = Hatch outermost area only (Outer style)
2 = Hatch through entire area (Ignore style)
76 Hatch pattern type:

0 = User-defined; 1 = Predefined; 2 = Custom
52 Hatch pattern angle (pattern fill only)
41 Hatch pattern scale or spacing (pattern fill only)
73 For MPolygon, boundary annotation flag (boundary is an annotated boundary = 1; boundary

is not an annotated boundary = 0)
77 Hatch pattern double flag (pattern fill only):

Hatch group codes
0 = not double; 1 = double
78 Number of pattern definition lines
varies Pattern line data. Repeats number of times specified by code 78. See Pattern Data on page 94
47 Pixel size used to determine the density to perform various intersection and ray casting operations
in hatch pattern computation for associative hatches and hatches created with the Flood
method of hatching
98 Number of seed points
11 For MPolygon, offset vector
99 For MPolygon, number of degenerate boundary paths (loops), where a degenerate boundary
path is a border that is ignored by the hatch
10 Seed point (in OCS)

DXF: X value; APP: 2D point (multiple entries)
20 DXF: Y value of seed point (in OCS); (multiple entries)
450 Indicates solid hatch or gradient; if solid hatch, the values for the remaining codes are ignored
but must be present. Optional; if code 450 is in the file, then the following codes must be in
the file: 451, 452, 453, 460, 461, 462, and 470. If code 450 is not in the file, then the following
codes must not be in the file: 451, 452, 453, 460, 461, 462, and 470
0 = Solid hatch
1 = Gradient
451 Zero is reserved for future use
452 Records how colors were defined and is used only by dialog code:
0 = Two-color gradient
1 = Single-color gradient
453 Number of colors:

0 = Solid hatch
2 = Gradient
460 Rotation angle in radians for gradients (default = 0, 0)
HATCH | 89
Hatch group codes
461 Gradient definition; corresponds to the Centered option on the Gradient Tab of the Boundary
Hatch and Fill dialog box. Each gradient has two definitions, shifted and unshifted. A Shift value
describes the blend of the two definitions that should be used. A value of 0.0 means only the
unshifted version should be used, and a value of 1.0 means that only the shifted version should
be used.
462 Color tint value used by dialog code (default = 0, 0; range is 0.0 to 1.0). The color tint value is
a gradient color and controls the degree of tint in the dialog when the Hatch group code 452
is set to 1.
463 Reserved for future use:

0 = First value
1 = Second value
470 String (default = LINEAR)
Boundary Path Data

The boundary of each hatch object is defined by a path (or loop) that consists
of one or more segments. Path segment data varies depending on the entity
type (or types) that make up the path. Each path segment is defined by its
own set of group codes. For information about abbreviations and formatting
Hatch boundary path data group codes

92 Boundary path type flag (bit coded):

0 = Default; 1 = External; 2 = Polyline
4 = Derived; 8 = Textbox; 16 = Outermost
varies Polyline boundary type data (only if boundary = polyline). See Polyline boundary data table
below
93 Number of edges in this boundary path (only if boundary is not a polyline)
72 Edge type (only if boundary is not a polyline):

1 = Line; 2 = Circular arc; 3 = Elliptic arc; 4 = Spline

Hatch boundary path data group codes
varies Edge type data (only if boundary is not a polyline). See appropriate Edge data table below
97 Number of source boundary objects
330 Reference to source boundary objects (multiple entries)
Polyline boundary data group codes

72 Has bulge flag
73 Is closed flag
93 Number of polyline vertices
10 Vertex location (in OCS)

20 DXF: Y value of vertex location (in OCS) (multiple entries)
42 Bulge (optional, default = 0)
Line edge data group codes

10 Start point (in OCS)

20 DXF: Y value of start point (in OCS)
11 Endpoint (in OCS)

Boundary Path Data | 91

Line edge data group codes
21 DXF: Y value of endpoint (in OCS)
Arc edge data group codes


20 DXF: Y value of center point (in OCS)
40 Radius
50 Start angle
51 End angle
73 Is counterclockwise flag
Ellipse edge data group codes


20 DXF: Y value of center point (in OCS)
11 Endpoint of major axis relative to center point (in OCS)

21 DXF: Y value of endpoint of major axis (in OCS)
40 Length of minor axis (percentage of major axis length)
50 Start angle
51 End angle

Ellipse edge data group codes
73 Is counterclockwise flag
Spline edge data group codes

94 Degree
73 Rational
74 Periodic
95 Number of knots
96 Number of control points
40 Knot values (multiple entries)
10 Control point (in OCS)

20 DXF: Y value of control point (in OCS)
42 Weights (optional, default = 1)
97 Number of fit data
11 Fit datum (in OCS)

21 DXF: Y value of fit datum (in OCS)
12 Start tangent
22 DXF: Y value of start tangent (in OCS)
13 End tangent
Boundary Path Data | 93

Spline edge data group codes
23 DXF: Y value of end tangent (in OCS)
Pattern Data
The following pattern data codes repeat for each pattern definition line. For
Hatch pattern data group codes

53 Pattern line angle
43 Pattern line base point, X component
44 Pattern line base point, Y component
45 Pattern line offset, X component
46 Pattern line offset, Y component
79 Number of dash length items
49 Dash length (multiple entries)
HELIX
The following group codes apply to helix entities. In addition to the group
Helix group codes

Spline data

Helix group codes
100 Subclass marker (AcDbHelix)
90 Major release number
91 Maintainance release number
10, 20, 30 Axis base point
11, 21, 31 Start point
12, 22, 32 Axis vector
40 Radius
41 Number of turns
42 Turn height
290 Handedness; 0 = left, 1 = right
280 Constrain type

0 = Constrain turn height
1 = Constrain turns
2 = Constrain height
IMAGE
The following group codes apply to image entities. In addition to the group
Image group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbRasterImage)
90 Class version
IMAGE | 95
Image group codes
10 Insertion point (in WCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of insertion point (in WCS)
11 U-vector of a single pixel (points along the visual bottom of the image, starting at the insertion
point) (in WCS)
21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values U-vector (in WCS)
12 V-vector of a single pixel (points along the visual left side of the image, starting at the insertion
point) (in WCS)
22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of V-vector (in WCS)
13 Image size in pixels

DXF: U value; APP: 2D point (U and V values)
23 DXF: V value of image size in pixels
340 Hard reference to imagedef object
70 Image display properties:

1 = Show image
2 = Show image when not aligned with screen
4 = Use clipping boundary
8 = Transparency is on
280 Clipping state: 0 = Off; 1 = On
281 Brightness value (0-100; default = 50)
282 Contrast value (0-100; default = 50)
283 Fade value (0-100; default = 0)
360 Hard reference to imagedef_reactor object

Image group codes
71 Clipping boundary type. 1 = Rectangular; 2 = Polygonal
91 Number of clip boundary vertices that follow
14 Clip boundary vertex (in OCS)

NOTE 1) For rectangular clip boundary type, two opposite corners must be specified. Default
is (-0.5,-0.5), (size.x-0.5, size.y-0.5). 2) For polygonal clip boundary type, three or more vertices
must be specified. Polygonal vertices must be listed sequentially
24 DXF: Y value of clip boundary vertex (in OCS) (multiple entries)
290 Clip Mode: 0 = Outside Mode; 1 = Inside Mode
INSERT
The following group codes apply to insert (block reference) entities. In addition
Insert group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbBlockReference)
66 Variable attributes-follow flag (optional; default = 0); if the value of attributes-follow flag is 1,
a series of attribute entities is expected to follow the insert, terminated by a seqend entity
2 Block name
10 Insertion point (in OCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of insertion point (in OCS)
41 X scale factor (optional; default = 1)
42 Y scale factor (optional; default = 1)
INSERT | 97
Insert group codes
43 Z scale factor (optional; default = 1)
50 Rotation angle (optional; default = 0)
70 Column count (optional; default = 1)
71 Row count (optional; default = 1)
44 Column spacing (optional; default = 0)
45 Row spacing (optional; default = 0)

LEADER
The following group codes apply to leader entities. In addition to the group
Leader group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbLeader)
71 Arrowhead flag: 0 = Disabled; 1 = Enabled
72 Leader path type: 0 = Straight line segments; 1 = Spline
73 Leader creation flag (default = 3):

0 = Created with text annotation
1 = Created with tolerance annotation
2 = Created with block reference annotation

Leader group codes
3 = Created without any annotation
74 Hookline direction flag:

0 = Hookline (or end of tangent for a splined leader) is the opposite direction from the horizontal
vector
1 = Hookline (or end of tangent for a splined leader) is the same direction as horizontal vector
(see code 75)
75 Hookline flag: 0 = No hookline; 1 = Has a hookline
40 Text annotation height
41 Text annotation width
76 Number of vertices in leader (ignored for OPEN)
10 Vertex coordinates (one entry for each vertex)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of vertex coordinates
77 Color to use if leader's DIMCLRD = BYBLOCK
340 Hard reference to associated annotation (mtext, tolerance, or insert entity)
210 Normal vector

220, 230 DXF: Y and Z values of normal vector
211 “Horizontal” direction for leader

221, 231 DXF: Y and Z values of “horizontal” direction for leader
212 Offset of last leader vertex from block reference insertion point
222, 232 DXF: Y and Z values of offset
LEADER | 99
Leader group codes
213 Offset of last leader vertex from annotation placement point

223, 233 DXF: Y and Z values of offset
Xdata belonging to the application ID "ACAD" follows a leader entity if any

dimension overrides have been applied to this entity. See Dimension Style
Overrides on page 86.
LIGHT
The following group codes apply to light entities. In addition to the group
Light group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbLight)
90 Version number
1 Light name
70 Light type (distant = 1; point = 2; spot = 3)
290 Status
291 Plot glyph
40 Intensity
10 Light Position
20, 30 DXF: X, Y, and Z values of the light position
11 Target location

Light group codes
21, 31 DXF: X, Y, and Z values of the target location
72 Attenuation type
0 = None
1 = Inverse Linear
2 = Inverse Square
292 Use attenuation limits
41 Attenuation start limit
42 Attenuation end limit
50 Hotspot angle
51 Falloff angle
293 Cast shadows
73 Shadow Type
0 = Ray traced shadows
1 = Shadow maps
91 Shadow map size
280 Shadow map softness
LINE
The following group codes apply to line entities. In addition to the group
LINE | 101
Line group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbLine)
10 Start point (in WCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of start point (in WCS)
11 Endpoint (in WCS)

21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of endpoint (in WCS)

LWPOLYLINE
The following group codes apply to lwpolyline entities. In addition to the
group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Entities on page
61. For information about abbreviations and formatting used in this table,
Lwpolyline group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbPolyline)
90 Number of vertices
70 Polyline flag (bit-coded); default is 0:

1 = Closed; 128 = Plinegen

Lwpolyline group codes
43 Constant width (optional; default = 0). Not used if variable width (codes 40 and/or 41) is set
38 Elevation (optional; default = 0)
10 Vertex coordinates (in OCS), multiple entries; one entry for each vertex
20 DXF: Y value of vertex coordinates (in OCS), multiple entries; one entry for each vertex
40 Starting width (multiple entries; one entry for each vertex) (optional; default = 0; multiple
entries). Not used if constant width (code 43) is set
41 End width (multiple entries; one entry for each vertex) (optional; default = 0; multiple entries).
Not used if constant width (code 43) is set
42 Bulge (multiple entries; one entry for each vertex) (optional; default = 0)

MLINE
The following group codes apply to mline entities. In addition to the group
Mline group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbMline)
2 String of up to 32 characters. The name of the style used for this mline. An entry for this style
must exist in the MLINESTYLE dictionary.
Do not modify this field without also updating the associated entry in the MLINESTYLE dictionary
MLINE | 103
Mline group codes
340 Pointer-handle/ID of MLINESTYLE object
40 Scale factor
70 Justification: 0 = Top; 1 = Zero; 2 = Bottom
71 Flags (bit-coded values):

1 = Has at least one vertex (code 72 is greater than 0)
2 = Closed
4 = Suppress start caps
8 = Suppress end caps
73 Number of elements in MLINESTYLE definition


11 Vertex coordinates (multiple entries; one entry for each vertex) DXF: X value; APP: 3D point
21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of vertex coordinates
12 Direction vector of segment starting at this vertex (multiple entries; one for each vertex)
22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of direction vector of segment starting at this vertex
13 Direction vector of miter at this vertex (multiple entries: one for each vertex)
23, 33 DXF: Y and Z values of direction vector of miter

Mline group codes
74 Number of parameters for this element (repeats for each element in segment)
41 Element parameters (repeats based on previous code 74)
75 Number of area fill parameters for this element (repeats for each element in segment)
42 Area fill parameters (repeats based on previous code 75)
The group code 41 parameterization is a list of real values, one real per group
code 41. The list may contain zero or more items. The first group code 41
value is the distance from the segment vertex along the miter vector to the
point where the line element's path intersects the miter vector. The next group
code 41 value is the distance along the line element's path from the point
defined by the first group 41 to the actual start of the line element. The next
is the distance from the start of the line element to the first break (or cut) in
the line element. The successive group code 41 values continue to list the start
and stop points of the line element in this segment of the mline. Linetypes
do not affect group 41 lists.
The group code 42 parameterization is also a list of real values. Similar to the
41 parameterization, it describes the parameterization of the fill area for this
mline segment. The values are interpreted identically to the 41 parameters
and when taken as a whole for all line elements in the mline segment, they
define the boundary of the fill area for the mline segment.
A common example of the use of the group code 42 mechanism is when an
unfilled mline crosses over a filled mline and mledit is used to cause the filled
mline to appear unfilled in the crossing area. This would result in two group
42s for each line element in the affected mline segment; one for the fill stop
and one for the fill start.
The 2 group codes in mline entities and mlinestyle objects are redundant
fields. These groups should not be modified under any circumstances, although
it is safe to read them and use their values. The correct fields to modify are as
follows:
Mline The 340 group in the same object, which indicates the proper
MLINESTYLE object.
Mlinestyle The 3 group value in the MLINESTYLE dictionary, which precedes

the 350 group that has the handle or entity name of the current mlinestyle.
MLINE | 105
MULTILEADER
The following group codes apply to mleader entities. In addition to the group
MLeader group codes

170 Content Type
171 DrawMLeaderOrder Type
172 DrawLeaderOrder Type
90 MaxLeader Segments Points
40 First Segment Angle Constraint
41 Second Segment Angle Constraint
173 LeaderLineType
91 LeaderLineColor
340 LeaderLineType ID
92 LeaderLineWeight
290 Enable Landing
42 Landing Gap
291 Enable Dogleg
43 Dogleg Length
3 Mleader Style Description
341 Arrowhead ID
44 Arrowhead Size

MLeader group codes
300 Default MText Contents
342 mTextStyleId
174 Text Left Attachment Type
175 Text Angle Type
176 Text Alignment Type
178 Text Right Attachment Type
93 Text Color
45 Text Height
292 Enable Frame Text
297 Text Align Always Left
46 Align Space
343 Block Content ID
94 Block Content Color
47 Block Content Scale on X-axis
49 Block Content Scale on Y-axis
140 Block Content Scale on Z-axis
293 Enable Block Content Scale
141 Block Content Rotation
294 Enable Block Content Rotation
177 Block Content Connection Type
MULTILEADER | 107
MLeader group codes
142 Scale
295 Overwrite Property Value
296 Is Annotative
143 Break Gap Size
271 Text attachment direction for MText contents:

0 = Horizontal
1 = Vertical
272 Bottom text attachment direction:

9 = Center
10 = Underline and Center
273 Top text attachment direction:

9 = Center
10 = Overline and Center
MLEADERSTYLE
MLeaderStyle entity definitions consist of group codes that are common to
all MLeaderStyle types, followed by codes specific to the type.
Common MLeaderStyle Group Codes

The following group codes apply to all mleaderstyle entity types. In addition
Common MLeaderStyle Line Group

Codes
340 Leader Style Id

Codes
90 Property Override Flag
170 LeaderLineType
91 Leade LineColor
341 LeaderLineTypeID
171 LeaderLine Weight
290 Enable Landing
291 Enable Dogleg
41 Dogleg Length
342 Arrowhead ID
42 Arrowhead Size
172 Content Type
343 Text Style ID
173 Text Left Attachment Type
95 Text Right Attachement Type
174 Text Angle Type
175 Text Alignment Type
92 Text Color
292 Enable Frame Text
Common MLeaderStyle Group Codes | 109

Codes
10 Block Content Scale
176 Block Content Connection Type
293 Enable Annotation Scale
94 Arrowhead Index
345 Arrowhead ID
330 Block AttributerId
177 Block Attribute Index
44 Block Attribute Width
302 Block Attribute Text String
294 Text Direction Negative
178 Text Align in IPE
179 Text Attachment Point
271 Text attachment direction for MText con-

tents:
0 = Horizontal
1 = Vertical
272 Bottom text attachment direction:

9 = Center
10 = Underline and Center
273 Top text attachment direction:

9 = Center
10 = Overline and Center

MLeaderStyle Context Data Group Codes
The following group codes apply to all mleaderstyle entity types’ context data.
MLeaderStyle Context Data group codes

40 Content Scale
10,20,30 Content Base Position
41 Text Height
140 Arrowhead Size
145 Landing Gap
290 hasMText
304 Default Text Contents
11,21,31 Text Normal Direction
340 Text Style ID
12,22,32 Text Location
13,23,33 Text Direction
42 Text Rotation
43 Text Width
44 Text Height
45 Text Line Spacing Factor
170 Text Line Spacing Style
90 Text Color
MLeaderStyle Context Data Group Codes | 111

171 Text Attachment
172 Text Flow Direction
91 Text Background Color
141 Text Background Scale Factor
92 Text Background Transparency
291 Is Text Background Color On
292 Is Text Background Fill On
173 Text Column Type
293 Use Text Auto Height
142 Text Column Width
143 Text Column Gutter Width
294 Text Column Flow Reversed
144 Text Column Height
295 Text Use Word Break
296 HasBlock
14,24,34 Block Content Normal Direction
15,25,35 Block Content Position

47 Block Transformation Matrix
110 MLeader Plane Origin Point
111 MLeader Plane X-Axis Direction
112 MLeader Plane Y-Axis Direction
297 MLeader Plane Normal Reversed
10,20,30 Vertex
90 Break Point Index
43 Text Width
44 Text Height
45 Text Line Spacing Factor
170 Text Line Spacing Style
90 Text Color
171 Text Attachment
172 Text Flow Direction
91 Text Background Color
141 Text Background Scale Factor
92 Text Background Transparency
291 Is Text Background Color On
292 Is Text Background Fill On
MLeaderStyle Context Data Group Codes | 113

173 Text Column Type
293 Use Text Auto Height
142 Text Column Width
143 Text Column Gutter Width
294 Text Column Flow Reversed
144 Text Column Height
295 Text Use Word Break
296 HasBlock
14,24,34 Block Content Normal Direction
15,25,35 Block Content Position
93 BLock Content Color
47 BLock Transformation Matrix
110 Mleader Plane Origin Point
111 MLeader Plane X-Axis Direction
112 MLeader Plane Y-Axis Direction
297 MLeader Plane Normal Reversed

MLeaderStyle Leader Node Group Codes
The following group codes apply to all mleaderstyle entity types’ leader node.
MLeaderStyle Leader Node Group

Codes
290 Has Set Last Leader Line Point
291 Has Set Dogleg Vector
10,20,30 Last Leader Line Point
11,21,31 Dogleg Vector
12,22,32 Break Start Point
13,23,33 Break End Point
90 Leader Branch Index
40 Dogleg Length
MLeaderStyle Leader Line Group Codes

The following group codes apply to all mleaderstyle entity types’ leader line.
Leader Line Group Codes

10,20,30 Vertex
90 Break Point Index
11,21,31 Break Start Point
MLeaderStyle Leader Node Group Codes | 115

Leader Line Group Codes
12,22,32 Break End Point
91 Leader Line Index
MTEXT
The following group codes apply to mtext entities. In addition to the group
Mtext group codes

10 Insertion point
20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of insertion point
1 = Left to right
3 = Top to bottom
1 Text string. If the text string is less than 250 characters, all characters appear in group 1. If the
text string is greater than 250 characters, the string is divided into 250-character chunks, which
appear in one or more group 3 codes. If group 3 codes are used, the last group is a group 1
and has fewer than 250 characters

Mtext group codes
7 Text style name (STANDARD if not provided) (optional)


A group code 50 (rotation angle in radians) passed as DXF input is converted to the equivalent
direction vector (if both a code 50 and codes 11, 21, 31 are passed, the last one wins). This is
provided as a convenience for conversions from text objects
21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of X-axis direction vector (in WCS)
42 Horizontal width of the characters that make up the mtext entity. This value will always be
equal to or less than the value of group code 41 (read-only, ignored if supplied)


Percentage of default (3-on-5) line spacing to be applied. Valid values range from 0.25 to 4.00

420 - 429 Background color (if RGB color)
MTEXT | 117
Mtext group codes
430 - 439 Background color (if color name)

Determines how much border there is around the text.

75 Column type
76 Column count
78 Column Flow Reversed
79 Column Autoheight
48 Column width
49 Column gutter
50 Column heights; this code is followed by a column count (Int16), and then the number of
column heights
Xdata with the "DCO15" application ID may follow an mtext entity. This
contains information related to the dbConnect feature.
OLEFRAME
The following group codes apply to oleframe entities. In addition to the group
Oleframe group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbOleFrame)

Oleframe group codes
70 OLE version number
90 Length of binary data
310 Binary data (multiple lines)
1 End of OLE data (the string “OLE”)
OLE2FRAME
The following group codes apply to ole2frame entities. This information is
read-only. During OPEN, the values are ignored because they are part of the
OLE binary object, and are obtained by access functions. In addition to the
group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Entities on page
Ole2frame group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbOle2Frame)
70 OLE version number
10 Upper-left corner (WCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of upper-left corner (in WCS)
11 Lower-right corner (WCS)

21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of lower-right corner (in WCS)
71 OLE object type, 1 = Link; 2 = Embedded; 3 = Static
72 Tile mode descriptor:
OLE2FRAME | 119
Ole2frame group codes
0 = Object resides in model space
1 = Object resides in paper space
310 Binary data (multiple lines)
1 End of OLE data (the string “OLE”)
Sample DXF output:

OLE2FRAME
5
2D
100
AcDbEntity
67
1
8
0
100
AcDbOle2Frame
70
2
3
Paintbrush Picture
10
4.43116
20
5.665992
30
0.0
11
6.4188
21
4.244939
31
0.0
71
2
72
1
90
23680
310
0155764BD60082B91140114B08C8F9A916400000000000000000506DC0D0D9AC
310
1940114B08C8F9A916400000000000000000506DC0D0D9AC194002303E5CD1FA
310
10400000000000000000764BD60082B9114002303E5CD1FA1040000000000000
...
...
AutoLISP entnext function sample output:
OLE2FRAME | 121
Command: (setq e (entget e3))
((-1 . <Entity name: 7d50428>) (0 . "OLE2FRAME") (5 . "2D")
(100 . "AcDbEntity") (67 . 1) (8 . "0") (100 . "AcDbOle2Frame")
(70 . 2) (3 "Paintbrush Picture") (10 4.43116 5.66599 0.0)
(11 6.4188 4.24494 0.0) (71 . 2) (72 . 1))
POINT
The following group codes apply to point entities. In addition to the group
Point group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbPoint)
10 Point location (in WCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of point location (in WCS)

50 Angle of the X axis for the UCS in effect when the point was drawn (optional, default = 0); used
when PDMODE is nonzero
POLYLINE
The following group codes apply to polyline entities. In addition to the group

Polyline group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDb2dPolyline or AcDb3dPolyline)
66 Obsolete; formerly an “entities follow flag” (optional; ignore if present)
10 DXF: always 0
APP: a “dummy” point; the X and Y values are always 0, and the Z value is the polyline's
elevation (in OCS when 2D, WCS when 3D)
20 DXF: always 0
30 DXF: polyline's elevation (in OCS when 2D; WCS when 3D)
70 Polyline flag (bit-coded; default = 0):

1 = This is a closed polyline (or a polygon mesh closed in the M direction)
2 = Curve-fit vertices have been added
4 = Spline-fit vertices have been added
8 = This is a 3D polyline
16 = This is a 3D polygon mesh
32 = The polygon mesh is closed in the N direction
64 = The polyline is a polyface mesh
128 = The linetype pattern is generated continuously around the vertices of this polyline
40 Default start width (optional; default = 0)
41 Default end width (optional; default = 0)
71 Polygon mesh M vertex count (optional; default = 0)
72 Polygon mesh N vertex count (optional; default = 0)
73 Smooth surface M density (optional; default = 0)
74 Smooth surface N density (optional; default = 0)
75 Curves and smooth surface type (optional; default = 0); integer codes, not bit-coded:
POLYLINE | 123
Polyline group codes
0 = No smooth surface fitted
5 = Quadratic B-spline surface
6 = Cubic B-spline surface
8 = Bezier surface

Xdata with the "AUTOCAD_POSTSCRIPT_FIGURE" application ID may follow a

polyline entity. This contains information related to PostScript images and
PostScript fill information.
Polyface Meshes
A polyface mesh is represented in DXF as a variant of a polyline entity. The
polyline header is identified as introducing a polyface mesh by the presence
of the 64 bit in the polyline flags (70) group. The 71 group specifies the number
of vertices in the mesh, and the 72 group specifies the number of faces.
Although these counts are correct for all meshes created with the PFACE
command, applications are not required to place correct values in these fields.
Following the polyline header is a sequence of vertex entities that specify the
vertex coordinates, followed by faces that compose the mesh.
The AutoCAD entity structure imposes a limit on the number of vertices that
a given face entity can specify. You can represent more complex polygons by
decomposing them into triangular wedges. Their edges should be made
invisible to prevent visible artifacts of this subdivision from being drawn. The
PFACE command performs this subdivision automatically, but when
applications generate polyface meshes directly, the applications must do this
themselves. The number of vertices per face is the key parameter in this
subdivision process. The PFACEVMAX system variable provides an application
with the number of vertices per face entity. This value is read-only and is set
to 4.
Polyface meshes created with the PFACE command are always generated with
all the vertex coordinate entities first, followed by the face definition entities.
The code within AutoCAD that processes polyface meshes requires this
ordering. Programs that generate polyface meshes in DXF should generate all

the vertices, and then all the faces. However, programs that read polyface
meshes from DXF should be tolerant of odd vertex and face ordering.
RAY
The following group codes apply to ray entities. In addition to the group codes
Ray group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbRay)

11 Unit direction vector (in WCS)

21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of unit direction vector (in WCS)
REGION
The following group codes apply to region entities. In addition to the group
Region group codes

RAY | 125
Region group codes
(optional)
SECTION
The following group codes apply to section entities. In addition to the group
Section group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbSection)
90 Section state
91 Section flags
1 Name
10, 20, 30 Vertical direction
40 Top height
41 Bottom height
70 Indicator transparency
63, 411 Indicator color
11, 21, 31 Vertex (repeats for number of vertices)
93 Number of back line vertices
12, 22, 32 Back line vertex (repeats for number of back line vertices)

Section group codes
360 Hard-pointer ID/handle to geometry settings object
SEQEND
The following group codes apply to seqend entities. In addition to the group
Seqend group codes

-2 APP: name of entity that began the sequence. This entity marks the end of vertex (vertex
type name) for a polyline, or the end of attribute entities (attrib type name) for an insert
entity that has attributes (indicated by 66 group present and nonzero in insert entity).
This code is not saved in a DXF file
SHAPE
The following group codes apply to shape entities. In addition to the group
Shape group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbShape)

40 Size
SEQEND | 127
Shape group codes
2 Shape name
50 Rotation angle (optional; default = 0)
41 Relative X scale factor (optional; default = 1)

SOLID
The following group codes apply to solid entities. In addition to the group
Solid group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbTrace)
10 First corner
20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of first corner
11 Second corner
21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of second corner
12 Third corner
XF: X value; APP: 3D point
22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of third corner

Solid group codes
13 Fourth corner. If only three corners are entered to define the SOLID, then the fourth corner
coordinate is the same as the third.
23, 33 DXF: Y and Z values of fourth corner

SPLINE
The following group codes apply to spline entities. In addition to the group
Spline group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbSpline)
210 Normal vector (omitted if the spline is nonplanar)

220, 230 DXF: Y and Z values of normal vector (optional)
70 Spline flag (bit coded):

1 = Closed spline
2 = Periodic spline
4 = Rational spline
8 = Planar
16 = Linear (planar bit is also set)
71 Degree of the spline curve
SPLINE | 129
Spline group codes
72 Number of knots
73 Number of control points
74 Number of fit points (if any)
42 Knot tolerance (default = 0.0000001)
43 Control-point tolerance (default = 0.0000001)
44 Fit tolerance (default = 0.0000000001)
12 Start tangent—may be omitted (in WCS)

22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of start tangent—may be omitted (in WCS)
13 End tangent—may be omitted (in WCS)

23, 33 DXF: Y and Z values of end tangent—may be omitted (in WCS)
40 Knot value (one entry per knot)
41 Weight (if not 1); with multiple group pairs, they are present if all are not 1
10 Control points (in WCS); one entry per control point

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of control points (in WCS); one entry per control point
11 Fit points (in WCS); one entry per fit point

21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of fit points (in WCS); one entry per fit point

SUBDIVISION
The following group codes apply to the subdivision surface entity. In addition
Subdivision group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbSubDMesh)
71 Version number
72 "Blend Crease" property

0 = Turn off
1 = Turn on
91 Number of subdivision level
92 Vertex count of level 0
10 Vertex position
93 Size of face list of level 0
90 Face list item
94 Edge count of level 0
90 Vertex index of each edge
95 Edge crease count of level 0
140 Edge create value
90 Count of sub-entity which property has been overridden
91 Sub-entity marker
92 Count of property was overridden
90 Property type
SUBDIVISION | 131
Subdivision group codes
0 = Color
1 = Material
2 = Transparency
3 = Material mapper
SUN
The following group codes apply to the sun entity. In addition to the group
Sun group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbSun)
90 Version number
290 Status
63 Color
40 Intensity
291 Shadows
91 Julian day
92 Time (in seconds past midnight)
292 Daylight savings time
70 Shadow type
0 = Ray traced shadows
1 = Shadow maps
71 Shadow map size

Sun group codes
280 Shadow softness
SURFACE
Surface entity definitions consist of group codes that are common to all surface
types, followed by codes specific to the type.
Common Surface group codes

(optional)
100 Subclass markar (AcDbSurface)
71 Number of U isolines
72 Number of V isolines
Extruded Surface
The following group codes apply to extruded surfaces. In addition to the group
Extruded Surface group codes

100 Subclass markar (AcDbExtrudedSurface)
SURFACE | 133
90 Class ID
90 Size of binary data
310 Binary data
10, 20, 30 Sweep vector
40 Transform matrix of extruded entity (16 reals; row major format; default = identity matrix)
42 Draft angle (in radians)
43 Draft start distance
44 Draft end distance
45 Twist angle
48 Scale factor
49 Align angle (in radians)
46 Transform matrix of sweep entity (16 reals; row major format; default = identity matrix)
47 Transform matrix of path entity (16 reals; row major format; default = identity matrix)
290 Solid flag
70 Sweep alignment option

0 = No alignment
1 = Align sweep entity to path
2 = Translate sweep entity to path
3 = Translate path to sweep entity
292 Align start flag
293 Bank flag
294 Base point set flag

295 Sweep entity transform computed flag
296 Path entity transform computed flag
11, 21, 31 Reference vector for controlling twist
Lofted Surface
The following group codes apply to lofted surfaces. In addition to the group
Lofted Surface group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbLoftedSurface)
40 Transform matrix of loft entity (16 reals; row major format; default = identity matrix)
Entity data for cross sections
Entity data for guide curves
Entity data for path curves
70 Plane normal lofting type
41 Start draft angle (in radians)
42 End draft angle (in radians)
43 Start draft magnitude
44 End draft magnitude
290 Arc length parametrization flag
291 No twist flag
Lofted Surface | 135

Lofted Surface group codes
292 Align direction flag
293 Create simple surfaces flag
294 Create closed surface flag
295 Solid flag
296 Create ruled surface flag
297 Virtual guide flag
Revolved Surface
The following group codes apply to revolved surfaces. In addition to the group
Revolved Surface group codes

100 Subclass markar (AcDbRevolvedSurface)
90 ID of revolve entity
310 Binary data
10, 20, 30 Axis point
11, 21, 31 Axis vector
40 Revolve angle (in radians)
41 Start angle (in radians)
42 Transform matrix of revolved entity (16 reals; row major format; default = identity matrix)

Revolved Surface group codes
44 Start draft distance
45 End draft distance
46 Twist angle (in radians)
290 Solid flag
291 Close to axis flag
Swept Surface
The following group codes apply to swept surfaces. In addition to the group
Swept Surface group codes

100 Subclass markar (AcDbSweptSurface)
90 ID of sweep entity
310 Binary data
90 ID of path entity
310 Proprietary data
Swept Surface | 137

Swept Surface group codes
43 Draft start distance
44 Draft end distance
45 Twist angle
48 Scale factor
49 Align angle (in radians)
290 Solid flag
70 Sweep alignment option

0 = No alignment
1 = Align sweep entity to path
2 = Translate sweep entity to path
3 = Translate path to sweep entity
292 Align start flag
293 Bank flag
294 Base point set flag
295 Sweep entity transform computed flag
296 Path entity transform computed flag
11, 21, 31 Reference vector for controlling twist

TABLE
The following group codes apply to table entities. In addition to the group
Table group codes

0 Entity name (ACAD_TABLE)
5 Entity handle
330 Soft-pointer ID to the owner dictionary
100 Subclass marker. (AcDbEntity)
92 Number of bytes in the proxy entity graphics
310 Data for proxy entity graphics (multiple lines; 256-character maximum per line)
100 Subclass marker. (AcDbBlockReference)
2 Block name; an anonymous block begins with a *T value
10,20,30 Insertion point
100 Subclass marker. (AcDbTable)
280 Table data version number:

0 = 2010
342 Hard pointer ID of the TABLESTYLE object
343 Hard pointer ID of the owning BLOCK record
11,21,31 Horizontal direction vector
90 Flag for table value (unsigned integer)
91 Number of rows
TABLE | 139
Table group codes
92 Number of columns
93 Flag for an override
94 Flag for an override of border color
95 Flag for an override of border lineweight
96 Flag for an override of border visibility
141 Row height; this value is repeated, 1 value per row
142 Column height; this value is repeated, 1 value per row
171 Cell type; this value is repeated, 1 value per cell:

1 = text type
2 = block type
172 Cell flag value; this value is repeated, 1 value per cell
173 Cell merged value; this value is repeated, 1 value per cell
174 Boolean flag indicating if the autofit option is set for the cell; this value is repeated, 1 value per
cell
175 Cell border width (applicable only for merged cells); this value is repeated, 1 value per cell
176 Cell border height ( applicable for merged cells); this value is repeated, 1 value per cell
91 Cell override flag; this value is repeated, 1 value per cell

(from AutoCAD 2007)
178 Flag value for a virtual edge
145 Rotation value (real; applicable for a block-type cell and a text-type cell)
344 Hard pointer ID of the FIELD object. This applies only to a text-type cell. If the text in the cell
contains one or more fields, only the ID of the FIELD object is saved. The text string (group
codes 1 and 3) is ignored

Table group codes
1 Text string in a cell. If the string is shorter than 250 characters, all characters appear in code 1.
If the string is longer than 250 characters, it is divided into chunks of 250 characters. The chunks
are contained in one or more code 3 codes. If code 3 codes are used, the last group is a code
1 and is shorter than 250 characters. This value applies only to text-type cells and is repeated,
1 value per cell
3 Text string in a cell, in 250-character chunks; optional. This value applies only to text-type cells
and is repeated, 1 value per cell
340 Hard-pointer ID of the block table record. This value applies only to block-type cells and is re-
peated, 1 value per cell
144 Block scale (real). This value applies only to block-type cells and is repeated, 1 value per cell
179 Number of attribute definitions in the block table record (applicable only to a block-type cell)
331 Soft pointer ID of the attribute definition in the block table record, referenced by group code
179 (applicable only for a block-type cell). This value is repeated once per attribute definition
300 Text string value for an attribute definition, repeated once per attribute definition and applicable
only for a block-type cell
7 Text style name (string); override applied at the cell level
140 Text height value; override applied at the cell level
170 Cell alignment value; override applied at the cell level
64 Value for the color of cell content; override applied at the cell level
63 Value for the background (fill) color of cell content; override applied at the cell level
69 True color value for the top border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
65 True color value for the right border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
66 True color value for the bottom border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
68 True color value for the left border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
TABLE | 141
Table group codes
279 Lineweight for the top border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
275 Lineweight for the right border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
276 Lineweight for the bottom border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
278 Lineweight for the left border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
283 Boolean flag for whether the fill color is on; override applied at the cell level
289 Boolean flag for the visibility of the top border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
285 Boolean flag for the visibility of the right border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
286 Boolean flag for the visibility of the bottom border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
288 Boolean flag for the visibility of the left border of the cell; override applied at the cell level
70 Flow direction; override applied at the table entity level
40 Horizontal cell margin; override applied at the table entity level
41 Vertical cell margin; override applied at the table entity level
280 Flag for whether the title is suppressed; override applied at the table entity level
281 Flag for whether the header row is suppressed; override applied at the table entity level
7 Text style name (string); override applied at the table entity level. There may be one entry for
each cell type
140 Text height (real); override applied at the table entity level. There may be one entry for each
cell type
170 Cell alignment (integer); override applied at the table entity level. There may be one entry for
each cell type
63 Color value for cell background or for the vertical, left border of the table; override applied at
the table entity level. There may be one entry for each cell type

Table group codes
64 Color value for cell content or for the horizontal, top border of the table; override applied at
the table entity level. There may be one entry for each cell type
65 Color value for the horizontal, inside border lines; override applied at the table entity level
66 Color value for the horizontal, bottom border lines; override applied at the table entity level
68 Color value for the vertical, inside border lines; override applied at the table entity level
69 Color value for the vertical, right border lines; override applied at the table entity level
283 Flag for whether background color is enabled (default = 0); override applied at the table entity
level. There may be one entry for each cell type:
0 = Disabled
1 = Enabled
274-279 Lineweight for each border type of the cell (default = kLnWtByBlock); override applied at the
table entity level. There may be one group for each cell type
284-289 Flag for visibility of each border type of the cell (default = 1); override applied at the table entity
level. There may be one group for each cell type:
0 = Invisible
1 = Visible
97 Standard/title/header row data type
98 Standard/title/header row unit type
4 Standard/title/header row format string
177 Cell override flag value (before AutoCAD 2007)
92 Extended cell flags (from AutoCAD 2007)
301 Cell value block begin (from AutoCAD 2007)
Group code 178 is a flag value for a virtual edge. A virtual edge is used when
a grid line is shared by two cells. For example, if a table contains one row and
two columns and it contains cell A and cell B, the central grid line contains
the right edge of cell A and the left edge of cell B. One edge is real, and the
TABLE | 143
other edge is virtual. The virtual edge points to the real edge; both edges have
the same set of properties, including color, lineweight, and visibility.
TEXT
The following group codes apply to text entities. In addition to the group
Text group codes

10 First alignment point (in OCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of first alignment point (in OCS)
40 Text height
1 Default value (the string itself)
41 Relative X scale factor—width (optional; default = 1)

This value is also adjusted when fit-type text is used
7 Text style name (optional, default = STANDARD)
71 Text generation flags (optional, default = 0):

2 = Text is backward (mirrored in X)
4 = Text is upside down (mirrored in Y)
72 Horizontal text justification type (optional, default = 0) integer codes (not bit-coded)
0 = Left; 1= Center; 2 = Right
3 = Aligned (if vertical alignment = 0)
4 = Middle (if vertical alignment = 0)

Text group codes
5 = Fit (if vertical alignment = 0)
See the Group 72 and 73 integer codes table for clarification
11 Second alignment point (in OCS) (optional)

This value is meaningful only if the value of a 72 or 73 group is nonzero (if the justification is
anything other than baseline/left)
21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of second alignment point (in OCS) (optional)

73 Vertical text justification type (optional, default = 0): integer codes (not bit-coded):
0 = Baseline; 1 = Bottom; 2 = Middle; 3 = Top
See the Group 72 and 73 integer codes table for clarification
The following table describes the group codes 72 (horizontal alignment) and
73 (vertical alignment) in greater detail.
Group 72 and 73 integer codes

Group 73 Group 1 2 3 4 5
72
0
3 (top) TLeft TCenter TRight
2 (middle) MLeft MCenter MRight
1 (bottom) BLeft BCenter BRight
0 (baseline) Left Center Right Aligned Middle Fit
If group 72 and/or 73 values are nonzero then the first alignment point values
are ignored and AutoCAD calculates new values based on the second alignment
point and the length and height of the text string itself (after applying the
TEXT | 145
text style). If the 72 and 73 values are zero or missing, then the second
alignment point is meaningless.
TOLERANCE
The following group codes apply to tolerance entities. In addition to the group
Tolerance group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbFcf)

1 String representing the visual representation of the tolerance


21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of X-axis direction vector (in WCS)
TRACE
The following group codes apply to trace entities. In addition to the group

Trace group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbTrace)
10 First corner (in OCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of first corner (in OCS)
11 Second corner (in OCS)

21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of second corner (in OCS)
12 Third corner (in OCS)

22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of third corner (in OCS)
13 Fourth corner (in OCS)

23, 33 DXF: Y and Z values of fourth corner (in OCS)

UNDERLAY
The following group codes apply to underlays. In addition to the group codes
UNDERLAY | 147
Please note that UNDERLAY group codes are common to DWFUNDERLAY
and DGNUNDERLAY. The differentiation between DWFUNDERLAY and DGN
UNDERLAY occurs in group code 0, defining the object name.
Underlay group codes

0 Object name. Defined as “DWFUNDERLAY” for DWFUNDERLAY entit-

ies, or “DGNUNDERLAY” for DGNUNDERLAY entities.
100 Subclass marker (AcDbUnderlayReference)
340 The ID of the AcDbUnderlayDefinition object
10,20,30 The X,Y, and Z coordinates of the insertion point of the underlay.
These are OCS/ECS coordinates
41,42,43 DXF: X, Y, and Z scale factors
50 Rotation Angle (in OCS/ECS. CCW from the coordinate system X axis
and around the Z axis)
210,220,230 Normal vector (in WCS)
280 Flags
1 = Clipping is on
2 = Underlay is on
4 = Monochrome
8 = Adjust for background
16 = Clip is inside mode
281 Contrast (value between 20 and 100)
282 Fade (value between 0 and 80)
11, 21 Repeating: 2d points in OCS/ECS. If only two, then they are the lower
left and upper right corner points of a clip rectangle. If more than
two, then they are the vertices of a clipping polygon

VERTEX
The following group codes apply to vertex entities. In addition to the group
Vertex group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbVertex)
100 Subclass marker (AcDb2dVertex or AcDb3dPolylineVertex)
10 Location point (in OCS when 2D, and WCS when 3D)
20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of location point (in OCS when 2D, and WCS when 3D)
40 Starting width (optional; default is 0)
41 Ending width (optional; default is 0)
42 Bulge (optional; default is 0). The bulge is the tangent of one fourth the included angle for an
arc segment, made negative if the arc goes clockwise from the start point to the endpoint. A
bulge of 0 indicates a straight segment, and a bulge of 1 is a semicircle
70 Vertex flags:
1 = Extra vertex created by curve-fitting
2 = Curve-fit tangent defined for this vertex. A curve-fit tangent direction of 0 may be omitted
from DXF output but is significant if this bit is set
4 = Not used
8 = Spline vertex created by spline-fitting
16 = Spline frame control point
32 = 3D polyline vertex
64 = 3D polygon mesh
128 = Polyface mesh vertex
50 Curve fit tangent direction
71 Polyface mesh vertex index (optional; present only if nonzero)
VERTEX | 149
Vertex group codes
Every vertex that is part of a polyface mesh has its vertex flag 128 bit set. If
the entity supplies the coordinate of a vertex of the mesh, its 64 bit is set as
well, and the 10, 20, 30 groups give the vertex coordinate. The vertex index
values are determined by the order in which the vertex entities appear within
the polyline, with the first being numbered 1.
If the vertex defines a face of the mesh, its vertex flags group has the 128 bit
set but not the 64 bit. In this case, the 10, 20, 30 (location) groups of the face
entity are irrelevant and are always written as 0 in a DXF file. The vertex
indexes that define the mesh are given by 71, 72, 73, and 74 group codes, the
values of which specify one of the previously defined vertexes by index. If the
index is negative, the edge that begins with that vertex is invisible. The first
0 vertex marks the end of the vertices of the face.
VIEWPORT
The following group codes apply to viewport entities. In addition to the group
Viewport group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbViewport)
10 Center point (in WCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of center point (in WCS)
40 Width in paper space units
41 Height in paper space units

68 Viewport status field:

-1 = On, but is fully off screen, or is one of the viewports that is not active because the $MAX-
ACTVP count is currently being exceeded.
0 = Off
<positive value > = On and active. The value indicates the order of stacking for the viewports,
where 1 is the active viewport, 2 is the next, and so forth
69 Viewport ID

22 DXF: View center point Y value (in DCS)
13 Snap base point

23 DXF: Snap base point Y value
14 Snap spacing
24 DXF: Snap spacing Y value
15 Grid spacing
25 DXF: Grid spacing Y value
16 View direction vector (in WCS)

26, 36 DXF: Y and Z values of view direction vector (in WCS)
17 View target point (in WCS)

27, 37 DXF: Y and Z values of view target point (in WCS)
42 Perspective lens length
VIEWPORT | 151
43 Front clip plane Z value
44 Back clip plane Z value
45 View height (in model space units)
50 Snap angle
51 View twist angle
72 Circle zoom percent
331 Frozen layer object ID/handle (multiple entries may exist) (optional)
90 Viewport status bit-coded flags:

1 (0x1) = Enables perspective mode
2 (0x2) = Enables front clipping
4 (0x4) = Enables back clipping
8 (0x8) = Enables UCS follow
16 (0x10) = Enables front clip not at eye
32 (0x20) = Enables UCS icon visibility
64 (0x40) = Enables UCS icon at origin
128 (0x80) = Enables fast zoom
256 (0x100) = Enables snap mode
512 (0x200) = Enables grid mode
1024 (0x400) = Enables isometric snap style
2048 (0x800) = Enables hide plot mode
4096 (0x1000) = kIsoPairTop. If set and kIsoPairRight is not set, then isopair top is enabled. If
both kIsoPairTop and kIsoPairRight are set, then isopair left is enabled
8192 (0x2000) = kIsoPairRight. If set and kIsoPairTop is not set, then isopair right is enabled
16384 (0x4000) = Enables viewport zoom locking
32768 (0x8000) = Currently always enabled
65536 (0x10000) = Enables non-rectangular clipping
131072 (0x20000) = Turns the viewport off
340 Hard-pointer ID/handle to entity that serves as the viewport's clipping boundary (only present
if viewport is non-rectangular)
1 Plot style sheet name assigned to this viewport

281 Render mode:

1 = Wireframe
2 = Hidden line
3 = Flat shaded
4 = Gouraud shaded
71 UCS per viewport flag:

0 = The UCS will not change when this viewport becomes active.
1 = This viewport stores its own UCS which will become the current UCS whenever the viewport
is activated
74 Display UCS icon at UCS origin flag:

Controls whether UCS icon represents viewport UCS or current UCS (these will be different if
UCSVP is 1 and viewport is not active). However, this field is currently being ignored and the
icon always represents the viewport UCS
110 UCS origin

111 UCS X-axis

112 UCS Y-axis

VIEWPORT | 153
79 Orthographic type of UCS:

1 = Top; 2 = Bottom
3 = Front; 4 = Back
5 = Left; 6 = Right
146 Elevation
170 ShadePlot mode:

0 = As Displayed
1 = Wireframe
2 = Hidden
3 = Rendered
61 Frequency of major grid lines compared to minor grid lines
332 Background ID/Handle (optional)
333 Shade plot ID/Handle (optional)
348 Visual style ID/Handle (optional)
292 Default lighting flag. On when no user lights are specified.
282 Default lighting type:

0 = One distant light
1 = Two distant lights
141 View brightness
142 View contrast
63,421,431 Ambient light color. Write only if not black color.
361 Sun ID/Handle (optional)
335 Soft pointer reference to viewport object (for layer VP property override)

NOTE The ZOOM XP factor is calculated with the following formula: group_41
/ group_45 (or pspace_height / mspace_height).
WIPEOUT
The following group codes apply to wipeout entities. In addition to the group
Wipeout group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbRasterImage)
90 Class version

11 U-vector of a single pixel (points along the visual bottom of the image, starting at the insertion
point) (in WCS)
21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values U-vector (in WCS)
12 V-vector of a single pixel (points along the visual left side of the image, starting at the insertion
point) (in WCS)
WIPEOUT | 155
Wipeout group codes
22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of V-vector (in WCS)

340 Hard reference to imagedef object
70 Image display properties:

1 = Show image
2 = Show image when not aligned with screen
4 = Use clipping boundary
8 = Transparency is on
280 Clipping state: 0 = Off; 1 = On
281 Brightness value (0-100; default = 50)
282 Contrast value (0-100; default = 50)
283 Fade value (0-100; default = 0)
360 Hard reference to imagedef_reactor object
71 Clipping boundary type. 1 = Rectangular; 2 = Polygonal
91 Number of clip boundary vertices that follow
14 Clip boundary vertex (in OCS)

NOTE 1) For rectangular clip boundary type, two opposite corners must be specified. Default
is (-0.5,-0.5), (size.x-0.5, size.y-0.5). 2) For polygonal clip boundary type, three or more vertices
must be specified. Polygonal vertices must be listed sequentially
24 DXF: Y value of clip boundary vertex (in OCS) (multiple entries)

XLINE
The following group codes apply to xline entities. In addition to the group
Xline group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbXline)
10 First point (in WCS)

20, 30 DXF: Y and Z values of first point (in WCS)
11 Unit direction vector (in WCS)

21, 31 DXF: Y and Z values of unit direction vector (in WCS)
XLINE | 157
158
OBJECTS Section
7
This chapter presents the group codes that apply to nongraphical objects. These codes are
found in the OBJECTS section of a DXF™ file and are used by AutoLISP® and ObjectARX®
applications in entity definition lists.
OBJECT Section Group Codes

Objects are similar to entities, except that they have no graphical or geometric
meaning. All objects that are not entities or symbol table records or symbol
tables are stored in this section. This section represents a homogeneous heap
of objects with topological ordering of objects by ownership, such that the
owners always appear before the objects they own.
Object Ownership
The root owner of most objects appearing in the OBJECTS section is the named
object dictionary, which is, therefore, always the first object that appears in this
section. Objects that are not owned by the named object dictionary are owned
by other entities, objects, or symbol table entries. Objects in this section may
be defined by AutoCAD® or by applications with access to ObjectARX® API.
The DXF names of application-defined object types should always be associated
with a class name in the CLASS section of the DXF file, or else the object record
cannot be bound to the application that will interpret it.
As with other dictionaries, the named-object dictionary record consists solely
of associated pairs of entry names and hard ownership pointer references to the
associated object.
To avoid name collision between objects, developers should always use their
registered developer prefix for their entries.
159
Common Group Codes for Objects
The following table shows group codes that apply to virtually all nongraphical
objects. When you refer to a table of group codes by object type, a list of codes
associated with a specific object, keep in mind that the codes shown here can
also be present. Some of the group codes are included with an object only if
the object has nondefault values for those group code properties. For
Common object group codes

0 Object type
5 Handle
102 Start of application-defined group “{application_name” (optional)
defined codes
102 “{ACAD_REACTORS” indicates the start of the AutoCAD persistent reactors group. This group
exists only if persistent reactors have been attached to this object (optional)
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary (optional)
360 Hard-owner ID/handle to owner dictionary (optional)
160 | Chapter 7 OBJECTS Section

ACAD_PROXY_OBJECT
The following group codes apply to ACAD_PROXY_OBJECT objects. In addition
to the group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Objects on
ACAD_PROXY_OBJECT group codes

100 DXF: Subclass marker (AcDbProxyObject)
90 DXF: Proxy object class ID (always 499)
91 DXF: Application object's class ID. Class IDs are based on the order of the class in the CLASSES
section. The first class is given the ID of 500, the next is 501, and so on
93 DXF: Size of object data in bits
310 DXF: Binary object data (multiple entries can appear) (optional)
330 or 340 or DXF: An object ID (multiple entries can appear) (optional)

350 or 360
94 DXF: 0 (indicates end of object ID section)
95 DXF: Object drawing format when it becomes a proxy (a 32-bit unsigned integer):
Low word is AcDbDwgVersion
High word is MaintenanceReleaseVersion
70 DXF: Original custom object data format:

0 = DWG format
1 = DXF format
The 92 field is not used for AcDbProxyObject. Objects of this class never have
graphics.
ACDBDICTIONARYWDFLT
The following group codes are used by ACDBDICTIONARYWDFLT objects. In
ACAD_PROXY_OBJECT | 161
Objects on page 160. For information about abbreviations and formatting used
ACDBDICTIONARYWDFLT group codes

0 Object name (ACDBDICTIONARYWDFLT)
5 Handle
102 Start of persistent reactors group; always “{ACAD_REACTORS”
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary
102 End of persistent reactors group, always “}”
330 Soft-owner ID/handle to owner object
100 Subclass marker (AcDbDictionary)
0 = Not applicable
1 = Keep existing
2 = Use clone
3 = <xref>$0$<name>
4 = $0$<name>
5 = Unmangle name
3 Entry name (one for each entry)
350 Soft-owner ID/handle to entry object (one for each entry)
100 Subclass marker (AcDbDictionaryWithDefault)
340 Hard pointer to default object ID/handle (currently only used for plot style dictionary's default
entry, named “Normal”)
ACDBPLACEHOLDER
The following group codes are used by the ACDBPLACEHOLDER objects. In

ACDBPLACEHOLDER group codes

0 Object name (ACDBPLACEHOLDER)
5 Handle
DATATABLE
The following group codes are used by the DATATABLE objects. In addition
DATATABLE group codes

0 Object name (DATATABLE)
5 Handle
100 Subclass marker (AcDbDataTable)
DATATABLE | 163
DATATABLE group codes
70 Version
90 Number of columns
91 Number of valid rows
1 Table name
92, 2 Column type and name; repeats for each column
One value is written for every row in each column
71 Boolean value
93 Integer value
40 Double value
3 String value
10, 20, 30 2D Point
11, 21, 31 3D Point
331 Soft-pointer ID/handle to object value
360 Hard-pointer ownership ID
350 Soft-pointer ownsership ID
340 Hard-pointer ID/handle
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle
DICTIONARY
The following group codes are used by DICTIONARY objects. In addition to
the group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Objects on

DICTIONARY group codes

0 Object name (DICTIONARY)
5 Handle
100 Subclass marker (AcDbDictionary)
280 Hard-owner flag. If set to 1, indicates that elements of the dictionary are to be treated as hard-
owned
0 = Not applicable
1 = Keep existing
2 = Use clone
3 = <xref>$0$<name>
4 = $0$<name>
5 = Unmangle name
3 Entry name (one for each entry) (optional)
350 Soft-owner ID/handle to entry object (one for each entry) (optional)
AutoCAD® maintains items such as mline styles and group definitions as

objects in dictionaries. The following sections describe the AutoCAD object
group codes maintained in dictionaries; however, other applications are free
to create and use their own dictionaries as they see fit. The prefix "ACAD_" is
reserved for use by AutoCAD applications.
DICTIONARY | 165
DICTIONARYVAR
The following group codes are used by DICTIONARYVAR objects. In addition
DICTIONARYVAR group codes

0 Object name (DICTIONARYVAR)
5 Handle
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary (ACDBVARIABLEDICTIONARY)
100 Subclass marker (DictionaryVariables)
280 Object schema number (currently set to 0)
1 Value of variable
DICTIONARYVAR objects are used by AutoCAD as a means to store named

values in the database for setvar/getvar purposes without the need to add
entries to the DXF™ HEADER section. System variables that are stored as
DICTIONARYVAR objects are the following: DEFAULTVIEWCATEGORY,
DIMADEC, DIMASSOC, DIMDSEP, DRAWORDERCTL, FIELDEVAL, HALOGAP,
HIDETEXT, INDEXCTL, INDEXCTL, INTERSECTIONCOLOR,
INTERSECTIONDISPLAY, MSOLESCALE, OBSCOLOR, OBSLTYPE, OLEFRAME,
PROJECTNAME, SORTENTS, UPDATETHUMBNAIL, XCLIPFRAME, and
XCLIPFRAME.
DIMASSOC
The following group codes are used by DIMASSOC objects. In addition to the
group codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Objects on page

DIMASSOC group codes

0 Object name (DIMASSOC)
5 Handle
102 Persistent reactors group; always “{ACAD_REACTORS}”
330 Soft-pointer ID
100 Subclass marker (AcDbDimAssoc)
330 ID of dimension object
90 Associativity flag
1 = First point reference
2 = Second point reference
4 = Third point reference
8 = Fourth point reference
70 Trans-space flag (true/false)
71 Rotated Dimension type (parallel, perpendicular)
1 Class name (AcDbOsnapPointRef)
72 Object Osnap type

0 = None
1 = Endpoint
2 = Midpoint
3 = Center
4 = Node
5 = Quadrant
6 = Intersection
7 = Insertion
8 = Perpendicular
9 = Tangent
10 = Nearest
11 = Apparent intersection
DIMASSOC | 167
DIMASSOC group codes
12 = Parallel
13 = Start point
331 ID of main object (geometry)
73 SubentType of main object (edge, face)
91 GsMarker of main object (index)
301 Handle (string) of Xref object
40 Geometry parameter for Near Osnap
10 Osnap point in WCS; X value
20 Osnap point in WCS; Y value
30 Osnap point in WCS; Z value
332 ID of intersection object (geometry)
74 SubentType of intersction object (edge/face)
92 GsMarker of intersection object (index)
302 Handle (string) of intersection Xref object
75 hasLastPointRef flag (true/false)
DIMASSOC objects implement associative dimensions by specifying an

association between a dimension object and drawing geometry objects. An
associative dimension is a dimension that will automatically update when the
associated geometry is modified.
FIELD
The following group codes are used by FIELD objects. In addition to the group
codes described here, see Common Group Codes for Objects on page 160. For

FIELD group codes

0 Object name (ACAD_FIELD)
1 Evaluator ID
2 Field code string
3 Overflow of field code string
90 Number of child fields
360 Child field ID (AcDbHardOwnershipId); repeats for number of children
97 Number of object IDs used in the field code
331 Object ID used in the field code (AcDbSoftPointerId); repeats for the
number of object IDs used in the field code
93 Number of the data set in the field
6 Key string for the field data; a key-field pair is repeated for the number
of data sets in the field
7 Key string for the evaluated cache; this key is hard-coded as

ACFD_FIELD_VALUE
90 Data type of field value
91 Long value (if data type of field value is long)
140 Double value (if data type of field value is double)
330 ID value, AcDbSoftPointerId (if data type of field value is ID)
92 Binary data buffer size (if data type of field value is binary)
310 Binary data (if data type of field value is binary)
FIELD | 169
FIELD group codes
301 Format string
9 Overflow of format string
98 Length of format string
GEODATA
The following group codes are used by GEODATA objects. In addition to the
GEODATA group codes

90 AcDbGeoData Object version

1 - 2009
2 - 2010
70 Type of design coordinates:

0 - Unknown
1 - Local grid
2 - Projected grid
3 - Geographic (latitude/longitude)
330 ObjectId of host block table record
10,20,30 Design point, reference point in WCS coordinates
11,21,31 Reference point in coordinate system coordinates, valid only when coordinate type is Local
Grid.
12,22 North direction vector (2D)
40 Horizontal unit scale, factor which converts horizontal design coordinates to meters by multi-
plication.
41 Vertical unit scale, factor which converts vertical design coordinates to meters by multiplication.

GEODATA group codes
91 Horizontal units per UnitsValue enumeration. Will be kUnitsUndefined if units specified by hori-
zontal unit scale is not supported by AutoCAD enumeration.
92 Vertical units per UnitsValue enumeration. Will be kUnitsUndefined if units specified by horizontal
unit scale is not supported by AutoCAD enumeration.
210,220,230 Up direction
95 Scale estimation method:

1 - None
2 - User specified scale factor
3 - Grid scale at reference point
4 - Prismoidal
294 Bool flag specifying whether to do sea level correction
141 User specified scale factor
142 Sea level elevation
143 Coordinate projection radius
301 Coordinate system definition string
302 GeoRSS tag
305 Observation from tag
306 Observation to tag
307 Observation coverage tag
93 Number of Geo-Mesh points
13,23 Coordinate of source mesh point (repeat)
14,24 Coordinate of destination mesh point (repeat)
96 Number of faces
GEODATA | 171
GEODATA group codes
97 Point index for face (repeat)
GROUP
The following group codes are used by GROUP objects. In addition to the
GROUP group codes

0 Object name (GROUP)
5 Handle
102 Start of persistent reactors group; always “{ACAD_REACTORS” (persistent reactors group appears
in all dictionaries except the main dictionary)
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary. For GROUP objects this is always the ACAD_GROUP
entry of the named object dictionary
100 Subclass marker (AcDbGroup)
300 Group description
70 “Unnamed” flag: 1 = Unnamed; 0 = Named
71 Selectability flag: 1 = Selectable; 0 = Not selectable
340 Hard-pointer handle to entity in group (one entry per object)

IDBUFFER
The following group codes are used by IDBUFFER objects. In addition to the
IDBUFFER group codes

100 Subclass marker (AcDbIdBuffer)
330 Soft-pointer reference to entity (multiple entries may exist)
The IDBUFFER object is a utility object that is just a list of references to objects.
IMAGEDEF
The following group codes are used by IMAGEDEF objects. In addition to the
IMAGEDEF group codes

0 Object name (IMAGEDEF)
5 Handle
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to the ACAD_IMAGE_DICT dictionary
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to IMAGEDEF_REACTOR object (multiple entries; one for each instance)
100 Subclass marker (AcDbRasterImageDef)
90 Class version 0
IDBUFFER | 173
IMAGEDEF group codes
1 File name of image

11 Default size of one pixel in AutoCAD units

12 DXF: V value of pixel size
280 Image-is-loaded flag. 0 = Unloaded; 1 = Loaded
281 Resolution units. 0 = No units; 2 = Centimeters; 5 = Inch
IMAGEDEF_REACTOR
The following group codes are used by IMAGEDEF_REACTOR objects. In
IMAGEDEF_REACTOR group codes

0 Object name (IMAGEDEF_REACTOR)
5 Handle
100 Subclass marker (AcDbRasterImageDefReactor)
90 Class version 2
330 Object ID for associated image object

LAYER_INDEX
The following group codes are used by LAYER_INDEX objects. In addition to
LAYER_INDEX group codes

0 Object name (LAYER_INDEX)
5 Handle
100 Subclass marker (AcDbIndex)
40 Time stamp (Julian date)
100 Subclass marker (AcDbLayerIndex)
8 Layer name (multiple entries may exist)
360 Hard-owner reference to IDBUFFER (multiple entries may exist)
90 Number of entries in the IDBUFFER list (multiple entries may exist)
LAYER_FILTER
The following group codes are used by LAYER_FILTER objects. In addition to
LAYER_INDEX | 175
LAYER_FILTER group codes

0 Object name (LAYER_FILTER)
5 Handle
100 Subclass marker (AcDbFilter)
100 Subclass marker (AcDbLayerFilter)
8 Layer name (multiple entries may exist)
LAYOUT
The following group codes are used by LAYOUT objects. In addition to the
LAYOUT group codes

0 Object name (LAYOUT)
5 Handle

LAYOUT group codes
100 Subclass marker (AcDbPlotSettings)
plotsettings ob- For group codes and descriptions following the AcDbPlotSettings marker, see PLOTSETTINGS
ject group codes on page 189
100 Subclass marker (AcDbLayout)
1 Layout name
70 Flag (bit-coded) to control the following:

1 = Indicates the PSLTSCALE value for this layout when this layout is current
2 = Indicates the LIMCHECK value for this layout when this layout is current
71 Tab order. This number is an ordinal indicating this layout's ordering in the tab control that is
attached to the AutoCAD drawing frame window. Note that the “Model” tab always appears
as the first tab regardless of its tab order
10 Minimum limits for this layout (defined by LIMMIN while this layout is current)
20 DXF: Y value of minimum limits
11 Maximum limits for this layout (defined by LIMMAX while this layout is current):
21 DXF: Y value of maximum limits
12 Insertion base point for this layout (defined by INSBASE while this layout is current):
22, 32 DXF: Y and Z values of the insertion base point
14 Minimum extents for this layout (defined by EXTMIN while this layout is current):
24, 34 DXF: Y and Z values of the minimum extents
15 Maximum extents for this layout (defined by EXTMAX while this layout is current):
LAYOUT | 177
LAYOUT group codes
25, 35 DXF: Y and Z values of the maximum extents
146 Elevation
13 UCS origin
16 UCS X-axis
17 UCS Y axis
27, 37 DXF: Y and Z values of UCS Y axis
76 Orthographic type of UCS

1 = Top; 2 = Bottom
3 = Front; 4 = Back
5 = Left; 6 = Right
330 ID/handle to this layout's associated paper space block table record
331 ID/handle to the viewport that was last active in this layout when the layout was current
333 Shade plot ID

LIGHTLIST
The following group codes are used by LIGHTLIST objects. In addition to the
LIGHTLIST group codes

0 Object name (LIGHTLIST)
5 Handle
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary. For LIGHTLIST objects, this is always the ACAD_LIGHT
entry of the named object dictionary
100 Subclass marker (AcDbLightList)
90 Version number
90 Number of lights
5 Light handle (one for each light)
1 Light name (one for each light)
MATERIAL
The following group codes are used by MATERIAL objects. In addition to the
LIGHTLIST | 179
MATERIAL group codes

0 Object name (MATERIAL)
5 Handle
102 Start of persistent reactors group; always “{ACAD_REACTORS” (The persistent reactors group
appears in all dictionaries except the main dictionary.)
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary. For MATERIAL objects, this is always the
ACAD_MATERIAL entry of the named object dictionary.
102 End of persistent reactors group; always “}”
100 Subclass marker (AcDbMaterial)
1 Material name (string)
2 Description (string, default null string)
70 Ambient color method (default = 0):

0 = Use current color
1 = Override current color
40 Ambient color factor (real, default = 1.0; valid range is 0.0 to 1.0)
90 Ambient color value (unsigned 32-bit integer representing an AcCmEntityColor)
71 Diffuse color method (default = 0):

41 Diffuse color factor (real, default = 1.0; valid range is 0.0 to 1.0)
91 Diffuse color value (unsigned 32-bit integer representing an AcCmEntityColor)
42 Diffuse map blend factor (real, default = 1.0)
72 Diffuse map source (default = 1):

0 = Use current scene
1 = Use image file (specified by file name; null file name specifies no map)
3 Diffuse map file name (string, default = null string)
73 Projection method of diffuse map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Planar
2 = Box
3 = Cylinder
4 = Sphere
74 Tiling method of diffuse map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Tile
2 = Crop
3 = Clamp
75 Auto transform method of diffuse map mapper (bitset, default = 1):

1= No auto transform
2 = Scale mapper to current entity extents; translate mapper to entity origin
4 = Include current block transform in mapper transform
43 Transform matrix of diffuse map mapper (16 reals; row major format; default = identity matrix)
44 Specular gloss factor (real, default = 0.5)
76 Specular color method (default = 0):

45 Specular color factor (real, default = 1.0; valid range is 0.0 to 1.0)
92 Specular color value (unsigned 32-bit integer representing an AcCmEntityColor)
46 Specular map blend factor (real; default = 1.0)
77 Specular map source (default = 1):

4 Specular map file name (string; default = null string)
MATERIAL | 181
78 Projection method of specular map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Planar
2 = Box
3 = Cylinder
4 = Sphere
79 Tiling method of specular map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Tile
2 = Crop
3 = Clamp
170 Auto transform method of specular map mapper (bitset; default = 1):
1 = No auto transform
47 Transform matrix of specular map mapper (16 reals; row major format; default = identity matrix)
48 Blend factor of reflection map (real, default = 1.0)
171 Reflection map source (default = 1):

6 Reflection map file name (string; default = null string)
172 Projection method of reflection map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Planar
2 = Box
3 = Cylinder
4 = Sphere
173 Tiling method of reflection map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Tile
2 = Crop
3 = Clamp
174 Auto transform method of reflection map mapper (bitset; default = 1):

49 Transform matrix of reflection map mapper (16 reals; row major format; default = identity
matrix)
140 Opacity percent (real; default = 1.0)
141 Blend factor of opacity map (real; default = 1.0)
175 Opacity map source (default = 1):

7 Opacity map file name (string; default = null string)
176 Projection method of opacity map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Planar
2 = Box
3 = Cylinder
4 = Sphere
177 Tiling method of opacity map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Tile
2 = Crop
3 = Clamp
178 Auto transform method of opacity map mapper (bitset; default = 1):
142 Transform matrix of opacity map mapper (16 reals; row major format; default = identity matrix)
143 Blend factor of bump map (real; default = 1.0)
179 Bump map source (default = 1):

8 Bump map file name (string; default = null string)
MATERIAL | 183
270 Projection method of bump map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Planar
2 = Box
3 = Cylinder
4 = Sphere
271 Tiling method of bump map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Tile
2 = Crop
3 = Clamp
272 Auto transform method of bump map mapper (bitset; default = 1):
144 Transform matrix of bump map mapper (16 reals; row major format; default = identity matrix)
145 Refraction index (real; default = 1.0)
146 Blend factor of refraction map (real; default = 1.0)
273 Refraction map source (default = 1):

9 Refraction map file name (string; default = null string)
274 Projection method of refraction map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Planar
2 = Box
3 = Cylinder
4 = Sphere
275 Tiling method of refraction map mapper (default = 1):

1 = Tile
2 = Crop
3 = Clamp
276 Auto transform method of refraction map mapper (bitset; default = 1):

147 Transform matrix of refraction map mapper (16 reals; row major format; default = identity
matrix)
460 Color Bleed Scale
461 Indirect Dump Scale
462 Reflectance Scale
463 Transmittance Scale
290 Two-sided Material
464 Luminance
270 Luminance Mode
271 Normal Map Method
465 Normal Map Strength
42 Normal Map Blend Factor
72 Normal Map Source
3 Normal Map Source File Name
73 Normal Mapper Projection
74 Normal Mapper Tiling
75 Normal Mapper Auto Transform
43 Normal Mapper Transform
293 Materials Anonymous
MATERIAL | 185
272 Global Illumination Mode
273 Final Gather Mode
300 GenProcName
291 GenProcValBool
271 GenProcValInt
469 GenProcValReal
301 GenProcValText
292 GenProcTableEnd
62 GenProcValColorIndex
420 GenProcValColorRGB
430 GenProcValColorName
270 Map UTile
148 Translucence
90 Self-Illuminaton
468 Reflectivity
93 Illumination Model
94 Channel Flags
MLINESTYLE
The following group codes are used by MLINESTYLE objects. In addition to

MLINESTYLE group codes

0 Object name (MLINESTYLE)
5 Handle
102 Start of persistent reactors group; always “{ACAD_REACTORS” (persistent reactors group
appears in all dictionaries except the main dictionary)
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary. For MLINESTYLE objects this is always the
ACAD_MLINESTYLE entry of the named object dictionary
100 Subclass marker (AcDbMlineStyle)
2 Mline style name
70 Flags (bit-coded):
1 =Fill on
2 = Display miters
16 = Start square end (line) cap
32 = Start inner arcs cap
64 = Start round (outer arcs) cap
256 = End square (line) cap
512 = End inner arcs cap
1024 = End round (outer arcs) cap
3 Style description (string, 255 characters maximum)
62 Fill color (integer, default = 256)
51 Start angle (real, default is 90 degrees)
52 End angle (real, default is 90 degrees)
71 Number of elements
49 Element offset (real, no default). Multiple entries can exist; one entry for each element
MLINESTYLE | 187
MLINESTYLE group codes
62 Element color (integer, default = 0). Multiple entries can exist; one entry for each element
6 Element linetype (string, default = BYLAYER). Multiple entries can exist; one entry for each
element
The 2 group codes in mline entities and MLINESTYLE objects are redundant
fields. These groups should not be modified under any circumstances, although
it is safe to read them and use their values. The correct fields to modify are
Mline The 340 group in the same object, which indicates the proper
MLINESTYLE object.
Mlinestyle The 3 group value in the MLINESTYLE dictionary, which precedes

the 350 group that has the handle or entity name of the current mlinestyle.
OBJECT_PTR
The following group codes are used by OBJECT_PTR objects. In addition to
OBJECT_PTR group codes

0 Object name (OBJECT_PTR)
5 Handle
1001 Begin ASE xdata (DC015)

PLOTSETTINGS
The following group codes are used by PLOTSETTINGS objects. In addition
PLOTSETTINGS group codes

0 Object name (PLOTSETTINGS)
5 Handle
100 Subclass marker (AcDbPlotSettings)
1 Page Setup name
2 Name of system printer or plot configuration file
4 Paper size
6 Plot view name
40 Size, in millimeters, of unprintable margin on left side of paper
41 Size, in millimeters, of unprintable margin on bottom of paper
42 Size, in millimeters, of unprintable margin on right side of paper
43 Size, in millimeters, of unprintable margin on top of paper
44 Plot paper size: physical paper width in millimeters
45 Plot paper size: physical paper height in millimeters
PLOTSETTINGS | 189
46 Plot origin: X value of origin offset in millimeters
47 Plot origin: Y value of origin offset in millimeters
48 Plot window area: X value of lower-left window corner
49 Plot window area: Y value of upper-right window corner
140 Plot window area: X value of lower-left window corner
141 Plot window area: Y value of upper-right window corner
142 Numerator of custom print scale: real world (paper) units
143 Denominator of custom print scale: drawing units
70 Plot layout flag:

1 = PlotViewportBorders
2 = ShowPlotStyles
4 = PlotCentered
8 = PlotHidden
16 = UseStandardScale
32 = PlotPlotStyles
64 = ScaleLineweights
128 = PrintLineweights
512 = DrawViewportsFirst
1024 = ModelType
2048 = UpdatePaper
4096 = ZoomToPaperOnUpdate
8192 = Initializing
16384 = PrevPlotInit
72 Plot paper units:

0 = Plot in inches
1 = Plot in millimeters
2 = Plot in pixels
73 Plot rotation:
0 = No rotation
1 = 90 degrees counterclockwise

2 = Upside-down
3 = 90 degrees clockwise
74 Plot type (portion of paper space to output to the media):

0 = Last screen display
1 = Drawing extents
2 = Drawing limits
3 = View specified by code 6
4 = Window specified by codes 48, 49, 140, and 141
5 = Layout information
7 Current style sheet
75 Standard scale type:

0 = Scaled to Fit
1 = 1/128"=1'; 2 = 1/64"=1'; 3 = 1/32"=1'
4 = 1/16"=1'; 5 = 3/32"=1'; 6 = 1/8"=1'
7 = 3/16"=1'; 8 = 1/4"=1'; 9 = 3/8"=1'
10 = 1/2"=1'; 11 = 3/4"=1'; 12 = 1"=1'
13 = 3"=1'; 14 = 6"=1'; 15 = 1'=1'
16= 1:1 ; 17= 1:2; 18 = 1:4; 19 = 1:8; 20 = 1:10; 21= 1:16
22 = 1:20; 23 = 1:30; 24 = 1:40; 25 = 1:50; 26 = 1:100
27 = 2:1; 28 = 4:1; 29 = 8:1; 30 = 10:1; 31 = 100:1; 32 = 1000:1
76 ShadePlot mode:
0 = As Displayed
1 = Wireframe
2 = Hidden
3 = Rendered
77 ShadePlot resolution level:

0 = Draft
1 = Preview
2 = Normal
3 = Presentation
4 = Maximum
5 = Custom
78 ShadePlot custom DPI:

Valid range: 100 to 32767
PLOTSETTINGS | 191
Only applied when the ShadePlot resolution level is set to 5 (Custom)
147 A floating point scale factor that represents the standard scale value
specified in code 75
148 Paper image origin: X value
149 Paper image origin: Y value
333 ShadePlot ID/Handle (optional)
RASTERVARIABLES
The following group codes are used by RASTERVARIABLES objects. In addition
RASTERVARIABLES group codes

0 Object name (RASTERVARIABLES)
5 Handle
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary. For a RASTERVARIABLES object, this is always the
ACAD_IMAGE_VARS entry of the named object dictionary
100 Subclass marker (AcDbRasterVariables)
90 Class version 0
70 Display-image-frame flag: 0 = No frame; 1 = Display frame
71 Image display quality (screen only): 0 = Draft; 1 = High

RASTERVARIABLES group codes
72 AutoCAD units for inserting images. This is what one AutoCAD unit is equal to for the purpose
of inserting and scaling images with an associated resolution:
0 = None; 1 = Millimeter; 2 = Centimeter
3 = Meter; 4 = Kilometer; 5 = Inch
6 = Foot; 7 = Yard; 8 = Mile
RENDER
Render related group codes.
RENDERENVIRONMENT
The following group codes are used by RENDERENVIRONMENT objects. In
RENDERENVIRONMENT group codes

0 Object name (RENDERENVIRONMENT)
5 Handle
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary. For a RENDERENVIRONMENT object, this is always
the ACAD_RENDER_ENVIRONMENT entry of the named object dictionary
100 Subclass marker (AcDbRenderEnvironment)
90 Class version 1
290 Fog enabled flag; 1 if enabled
290 Fog in background flag; 1 if enabled
RENDER | 193
RENDERENVIRONMENT group codes
280, 280, 280 Fog color; Red, green, and blue channel values
40, 40 Fog density; Near and Far density as a percentage
40, 40 Near and Far distance as a percentage of the distance between the camera and the far clipping
plane
290 Environment image flag
1 Environment image file name (can be blank if the previous flag is 0)
MENTALRAYRENDERSETTINGS
The following group codes are used by MENTALRAYRENDERSETTINGS objects.
MENTALRAYRENDERSETTINGS group codes

0 Object name (MENTALRAYRENDERSETTINGS)
5 Handle
100 Subclass marker (AcDbRenderSettings)
90 Class version 1
1 Render preset name
290 Render materials flag

90 Texture sampling quality
290 Render back-faces flag
290 Render shadows flag
1 Preview image file name(can be blank)
100 Subclass marker (AcDbMentalRayRenderSettings)
90 Class version 1
90 Sampling rate (minimum)
90 Sampling rate (maximum)
70 Sampling filter type

0 = Box
1 = Triangle
2 = Gauss
3 = Mitchell
4 = Lanczos
40, 40 Filter width, height
40, 40, 40, 40 Sampling contrast color; Red, green, blue, and alpha channel values
70 Shadow mode
0 = Simple
1 = Sort
2 = Segment
290 Shadow map flag; applies only to lights using mapped shadows
290 Ray tracing flag
90, 90, 90 Ray tracing depth for reflections, refractions, and maximum depth
290 Global illumination flag
MENTALRAYRENDERSETTINGS | 195
90 Photons/sample count
290 Global illumination radius flag
40 Global illumination sample radius
90 Photons per light
90, 90, 90 Global illumination photo trace depth for reflections, refractions, and maximum depth
290 Final gather flag
90 Final gather ray count
290, 290 Final gather minimum and maximum radius flags
290 Final gather pixels flag
40, 40 Final gather minimum and maximum sample radius
40 Luminance scale (energy multiplier)
70 Diagnostic mode
0 = Off
1 = Grid
2 = Photon
4 = BSP
70 Diagnostic Grid mode

0 = Object
1 = World
2 = Camera
40 Grid size
70 Diagnostic Photon mode

0 = Density
1 = Irradiance
70 Diagnostic BSP mode

0 = Depth
1 = Size
290 Export MI statistics flag
1 MI statistics file name (can be blank)
90 Tile size
70 Tile order
0 = Hilbert
1 = Spiral
2 = Left to right
3 = Right to left
4 = Top to bottom
5 = Bottom to top
90 Memory limit
RENDERGLOBAL
The following group codes are used by RENDERGLOBAL objects. In addition
RENDERGLOBAL group codes

0 Object name (RENDERGLOBAL)
5 Handle
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary. For a RENDERGLOBAL object, this is always the
ACAD_RENDER_GLOBAL entry of the named object dictionary
RENDERGLOBAL | 197
RENDERGLOBAL group codes
100 Subclass marker (AcDbRenderGlobal)
90 Class version 2
90 Render procedure:
0 = View
1 = Crop
2 = Selection
90 Render destination
0 = Render Window
1 = Viewport
290 Save to file flag
1 Rendered image save file name
90 Image width
90 Image height
290 Predefined presets first flag
290 High info level flag
SECTION
Section manager and section settings group codes.

Section Manager
The following group codes apply to SECTIONMANAGER objects. For
SECTIONMANAGER group codes

0 Object name (SECTIONMANAGER)
5 Handle
100 Subclass marker (AcDbSectionManager)
70 Requires full update flag
90 Number of sections
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to section entities (repeats for number of sections)
Section Settings
The following group codes apply to SECTIONSETTINGS objects. For
SECTIONSETTINGS group codes

0 Object name (SECTIONSETTINGS)
5 Handle
Section Manager | 199

SECTIONSETTINGS group codes
100 Subclass marker (AcDbSectionSettings)
90 Section type
91 Number of generation settings
Section Type Settings data follows
Section Type Settings

The following group codes apply to Section Type settings. For information
about abbreviations and formatting used in this table, see Formatting
Conventions in This Reference on page 2.
Section Type Settings group codes

1 “SectionTypeSettings” marker
90 Section type
91 Generation option flag
92 Number of source objects
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to source objects (repeats for number of source objects)
331 Soft-pointer ID/handle to destination block object
1 Destination file name

Section Type Settings group codes
93 Number of generation settings
2 “SectionGeometrySettings” data marker
Section geometry settings data
3 “SectionTypeSettingsEnd” marker
Section Geometry Settings

The following group codes apply to Section geometry settings. For information
Section geometry settings group codes

90 Section type
91 Geometry count
92 Bitflags
63 Color data
8 Layer name
6 Linetype name
40 Linetype scale
1 Plotstyle name
370 Line weight
70 Face transparency
71 Edge transparency
Section Geometry Settings | 201

Section geometry settings group codes
72 Hatch pattern type
2 Hatch pattern name
41 Hatch angle
42 Hatch scale
43 Hatch spacing
3 “SectionGeometrySettingsEnd” data marker
SPATIAL_INDEX
The following group codes are used by SPATIAL_INDEX objects. In addition
SPATIAL_INDEX group codes

0 Object name (SPATIAL_INDEX)
5 Handle
100 Subclass marker (AcDbIndex)
40 Timestamp (Julian date)
100 Subclass marker (AcDbSpatialIndex)

The SPATIAL_INDEX is always written out empty to a DXF file. This object
can be ignored.
SPATIAL_FILTER
The following group codes are used by SPATIAL_FILTER objects. In addition
SPATIAL_FILTER group codes

0 Object name (SPATIAL_FILTER)
5 Handle
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary (SPATIAL)
100 Subclass marker (AcDbFilter)
100 Subclass marker (AcDbSpatialFilter)
70 Number of points on the clip boundary

2 = Rectangular clip boundary (lower-left and upper-right)
greater than 2 = Polyline clip boundary
10 Clip boundary definition point (in OCS) (always 2 or more) based on an xref scale of 1
20 DXF: Y value of boundary definition point (always 2 or more)
210 Normal to the plane containing the clip boundary

11 Origin used to define the local coordinate system of the clip boundary
SPATIAL_FILTER | 203
SPATIAL_FILTER group codes
21, 31 Origin used to define the local coordinate system of the clip boundary
DXF: Y and Z values
71 Clip boundary display enabled flag

0 = Disabled; 1 = Enabled
72 Front clipping plane flag; 0 = No; 1 = Yes
40 Front clipping plane distance (if code 72 = 1)
73 Back clipping plane flag; 0 = No; 1 = Yes
41 Back clipping plane distance (if code 73 = 1)
40 4x3 transformation matrix written out in column major order. This matrix is the inverse of the
original block reference (insert entity) transformation. The original block reference transformation
is the one that is applied to all entities in the block when the block reference is regenerated
(always 12 entries)
40 4x3 transformation matrix written out in column major order. This matrix transforms points
into the coordinate system of the clip boundary (12 entries)
SORTENTSTABLE
The following group codes are used by SORTENTSTABLE objects. In addition
SORTENTSTABLE group codes

0 Object name (SORTENTSTABLE)
5 Handle
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary (ACAD_SORTENTS)

SORTENTSTABLE group codes
100 Subclass marker (AcDbSortentsTable)
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner (currently only the *MODEL_SPACE

or *PAPER_SPACE blocks)
331 Soft-pointer ID/handle to an entity (zero or more entries may exist)
5 Sort handle (zero or more entries may exist)
If the SORTENTS Regen flag (bit-code value 16) is set, AutoCAD regenerates
entities in ascending handle order. When the DRAWORDER command is used,
a SORTENTSTABLE object is attached to the *Model_Space or *Paper_Space
block's extension dictionary under the name ACAD_SORTENTS. The
SORTENTSTABLE object related to this dictionary associates a different handle
with each entity, which redefines the order in which the entities are
regenerated.
TABLESTYLE
The following group codes are used by TABLESTYLE objects. In addition to
TABLESTYLE group codes

0 Object name (TABLESTYLE)
5 Handle
102 Start of persistent reactors group; always “{ACAD_REACTORS” (The persistent reactors group
appears in all dictionaries except the main dictionary.)
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary. For TABLESTYLE objects, this code is always the
ACAD_TABLESTYLE entry of the named object dictionary
TABLESTYLE | 205
100 Subclass marker (AcDbTableStyle)
280 Version number:

0 = 2010
3 Table style description (string; 255 characters maximum)
70 FlowDirection (integer):
0 = Down
1 = Up
71 Flags (bit-coded)
40 Horizontal cell margin (real; default = 0.06)
41 Vertical cell margin (real; default = 0.06)
280 Flag for whether the title is suppressed:

0 = Not suppressed
1 = Suppressed
281 Flag for whether the column heading is suppressed:

0 = Not suppressed
1 = Suppressed
The following group codes are repeated for every cell in the table
7 Text style name (string; default = STANDARD)
140 Text height (real)
170 Cell alignment (integer)
62 Text color (integer; default = BYBLOCK)
63 Cell fill color (integer; default = 7)
283 Flag for whether background color is enabled (default = 0):

0 = Disabled
1 = Enabled
90 Cell data type
91 Cell unit type
274-279 Lineweight associated with each border type of the cell (default = kLnWtByBlock)
284-289 Flag for visibility associated with each border type of the cell (default = 1):
0 = Invisible
1 = Visible
64-69 Color value associated with each border type of the cell (default = BYBLOCK)
UNDERLAYDEFINITION
The following group codes apply to UNDERLAYDEFINITION symbol table
entries. In addition to the group codes described here, see Common Group
Codes for Symbol Table Entries on page 37. For information about
UNDERLAYDEFINITION group codes

Group Description
Code
0 Object name (UNDERLAYDEFINITION)
5 Handle
102 Start of persistent reactors group; always “{ACAD_REACT-

ORS”
100 Subclass marker (AcDbUnderlayDefinition)
UNDERLAYDEFINITION | 207
UNDERLAYDEFINITION group codes
Group Description
Code
1 Underlay path and file name
2 Underlay Name
VISUALSTYLE
The following group codes apply to VISUALSTYLE objects. For information
VISUALSTYLE group codes

0 Object name (VISUALSTYLE)
5 Handle
100 Subclass marker (AcDbVisualStyle)
2 Description
70 Type
71 Face lighting model

0 =Invisible
1 = Visible
2 = Phong
3 = Gooch
72 Face lighting quality

0 = No lighting
1 = Per face lighting
2 = Per vertex lighting
73 Face color mode

0 = No color
1 = Object color
2 = Background color
3 = Custom color
4 = Mono color
5 = Tinted
6 = Desaturated
90 Face modifiers
0 = No modifiers
1 = Opacity
2 = Specular
40 Face opacity level
41 Face specular level
62, 63 Color
421 Face style mono color
74 Edge style model

0 = No edges
1 = Isolines
2 = Facet edges
91 Edge style
64 Edge intersection color
65 Edge obscured color
75 Edge obscured linetype
175 Edge intersection linetype
VISUALSTYLE | 209
42 Edge crease angle
92 Edge modifiers
66 Edge color
43 Edge opacity level
76 Edge width
77 Edge overhang
78 Edge jitter
67 Edge silhouette color
79 Edge silhouette width
170 Edge halo gap
171 Number of edge isolines
290 Edge hide precision flag
174 Edge style apply flag
93 Display style display settings
44 Brightness
173 Shadow type
291 Internal use only flag

VBA_PROJECT
The following group codes are used by VBA_PROJECT objects. For information
VBA_PROJECT group codes

0 Object name (VBA_PROJECT)
5 Handle
100 Subclass marker (AcDbVbaProject)
90 Number of bytes of binary chunk data (contained in the group code 310 records that follow)
310 DXF: Binary object data (multiple entries containing VBA project data)
WIPEOUTVARIABLES
The following group codes are used by WIPEOUTVARIABLES objects. In
WIPEOUTVARIABLES group codes

0 Object name (WIPEOUTVARIABLES)
5 Handle
VBA_PROJECT | 211
WIPEOUTVARIABLES group codes
330 Soft-pointer ID/handle to owner dictionary. For a WIPEOUTVARIABLES object, this is always the
ACAD_IMAGE_VARS entry of the named object dictionary
100 Subclass marker (AcDbRasterVariables)
90 Class version 0
70 Display-image-frame flag: 0 = No frame; 1 = Display frame
XRECORD
The following group codes are common to all xrecord objects. In addition to
Xrecord group codes

0 = Not applicable
1 = Keep existing
2 = Use clone
3 = <xref>$0$<name>
4 = $0$<name>
5 = Unmangle name
1-369 (except These values can be used by an application in any way

5 and 105)
Xrecord objects are used to store and manage arbitrary data. They are composed
of DXF group codes with “normal object” groups (that is, non-xdata group
codes), ranging from 1 through 369 for supported ranges. This object is similar
in concept to xdata but is not limited by size or order.

Xrecord objects are designed to work in such a way as to not offend releases
R13c0 through R13c3. However, if read into a pre-R13c4 version of AutoCAD®,
xrecord objects disappear.
XRECORD | 213
214
THUMBNAILIMAGE
Section 8
This chapter presents the group codes that are found in the THUMBNAILIMAGE section of
a DXF™ file. This section exists only if a preview image has been saved with the DXF file.
THUMBNAILIMAGE Section Group Codes

The following group codes are found in the THUMBNAILIMAGE section. For
THUMBNAILIMAGE group codes

90 The number of bytes in the image (and subsequent binary chunk re-
cords)
310 Preview image data (multiple lines; 256 characters maximum per
line)
215
216
Drawing Interchange File
Formats 9
This appendix describes the various file formats AutoCAD® uses to interchange drawing data
with other applications. The formats presented are Drawing Interchange File (DXF™), binary
DXF, Slide (SLD), and the Slide Library (SLB) file formats.
DXF files can be either ASCII or binary format. Because ASCII DXF files are more common
than the binary format, the term DXF file is used to refer to ASCII DXF files and the term binary
DXF file is used for the binary format.
ASCII DXF Files

This section describes the format of ASCII DXF files. It contains information
that is needed only if you write your own programs to process DXF files or work
with entity information obtained by AutoLISP® and ObjectARX® applications.
General DXF File Structure

Essentially, a DXF file is composed of pairs of codes and associated values. The
codes, known as group codes, indicate the type of value that follows. Using these
group code and value pairs, a DXF file is organized into sections composed of
records, which are composed of a group code and a data item. Each group code
and value are on their own line in the DXF file.
Each section starts with a group code 0 followed by the string SECTION. This
is followed by a group code 2 and a string indicating the name of the section
(for example, HEADER). Each section is composed of group codes and values
that define its elements. A section ends with a 0 followed by the string ENDSEC.
217
It may be helpful to produce a DXF file from a small drawing, print it, and
refer to it while reading the information presented in this section.
The overall organization of a DXF file is as follows:
■ HEADER section. Contains general information about the drawing. It consists

of an AutoCAD database version number and a number of system variables.
Each parameter contains a variable name and its associated value.
■ CLASSES section. Holds the information for application-defined classes,

whose instances appear in the BLOCKS, ENTITIES, and OBJECTS sections
of the database. A class definition is permanently fixed in class hierarchy.
■ TABLES section.Contains definitions for the following symbol tables:

APPID (application identification table)
BLOCK_RECORD (block reference table)
DIMSTYLE (dimension style table)
LAYER (layer table)
LTYPE (linetype table)
STYLE (text style table)
UCS (user coordinate system table)
VIEW (view table)
VPORT (viewport configuration table)
■ BLOCKS section. Contains block definition and drawing entities that make
up each block reference in the drawing.
■ ENTITIES section. Contains the graphical objects (entities) in the drawing,

including block references (insert entities).
■ OBJECTS section. Contains the nongraphical objects in the drawing. All

objects that are not entities or symbol table records or symbol tables are
stored in this section. Examples of entries in the OBJECTS section are
dictionaries that contain mline styles and groups.
■ THUMBNAILIMAGE section. Contains the preview image data for the drawing.
This section is optional.
If you use the Select Objects option of the SAVE or SAVEAS command, the
ENTITIES section of the resulting DXF file contains only the entities you select.
218 | Chapter 9 Drawing Interchange File Formats

Group Codes in DXF Files
Group codes and the associated values define a specific aspect of an object or
entity. The line immediately following the group code is the associated value.
This value can be a string, an integer, or a floating-point value, such as the X
coordinate of a point. The lines following the second line of the group, if any,
are determined by the group definition and the data associated with the group.
Special group codes are used as file separators, such as markers for the
beginning and end of sections, tables, and the end of the file itself.
Entities, objects, classes, tables and table entries, and file separators are
introduced with a 0 group code that is followed by a name describing the
group.
The maximum DXF file string length is 256 characters. If your AutoCAD
drawing contains strings that exceed this number, those strings are truncated
during SAVE, SAVEAS, and WBLOCK. OPEN and INSERT fail if your DXF file
contains strings that exceed this number.
ASCII Control Characters in DXF Files

SAVEAS handles ASCII control characters in text strings by expanding the
character into a caret (^) followed by the appropriate letter. For example, an
ASCII Control-G (BEL, decimal code 7) is written as ^G. If the text itself
contains a caret character, it is expanded to caret, space (^). OPEN and INSERT
perform the complementary conversion.
Header Group Codes in DXF Files

Applications can retrieve the values of these variables with the AutoLISP getvar
function.
The following is an example of the HEADER section of a DXF™ file:
0 Beginning of HEADER section

SECTION
2
HEADER
9 Repeats for each header variable

$<variable>
<group code>
Group Codes in DXF Files | 219

<value>
0 End of HEADER section

ENDSEC
Class Group Codes in DXF Files

The following is an example of the CLASSES section of a DXF file:
0 Beginning of CLASSES section

SECTION
2
CLASSES
0 Repeats for each entry

CLASS
1
<class dxf record>
2
<class name>
3
<app name>
90
<flag>
280
<flag>
281
<flag>
0 End of CLASSES section

ENDSEC
Symbol Table Group Codes in DXF Files

The following is an example of the TABLES section of a DXF file.
0 Beginning of TABLES section

SECTION
2
TABLES

0 Common table group codes; repeats for
TABLE each entry
2
<table type>
5
<handle>
100
AcDbSymbolTable
70
<max. entries>
0 Table entry data; repeats for each table

<table type> record
5
<handle>
100
AcDbSymbolTableRe-
cord
.
. <data>
.
0 End of table
ENDTAB
0 End of TABLES section

ENDSEC
Symbol Table Example

This DXF sequence represents three full objects: the symbol table itself plus
two entries.
TABLE Indicates a symbol table entry
STYLE Text style symbol table entry. Exception to

rule that code 0 fully defines type
Symbol Table Group Codes in DXF Files | 221

5
1C STYLE table handle; same as for entities

and other objects
70
3 Maximum number of STYLE table records

to follow (pre-Release 13 field)
1001
APP_X APP_X has put xdata on a symbol table
1040
42.0 Just a single floating-point number
STYLE Beginning of first element in the STYLE

symbol table
3A The first entry's handle (DIMSTYLE entries

will have 105 here)
ENTRY_1 The first entry's text name
70
64 Standard flag values
40
.4 Text height
41
1.0 Width scale factor

50
0.0 Oblique angle
71
0 Text generation flags
42
0.4 Last height used
BUFONTS.TXT Primary font file name
STYLE Second entry begins. No xdata or persistent

reactors on first entry
C2 Second entry handle
ENTRY_2 Second entry text name
...
... Other fields down to group code 3
BUFONTS.TXT Primary font file name and last object

type—specific group
102
{ACAD_REACTORS This entry has two persistent reactors
330
Symbol Table Group Codes in DXF Files | 223

3C2 Soft ID to first reactor object
330
41B Soft ID to first reactor object
102
} Indicates the end of the reactor set
1001
APP_1 Xdata attached to this entry
1070
45
1001
APP_2
1004
18A5B3EF2C199A
UCS Start of UCS table (and end of previous re-

cord and table)
Blocks Group Codes in DXF Files

The following is an example of the BLOCKS section of a DXF file:
0 Beginning of BLOCKS section

SECTION
2
BLOCKS
0 Begins each block entry (a block entity

definition)

BLOCK
5
<handle>
100
AcDbEntity
8
<layer>
100
AcDbBlockBegin
2
<block name>
70
<flag>
10
<X value>
20
<Y value>
30
<Z value>
3
<block name>
1
<xref path>
0 One entry for each entity definition within

<entity type> the block
.
. <data>
.
0 End of each block entry (an endblk entity

ENDBLK definition)
5
<handle>
100
AcDbBlockEnd
0 End of BLOCKS section

ENDSEC
Blocks Group Codes in DXF Files | 225

Entity Group Codes in DXF Files
The following is an example of the ENTITIES section of a DXF file:
0 Beginning of ENTITIES section

SECTION
2
ENTITIES
0 One entry for each entity definition

<entity type>
5
<handle>
330
<pointer to owner>
100
AcDbEntity
8
<layer>
100
AcDb<classname>
.
. <data>
.
0 End of ENTITIES section

ENDSEC
Object Group Codes in DXF Files

The following is an example of the OBJECTS section of a DXF file:
0 Beginning of OBJECTS section

SECTION
2
OBJECTS
0 Beginning of named object dictionary (root

DICTIONARY dictionary object)
5
<handle>
100

AcDbDictionary
3 Repeats for each entry

<dictionary name>
350
<handle of child>
0 Groups of object data

<object type>
.
. <data>
.
0 End of OBJECTS section

ENDSEC
Writing a DXF Interface Program

Writing a program that communicates with AutoCAD by means of the DXF
file appears more difficult than it actually is. The DXF format makes it easy
to ignore information you don't need, while reading the information you do
need.
Reading a DXF File

The following example is a simple Visual Basic 6 program that reads a DXF
file and extracts specific codes and values from a given object in a given section.
Writing a DXF Interface Program | 227

' ReadDXF extracts specified code/value pairs from a DXF file.
' This function requires four string parameters, a valid DXF
' file name, a DXF section name, the name of an object in that
' section, and a comma delimited list of codes.
'
Function ReadDXF( _
ByVal dxfFile As String, ByVal strSection As String, _
ByVal strObject As String, ByVal strCodeList As String)
Dim tmpCode, lastObj As String
Open dxfFile For Input As #1
' Get the first code/value pair
codes = ReadCodes
' Loop through the whole file until the "EOF" line
While codes(1) <> "EOF"
' If the group code is '0' and the value is 'SECTION' ..
If codes(0) = "0" And codes(1) = "SECTION" Then
' This must be a new section, so get the next
' code/value pair.
codes = ReadCodes()
' If this section is the right one ..
If codes(1) = strSection Then
' Get the next code/value pair and ..
codes = ReadCodes
' Loop through this section until the 'ENDSEC'
While codes(1) <> "ENDSEC"
' While in a section, all '0' codes indicate
' an object. If you find a '0' store the
' object name for future use.
If codes(0) = "0" Then lastObj = codes(1)
' If this object is one you're interested in
If lastObj = strObject Then
' Surround the code with commas
tmpCode = "," & codes(0) & ","
' If this code is in the list of codes ..
If InStr(strCodeList, tmpCode) Then
' Append the return value.
ReadDXF = ReadDXF & _
codes(0) & "=" & codes(1) & vbCrLf
End If
End If
' Read another code/value pair
codes = ReadCodes
Wend

End If
Else
codes = ReadCodes
End If
Wend
Close #1
End Function
' ReadCodes reads two lines from an open file and returns a two
item
' array, a group code and its value. As long as a DXF file is read
' two lines at a time, all should be fine. However, to make your
' code more reliable, you should add some additional error and
' other checking.
'
Function ReadCodes() As Variant
Dim codeStr, valStr As String
Line Input #1, codeStr
Line Input #1, valStr
' Trim the leading and trailing space from the code
ReadCodes = Array(Trim(codeStr), valStr)
End Function
Writing a DXF File

Writing a program that creates a DXF file can be more difficult than one that
reads a DXF file, because you must maintain consistency within the drawing
in order for AutoCAD to find the file acceptable. AutoCAD lets you omit many
items in a DXF file and still obtain a usable drawing.
■ The entire HEADER section can be omitted if you don't set header variables.
■ Any of the tables in the TABLES section can be omitted if you don't need
to make entries, and the entire TABLES section can be dropped if nothing
in it is required.
■ If you define any linetypes in the LTYPE table, this table must appear before
the LAYER table.
■ If no block definitions are used in the drawing, the BLOCKS section can
be omitted.
■ If present, the BLOCKS section must appear before the ENTITIES section.

■ Within the ENTITIES section, you can reference layer names even though
you haven't defined them in the LAYER table. Such layers are automatically
created with color 7 and the CONTINUOUS linetype.
■ The EOF item must be present at the end of file.
The following Visual Basic 6 subroutine constructs a DXF file representing a

polygon.

' WriteDXFPolygon creates a minimal DXF file that only contains
' the ENTITIES section. This subroutine requires five parameters,
' the DXF file name, the number of sides for the polygon, the X
' and Y coordinates for the bottom end of the right-most side
' (it starts in a vertical direction), and the length for each
' side. Note that because this only requests 2D points, it does
' not include the Z coordinates (codes 30 and 31). The lines are
' placed on the layer "Polygon."
'
Sub WriteDXFPolygon( _
dxfFile As String, iSides As Integer, _
dblX As Double, dblY As Double, dblLen As Double)
Dim i As Integer
Dim dblA1, dblA, dblPI, dblNX, dblNY As Double
Open dxfFile For Output As #1
Print #1, 0
Print #1, "SECTION"
Print #1, 2
Print #1, "ENTITIES"
dblPI = Atn(1) * 4
dblA1 = (2 * dblPI) / iSides
dblA = dblPI / 2
For i = 1 To iSides
Print #1, 0
Print #1, "LINE"
Print #1, 8
Print #1, "Polygon"
Print #1, 10
Print #1, dblX
Print #1, 20
Print #1, dblY
dblNX = dblLen * Cos(dblA) + dblX
dblNY = dblLen * Sin(dblA) + dblY
Print #1, 11
Print #1, dblNX
Print #1, 21
Print #1, dblNY
dblX = dblNX
dblY = dblNY
dblA = dblA + dblA1
Next i
Print #1, 0
Print #1, "ENDSEC"

Print #1, 0
Print #1, "EOF"
Close #1
End Sub
As long as a properly formatted item appears on the line on which the data
is expected, DXFIN accepts it. (Of course, string items should not have leading
spaces unless these are intended to be part of the string.) This BASIC program
takes advantage of this flexibility in input format and does not generate a file
exactly like one generated by AutoCAD.
In the case of an error in using DXFIN to load, AutoCAD reports the error with
a message indicating the nature of the error and the last line processed in the
DXF file before the error was detected. This may not be the line on which the
error occurred, especially in the case of errors such as the omission of required
groups.
Binary DXF Files

The ASCII DXF file format is a complete representation of an AutoCAD drawing
in an ASCII text form, and is easily processed by other programs. In addition,
AutoCAD can produce or read a binary form of the full DXF file and accept
limited input in another binary file format.
The SAVE and SAVEAS commands provide a Binary option that writes binary
DXF files. Such a file contains all the information present in an ASCII DXF
file but in a more compact form that takes about 25 percent less file space. It
can be read and written more quickly (typically, five times faster) by AutoCAD.
Unlike ASCII DXF files, which entail a trade-off between size and floating-point
accuracy, binary DXF files preserve the accuracy in the drawing database.
(AutoCAD Release 10 was the first version to support this form of DXF file; it
cannot be read by older versions.)
A binary DXF file begins with a 22-byte sentinel consisting of the following:
AutoCAD Binary DXF<CR><LF><SUB><NULL>
Following the sentinel are pairs (group, value) as in an ASCII DXF file but
represented in binary form. The group code is a 2-byte binary value (1 byte
in DXF files prior to AutoCAD Release 14), and the value that follows is one
of the following:
■ A 2-byte integer with the least significant byte first and the most significant
byte last

■ An 8-byte IEEE double-precision floating-point number stored with the
least significant byte first and the most significant byte last
■ An ASCII string terminated by a 0 (NULL) byte
The type of data following a group is determined from the group code by the
same rules used in decoding ASCII DXF files. Translation of angles to degrees
and dates to fractional Julian date representation is performed for binary files
as well as for ASCII DXF files. The comment group, 999, is not used in binary
DXF files.
Extended data group codes are represented in binary DXF as a single byte with
the value 255, followed by a 2-byte integer value containing the actual group
code, followed by the actual value.
Extended data long values (group code 1071) occupy 4 bytes of data. Extended
data binary chunks (group code 1004) are represented as a single-byte unsigned
integer length, followed by the specified number of bytes of chunk data. For
example, to transfer an extended data long group, the following values would
appear, occupying 1, 2, and 4 bytes respectively.
255 Escape group code
1071 True group code
999999 Value for the 1071 group code
SAVEAS writes binary DXF files with the same file type (.dxf) as for ASCII DXF
files. The OPEN and INSERT commands automatically recognize a binary file
by means of its sentinel string. You need not identify it as a binary file.
If the OPEN and INSERT commandsencounter an error in a binary DXF file,
AutoCAD reports the byte address within the file where the error was detected.
Slide Files
NOTE This information is for experienced programmers, and is subject to change
without notice.
AutoCAD slide files are screen images written by the MSLIDE command and
read by the VSLIDE command. This section describes the format of slide files
for the benefit of developers who wish to incorporate support for slides into
their programs.
A slide file consists of a header portion (31 bytes) and one or more data records
of variable length. All coordinates and sizes written to the slide file reflect the
drawing area of the display device from which the slide was created, with
Slide Files | 233

point (0,0) located at the lower-left corner of the drawing area. For AutoCAD
Release 9 and later, the slide file header consists of the following fields:
Slide file header

Field Bytes Description
ID string 17 “AutoCAD Slide” CR LF ^Z NUL
Type indicator 1 Currently set to 56 (decimal)
Level indicator 1 Currently set to 2
High X dot 2 Width of the graphics area: 1, in pixels
High Y dot 2 Height of the graphics area: 1, in pixels
Aspect ratio 4 Drawing area aspect ratio (horizontal size/vertical size in inches), scaled by
10,000,000. This value is always written with the least significant byte first
Hardware fill 2 Either 0 or 2 (value is unimportant)
Test number 2 A number (1234 hex) used to determine whether all 2-byte values in the slide
were written with the high-order byte first (Intel 8086-family CPUs) or the low-
order byte first (Motorola 68000-family CPUs)
Data records follow the header. Each data record begins with a 2-byte field
whose high-order byte is the record type. The remainder of the record may
be composed of 1-byte or 2-byte fields as described in the following table. To
determine whether the 2-byte fields are written with the high-order byte first
or the low-order byte first, examine the Test number field of the header that
is described in the previous table.
Slide file data records

Record Bytes Meaning Description
type
(hex)
00-7F 8 Vector The from-X coordinate for an ordinary vector. From-Y, to-X, and to-Y
follow, in that order, as 2-byte values. The from- point is saved as the
last point
80-FA — Undefined Reserved for future use

Slide file data records
Record Bytes Meaning Description
type
(hex)
FB 5 Offset vec- The low-order byte and the following three bytes specify the endpoints
tor (from-X, from-Y, to-X, to-Y) of a vector, in terms of offsets (-128 to +127)
from the saved last point. The adjusted from- point is saved as the last
point for use by subsequent vectors
FC 2 End of file The low-order byte is 00
FD 6 Solid fill The low-order byte is always zero. The following two 2-byte values
specify the X and Y coordinates of one vertex of a polygon to be solid-
filled. Three to ten such records occur in sequence. A Solid fill record
with a negative Y coordinate indicates the start or end of such a flood
sequence. In the start record, the X coordinate indicates the number of
vertex records to follow
FE 3 Common This is a vector starting at the last point. The low-order byte and the
endpoint following byte specify to-X and to-Y in terms of offsets (-128 to +127)
vector from the saved last point. The adjusted to- point is saved as the last
point for use by subsequent vectors
FF 2 New color Subsequent vectors are to be drawn using the color number indicated
by the low-order byte
If a slide contains any vectors at all, a New color record will be the first data
record. The order of the vectors in a slide and the order of the endpoints of
those vectors may vary.
For example, the following is an annotated hex dump of a simple slide file
created on an IBM PC/AT with an IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter. The slide
consists of a white diagonal line from the lower-left corner to the upper-right
corner of the drawing area, a green vertical line near the lower-left corner,
and a small red rectangle at the lower-left corner.
Slide Files | 235

41 75 74 6F 43 41 ID string (“AutoCAD Slide” CR LF ^Z
NUL)
44 20 53 6C 69 64
65 0D 0A 1A 00
56 Type indicator (56)
02 Level indicator (2)
3C 02 High X dot (572)
24 01 High Y dot (292)
0B 80 DF 00 Aspect ratio (14,647,307 / 10,000,000 = 1.46)
02 00 Hardware fill (2)
34 12 Test number (1234 hex)
07 FF New color (7 = white)
3C 02 24 01 00 00 00 00 Vector from 572,292 to 0,0. 572,292
becomes “last”point
3 FF New color (3 = green)
0F 00 32 00 0F 00 13 00 Vector from 15,50 to 15,19. \x1115,50
becomes
“last” point
01 FF New color (1 = red)
12 FB E7 12 CE Offset vector from 15+18,50-25 (33,25)
to 15+18,
50-50 (33,0). 33,25 becomes “last” point
DF FE 00 Common-endpoint vector from 33,25 to 33-33,25+0
(0,25). 0,25 becomes “last” point
00 FE E7 Common-endpoint vector from (0,25) to 0+0,25-25
(0,0). 0,0 becomes “last” point
21 FE 00 Common-endpoint vector from (0,0) to 0+33,0+0
(33,0).33,0 becomes “last” point
00 FC End of file
Old Slide Header

The slide format described in the previous section is produced by AutoCAD
Release 9 and later, and is portable among all computers running AutoCAD
Release 9 or later. Previous versions of AutoCAD (as well as AutoShade® 1.0
and AutoSketch® 1.02) produce slides with a somewhat different header, as
shown in the following table.
Old slide file header

ID string 17 “AutoCAD Slide” CR LF ^Z NUL

Old slide file header
Type indicator 1 56 (decimal)
Level indicator 1 1 (old format)
High X dot 2 Width of the drawing area: 1, in pixels
High Y dot 2 Height of the drawing area: 1, in pixels
Aspect ratio 8 Drawing area aspect ratio (horizontal size/vertical size in inches), written as a
floating-point number
Hardware fill 2 Either 0 or 2 (value is unimportant)
Filler byte 1 Unused
Note that the old-format header does not contain a test number field. The
floating-point aspect ratio value and all 2-byte integers are written in the
native format of the CPU that was used to create the file (for 8086-family
CPUs, IEEE double-precision, and low-order byte first). Old-format slide files
are not portable across machine types, but they can be read by any version of
AutoCAD running on the same CPU type as the CPU with which the slide
was created.
Slide Library Files

This section describes the format of AutoCAD slide libraries (Release 9 and
later) for the benefit of developers who wish to incorporate support for slide
libraries into their programs.
The general format of a slide library is as follows:
"AutoCAD Slide Library 1.0" CR LF ^Z NUL NUL NUL NUL Header (32
bytes)
One or more slide directory entries (36 bytes each)
One or more slides (variable length)
Slide directory entries have the following format:

Slide name (NUL terminated) (32 bytes)
Address of slide within library file (4 bytes)
Slide Library Files | 237

The slide address is always written with the low-order byte first. Each slide to
which the directory points is a complete slide file as described in the previous
section. The end of the slide directory is signified by an entry with a null slide
name (first byte is NUL). A slide library can contain a mixture of old-format
and new-format slides.

Advanced DXF Issues
10
This appendix discusses the advanced concepts related to DXF™ group codes.
Database Objects
AutoCAD® drawings consist largely of structured containers for database objects.
Database objects each have the following features:
■ A handle whose value is unique to the drawing/DXF file, and is constant for
the lifetime of the drawing. This format has existed since AutoCAD Release
10, and as of AutoCAD Release 13, handles are always enabled.
■ An optional xdata table, as entities have had since AutoCAD Release 11.
■ An optional persistent reactor table.
■ An optional ownership pointer to an extension dictionary which, in turn,

owns subobjects placed in it by an application.
Symbol tables and symbol table records are database objects and, thus, have a
handle. They can also have xdata and persistent reactors in their DXF records.
Persistent Inter-Object Reference Handles

A set of group code ranges permits objects to directly specify references to other
objects within the same drawing/DXF file. Four ranges are provided for the four
types of reference handles that you can specify:
■ Soft-pointer handle
■ Hard-pointer handle
239
■ Soft-owner handle
■ Hard-owner handle
These handle types are manifested as entity names in AutoLISP®, as ads_name

values in ObjectARX® and as like-named classes derived from ObjectARX.
These values are always maintained in insert, xref, and wblock operations
such that references between objects in a set being copied are updated to point
to the copied objects, while references to other objects remain unchanged.
Also, a group code range for “arbitrary” handles is defined to allow convenient
storage of handle values that are not converted to entity names and then
translated in insert, xref, or wblock.
NOTE If you use 1005 xdata group codes to store handles, they are treated as
soft-pointer handles, which means that when groups of objects are copied or
inserted into another drawing, references between the involved objects are
translated. Although 1005 xdata items are always returned as handles in AutoLISP
and ObjectARX, all of the reference handle group code ranges are represented as
“entity names” in AutoLISP and as ads_name structures in ObjectARX.
Pointer and Ownership References

A pointer is a reference that indicates usage, but not possession or
responsibility, for another object. A pointer reference means that the object
uses the other object in some way, and shares access to it.
An ownership reference means that an owner object is responsible for the
objects for which it has an owner handle. Ownership references direct the
writing of entire DWG and DXF files in a generic manner, such as beginning
from a few key root objects.
An object can have any number of pointer references associated with it, but
it can have only one owner.
Hard and Soft References

Hard references, whether they are pointer or owner, protect an object from
being purged. Soft references do not.
In AutoCAD, block definitions and complex entities are hard owners of their
elements. A symbol table and dictionaries are soft owners of their elements.
240 | Chapter 10 Advanced DXF Issues

Polyline entities are hard owners of their vertex and seqend entities. Insert
entities are hard owners of their attrib and seqend entities.
When establishing a reference to another object, it is recommended that you
think about whether the reference should protect an object from the PURGE
command.
Arbitrary Handles
Arbitrary handles are distinct in that they are not translated to
session-persistent identifiers internally, or to entity names in AutoLISP, and
so on. They are stored as handles. When handle values are translated in
drawing-merge operations, arbitrary handles are ignored.
In all environments, arbitrary handles can be exchanged for entity names of
the current drawing by means of the handent functions. A common usage of
arbitrary handles is to refer to objects in external DXF and DWG files.
1005 Group Codes

1005 xdata group codes have the same behavior and semantics as soft pointers,
which means that they are translated whenever the host object is merged into
a different drawing. However, 1005 items are not translated to
session-persistent identifiers or internal entity names in AutoLISP and
ObjectARX. They are stored as handles.
Subclass Markers
When filing a stream of group data, a single object may be composed of several
filer members, one for each level of inheritance where filing is done. Since
derived classes and levels of inheritance can evolve separately, the data of
each class filer member must be segregated from other members. This is
achieved using subclass markers.
All class filer members are expected to precede their class-specific portion of
instance data with a “subclass” marker—a 100 group code followed by a string
with the actual name of the class. This does not affect the state needed to
define the object's state, but it provides a means for the DXF file parsers to
direct the group codes to the corresponding application software.
For example, an object that has data from different derived classes would be
represented as follows:
Arbitrary Handles | 241

999
FOOGRANDCHILD, defined by class AcDbSonOfSonOfFoo, which
999
is derived from AcDbSonOfFoo
0
FOOGRANDCHILD
5
C2
100
AcDbFoo
999
Uses 10/20/30 group codes
10
1.1
20
2.3
30
7.3
100
AcDbSonOfFoo
999
Also uses 10/20/30 group codes, for a different purpose
10
1.1
20
2.3
30
7.3
100
AcDbSonOfSonOfFoo
999
Also uses 10/20/30 group codes, for yet another purpose
10
13.2
20
23.1
30
31.2
999
Now for the Xdata
1001
APP_1
1070

45
1001
APP_2
1004
18A5B3EF2C199A
Extension Dictionary and Persistent Reactors

The extension dictionary is an optional sequence that stores the handle of a
dictionary object that belongs to the current object, which in turn may contain
entries. This facility allows attachment of arbitrary database objects to any
database object. Any object or entity may have this section.
Persistent reactors are an optional sequence that stores object handles of
objects registering themselves as reactors on the current object. Any object or
entity may have this section.
Extended Data
Extended data (xdata) is created by AutoLISP or ObjectARX applications. If
an entity contains extended data, it follows the entity's normal definition
data. The group codes 1000 through 1071 describe extended data. The
following is an example of an entity containing extended data in DXF format.
Normal entity definition data:
Extension Dictionary and Persistent Reactors | 243

0
INSERT
5
F11
100
AcDbEntity
8
TOP
100
AcDbBlockReference
2
BLOCK_A
10
0.0
20
0.0
30
0.0
Extended entity definition data:

1001
AME_SOL
1002
{
1070
0
1071
1.95059E+06
1070
519
1010
2.54717
1020
2.122642
1030
2.049201
1005
ECD
1005
EE9
1005
0
1040
0.0
1040
1.0
1000
MILD_STEEL
The group code 1001 indicates the beginning of extended data. In contrast
to normal entity data, with extended data the same group code can appear
multiple times, and order is important.
Extended data is grouped by registered application name. Each registered
application group begins with a 1001 group code, with the application name
as the string value. Registered application names correspond to APPID symbol
table entries.
An application can use as many APPID names as needed. APPID names are
permanent, although they can be purged if they aren't currently used in the
drawing. Each APPID name can have no more than one data group attached
to each entity. Within an application group, the sequence of extended data
groups and their meaning is defined by the application.
Extended Data | 245

The extended data group codes are listed in the following table.
Extended data group codes and descriptions

Entity name Group code Description
String 1000 Strings in extended data can be up to 255 bytes long (with the
256th byte reserved for the null character)
Application name 1001 Application names can be up to 31 bytes long (the 32nd byte is
also a string reserved for the null character)
value
NOTE Do not add a 1001 group into your extended data because
AutoCAD assumes it is the beginning of a new application exten-
ded data group
Control string 1002 An extended data control string can be either “{”or “}”. These
braces enable applications to organize their data by subdividing
the data into lists. The left brace begins a list, and the right brace
terminates the most recent list. Lists can be nested
When AutoCAD reads the extended data for a particular applica-
tion, it checks to ensure that braces are balanced
Layer name 1003 Name of the layer associated with the extended data
Binary data 1004 Binary data is organized into variable-length chunks. The maxim-
um length of each chunk is 127 bytes. In ASCII DXF files, binary
data is represented as a string of hexadecimal digits, two per
binary byte
Database handle 1005 Handles of entities in the drawing database
NOTE When a drawing with handles and extended data handles

is imported into another drawing using INSERT, INSERT *, XREF
Bind, XBIND, or partial OPEN, the extended data handles are
translated in the same manner as their corresponding entity
handles, thus maintaining their binding. This is also done in the
EXPLODE block operation or for any other AutoCAD operation.
When AUDIT detects an extended data handle that doesn't match
the handle of an entity in the drawing file, it is considered an er-
ror. If AUDIT is fixing entities, it sets the handle to 0
3 reals 1010, 1020, Three real values, in the order X, Y, Z. They can be used as a point
1030 or vector record. AutoCAD never alters their value

Extended data group codes and descriptions
Entity name Group code Description
World space posi- 1011, 1021, Unlike a simple 3D point, the world space coordinates are moved,
tion 1031 scaled, rotated, and mirrored along with the parent entity to
which the extended data belongs. The world space position is
also stretched when the STRETCH command is applied to the
parent entity and this point lies within the select window
World space dis- 1012, 1022, Also a 3D point that is scaled, rotated, and mirrored along with
placement 1032 the parent (but is not moved or stretched)
World direction 1013, 1023, Also a 3D point that is rotated and mirrored along with the parent
1033 (but is not moved, scaled, or stretched)
Real 1040 A real value
Distance 1041 A real value that is scaled along with the parent entity
Scale factor 1042 Also a real value that is scaled along with the parent. The differ-
ence between a distance and a scale factor is application-defined
Integer 1070 A 16-bit integer (signed or unsigned)
Long 1071 A 32-bit signed (long) integer
Object Coordinate Systems (OCS)

To save space in the drawing database (and in the DXF file), the points
associated with each entity are expressed in terms of the entity's own object
coordinate system (OCS). With OCS, the only additional information needed
to describe the entity's position in 3D space are the 3D vector describing the
Z axis of the OCS and the elevation value.
For a given Z axis (or extrusion) direction, there are an infinite number of
coordinate systems, defined by translating the origin in 3D space and by
rotating the X and Y axes around the Z axis. However, for the same Z axis
direction, there is only one OCS. It has the following properties:
■ Its origin coincides with the WCS origin.
Object Coordinate Systems (OCS) | 247

■ The orientation of the X and Y axes within the XY plane is calculated in an
arbitrary but consistent manner. AutoCAD performs this calculation using
the arbitrary axis algorithm (see Arbitrary Axis Algorithm on page 249).
For some entities, the OCS is equivalent to the WCS, and all points (DXF
groups 10-37) are expressed in world coordinates. See the following table.
Coordinate systems associated with an entity type

Entities Notes
3D entities such as line, point, 3dface, 3D These entities do not lie in a particular plane. All points are expressed
polyline, 3D vertex, 3D mesh, 3D mesh in world coordinates. Of these entities, only lines and points can be
vertex extruded. Their extrusion direction can differ from the world Z axis
2D entities such as circle, arc, solid, trace, These entities are planar in nature. All points are expressed in object
text, attrib, attdef, shape, insert, 2D coordinates. These entities can be extruded. Their extrusion direction
polyline, 2D vertex, lwpolyline, hatch, can differ from the world Z axis
image
Dimension Some of a dimension's points are expressed in WCS and some in OCS
Viewport Expressed in world coordinates
Once AutoCAD has established the OCS for a given entity, the OCS works as
follows: The elevation value stored with an entity indicates how far to shift
the XY plane along the Z axis (from the WCS origin) to make it coincide with
the plane that contains the entity. How much of this is the user-defined
elevation is unimportant.
Any 2D points entered through the UCS are transformed into the
corresponding 2D points in the OCS, which is shifted and rotated with respect
to the UCS.
These are a few ramifications of this process:
■ You cannot reliably find out what UCS was in effect when an entity was
acquired.
■ When you enter the XY coordinates of an entity in a given UCS and then
do a SAVEAS, you probably won't recognize those XY coordinates in the
DXF file. You must know the method by which AutoCAD calculates the
X and Y axes in order to work with these values.
■ The elevation value stored with an entity and output in DXF files is a sum
of the Z-coordinate difference between the UCS XY plane and the OCS XY

plane, and the elevation value that the user specified at the time the entity
was drawn.
Arbitrary Axis Algorithm

The arbitrary axis algorithm is used by AutoCAD internally to implement the
arbitrary but consistent generation of object coordinate systems for all entities
that use object coordinates.
Given a unit-length vector to be used as the Z axis of a coordinate system, the
arbitrary axis algorithm generates a corresponding X axis for the coordinate
system. The Y axis follows by application of the right-hand rule.
The method is to examine the given Z axis (also called the normal vector). If it
is close to the positive or negative world Z axis, cross the world Y axis with
the given Z axis to arrive at the arbitrary X axis. If it is not close, cross the
world Z axis with the given Z axis to arrive at the arbitrary X axis. The boundary
at which the decision is made was chosen to be both inexpensive to calculate
and completely portable across machines. This is achieved by having a sort
of “square” polar cap, the bounds of which are 1/64, which is precisely
specifiable in six decimal-fraction digits and in six binary-fraction bits.
The algorithm does the following (all vectors are assumed to be in 3D space
and specified in the world coordinate system):
Let the given normal vector be called N.
Let the world Y axis be called Wy, which is always (0,1,0).
Let the world Z axis be called Wz, which is always (0,0,1).
Here we are looking for the arbitrary X and Y axes to go with the normal N.
They will be called Ax and Ay. N could also be called Az (the arbitrary Z axis)
as follows:
If (abs (Nx) < 1/64) and (abs (Ny) < 1/64) then
Ax = Wy X N (where “X” is the cross-product operator).
Otherwise,
Ax = Wz X N.
Scale Ax to unit length.
The method of getting the Ay vector is as follows:

Ay = N X Ax. Scale Ay to unit length.
Arbitrary Axis Algorithm | 249

250
Index
*Model_Space block definition 59 vs. binary DXF files 232
*Paper_Space block definition 59 BLOCKS section (example) 224
CLASSES section (example) 220
32-bit integer values\ 152 control character handling 219
2D entities, coordinate systems associated ENTITIES section (example) 226
with 248 HEADER section (example) 219
3D entities, coordinate systems associated maximum file string length 219
with 248 OBJECTS section (example) 226
3dface group codes 64 reading (example) 227
3dsolid group codes 65 sections of 217
structure of 217
TABLES section (example) 220
A writing (example) 229
attdef group codes 67
acad_proxy_entity group codes 65 ATTMODE DXF header variable 12
ACAD_PROXY_OBJECT group codes 161 attrib group codes 72
ACADMAINTVER DXF header AUNITS DXF header variable 12
variable 11 AUPREC DXF header variable 12
ACADVER DXF header variable 11 AutoLISP
ACDBDICTIONARYWDFLT group arbitrary handles and 241
codes 161 entnext function output for ole2frame
AcDbMentalRayRenderSettings 194 entity (example) 121
ACDBPLACEHOLDER group codes 162 group code 1005 xdata items
AcDbRenderGlobal 197 and 241
AcDbRenderSettings 194 handent function 241
ACFD_FIELD_VALUE key 169 reference handles and 240
aligned dimension group codes 80
ambient color, group codes 180
ANGBASE DXF header variable 11 B
ANGDIR DXF header variable 11
angular dimension group codes 83 block definitions
anonymous blocks 57 about 57
APPID group codes 38 Model_Space and Paper_Space 59
xdata groupings and 245 UCS/WCS and 59
application-defined object types 159 block group codes 58
arbitrary axis algorithm 249 block reference (insert) group codes 97
arbitrary handles 240 BLOCK section (DXF files), about 2
arc edge data for hatch entities 92 block table handles 57
arc group codes 66 BLOCK_RECORD group codes 38
ASCII control characters in DXF files 219 BLOCKS section
ASCII DXF files about 57, 218
about 217 example of 224
251 | Index
group codes in 57 control strings 7
and writing a DXF file 229 conventions used in this reference 2
blocks, anonymous 57 coordinate systems associated with entity
body group codes 77 types 248
Boolean flags, group code range 4 CSHADOW Header variable 13
borders (in tables), group codes 142
boundary path data for hatch entities 90
boundary path data for hatch entities, D
group codes 90 database objects 239
bump maps, group codes 183 DATATABLE group codes 163
binary DXF files 1, 217, 232 default class values by DXF record name
and C++ class name 32
C deleted items in symbol tables 35
DGNUNDERLAY 147
C++ class names, default class values 32 diameter dimension group codes 82
CECOLOR DXF header variable 12 dictionaries, named object 159
CELTSCALE DXF header variable 12 DICTIONARY group codes 164
CELTYPE DXF header variable 12 DICTIONARYVAR group codes 166
CELWEIGHT DXF header variable 12 diffuse color, group codes 180
CEPSNID DXF header variable 12 diffuse maps, group codes 180
CEPSNTYPE DXF header variable 12 DIMADEC DXF header variable 13
CHAMFERA DXF header variable 12 DIMALT DXF header variable 13
CHAMFERB DXF header variable 12 DIMALTD DXF header variable 13
CHAMFERC DXF header variable 12 DIMALTF DXF header variable 13
CHAMFERD DXF header variable 12 DIMALTRND DXF header variable 13
child fields, group codes 169 DIMALTTD DXF header variable 13
circle group codes 77 DIMALTTZ DXF header variable 13
CLASSES section DIMALTU DXF header variable 13
about 31, 218 DIMALTZ DXF header variable 13
default class values by DXF record DIMAPOST DXF header variable 14
name and C++ class DIMASO DXF header variable 14
name 32 DIMASSOC DXF header variable 14
group codes in 32 DIMASZ DXF header variable 14
CLAYER DXF header variable 12 DIMATFIT DXF header variable 14
CMLJUST DXF header variable 12 DIMAUNIT DXF header variable 14
CMLSCALE DXF header variable 13 DIMAZIN DXF header variable 14
CMLSTYLE DXF header variable 13 DIMBLK DXF header variable 15
codes, group. See group codes (DXF files) DIMBLK1 DXF header variable 15
color styles (in tables), group codes 206 DIMBLK2 DXF header variable 15
column headings (in tables), suppression DIMCEN DXF header variable 15
of 206 DIMCLRD DXF header variable 15
columns and rows (in tables), group DIMCLRE DXF header variable 15
codes 140 DIMCLRT DXF header variable 15
comments, group code 4, 9 DIMDEC DXF header variable 15
common entity group codes 61 DIMDLE DXF header variable 15
control character handling 219 DIMDLI DXF header variable 15
252 | Index
DIMDSEP DXF header variable 15 DIMTOFL DXF header variable 17
dimension entities, coordinate systems DIMTOH DXF header variable 17
associated with 248 DIMTOL DXF header variable 17
dimension group codes 78 DIMTOLJ DXF header variable 17
aligned 80 DIMTP DXF header variable 18
angular 83 DIMTSZ DXF header variable 18
common 78 DIMTVP DXF header variable 18
diameter 82 DIMTXSTY DXF header variable 18
linear 81 DIMTXT DXF header variable 18
ordinate 85 DIMTZIN DXF header variable 18
radial 82 DIMUPT DXF header variable 18
rotated 81 DIMZIN DXF header variable 18
dimension style overrides 86 DISPSILH DXF header variable 18
DIMEXE DXF header variable 15 DRAGVS Header variable 18
DIMEXO DXF header variable 15 drawing interchange file formats
DIMFAC DXF header variable 15 ASCII DXF 217
DIMGAP DXF header variable 15 binary DXF 217, 232
DIMJUST DXF header variable 15 Slide (SLD) 233
DIMLDRBLK DXF header variable 16 Slide Library (SLB) 237
DIMLFAC DXF header variable 16 DWFUNDERLAY 147
DIMLIM DXF header variable 16 DWGCODEPAGE DXF header
DIMLUNIT DXF header variable 16 variable 18
DIMLWD DXF header variable 16 DXF
DIMLWE DXF header variable 16 conventions
DIMPOST DXF header variable 16 group code ranges 3
DIMRND DXF header variable 16 group codes in numerical
DIMSAH DXF header variable 16 order 5
DIMSCALE DXF header variable 16 file parsers, subclass markers
DIMSD1 DXF header variable 16 and 241
DIMSD2 DXF header variable 17 files. See ASCII DXF files\
DIMSE1 DXF header variable 17 format
DIMSE2 DXF header variable 17 about 1
DIMSHO DXF header variable 17 header variables 11
DIMSOXD DXF header variable 17 interface programs, writing
DIMSTYLE (example) 227
table handle code 36 record names, default class
DIMSTYLE DXF header variable 17 values 32
DIMSTYLE group codes 39 DXF files
DIMSTYLE table handle code 35 DXF header variables in 11
DIMTAD DXF header variable 17 group codes. See group codes (DXF
DIMTDEC DXF header variable 17 files)
DIMTFAC DXF header variable 17 See also ASCII DXF files\
DIMTIH DXF header variable 17 DXF format, objects vs. entities in 2
DIMTIX DXF header variable 17 DXF header variables, in DXF files 11
DIMTM DXF header variable 17 DXFIN considerations for writing DXF
DIMTMOVE DXF header variable 17 files 232
Index | 253
E field value, data type 169
filing a stream of group data, subclass
ECS. See object coordinate system markers and 241
ELEVATION DXF header variable 18 FILLETRAD DXF header variable 19
elevation value for entity FILLMODE DXF header variable 19
positioning 247 FINGERPRINTGUID DXF header
ellipse edge data for hatch entities 93 variable 19
ellipse group codes 86 fixed group codes 5
endblk group codes 59 flags
ENDCAPS DXF header variable 19 Boolean flag group code range 4
entities UCS flags 153
block 57 viewport status flags 152
coordinate systems associated floating-point numbers, group code
with 248 ranges 3
endblk 57
entity group codes vs. object
codes 2 G
group codes listed in numerical GEODATA group codes 170
order 5 getvar AutoLISP function 219
entities (DXF format) gradients, shifted/unshifted
end marker 2 definitions 90
group codes for 2, 61 graphical object group codes. See names of
FIELD objects 168 specific objects
hatch boundary path data 90 GRIDMODE revised VPORT header
hatches 87 variable 28
MATERIAL objects 179 GRIDUNIT revised VPORT header
TABLE objects 139 variable 28
TABLESTYLE objects 205 group codes (DXF files)
viewports 150 about 3, 217
vs. objects 2 arbitrary handle range 240
ENTITIES section ASCII DXF files and 219
about 61, 218 binary DXF files and 232
and writing a DXF file 230 for entities 2, 61
ENTITIES section (DXF files), about 2 FIELD objects 168
extension dictionary 243 hatch boundary path data 90
EXTMAX DXF header variable 19 hatches 87
EXTMIN DXF header variable 19 MATERIAL objects 179
EXTNAMES DXF header variable 19 TABLE objects 139
EXTRUDED SURFACE group codes 133 TABLESTYLE objects 205
extrusion direction, OCS properties viewports 150
for 247 for entities (graphical objects) 61
examples of 219
F fixed 5
formatting conventions for 2
FASTZ revised VPORT header variable 28 HEADER section codes 11
FIELD group codes 168 in numerical order 5
254 | Index
objects/entities and 2 I
ranges of 3
reference handle ranges 239 IDBUFFER group codes 173
values of image group codes 95
descriptions 5 IMAGEDEF group codes 173
type ranges 3 IMAGEDEF_REACTOR group codes 174
for xdata 246 INDEXCTL DXF header variable 20
group data, subclass markers and 241 inheritance levels for filer members,
GROUP group codes 172 subclass markers and 241
INSBASE DXF header variable 20
INSERT command
H ASCII control character handling
HALOGAP DXF header variable 19 and 219
handent functions (AutoLISP) 241 binary DXF files and 233
handles insert group codes 97
about 239 INSUNITS DXF header variable 20
arbitrary 240 integers
of dictionary objects 243 32-bit integer values 9
reference 239 group code ranges 3
HANDSEED DXF header variable 19 INTERFERECOLOR Header variable 20
hard references vs. soft references 240 INTERFEREOBJVS Header variable 20
hard-owner handles 8, 240 INTERFEREVPVS Header variable 20
hard-pointer handles 7–8, 239 INTERSECTIONC DXF header
hatch entities variable 20
boundary path data group codes 90 INTERSECTIOND DXF header
group codes 87 variable 20
hatch group codes 87
hatch pattern data 94 J
HEADER section
about 11, 218 JOINSTYLE DXF header variable 20
example of 219
group codes for revised VPORT
variables 28 K
group codes for saved DXF header key-field pair 169
variables 11
time/date variables, handling of 29
and writing a DXF file 229 L
HEADER section (DXF files), group
codes 11 LAYER group codes 43
HELIX group codes 94 LAYER_FILTER group codes 175
HIDETEXT DXF header variable 19 LAYER_INDEX group codes 175
HYPERLINKBASE DXF header LAYOUT group codes 176
variable 19 leader group codes 100
Light group codes 100
LIGHTLIST group codes 179
LIMCHECK DXF header variable 21
Index | 255
LIMMAX DXF header variable 21 O
LIMMIN DXF header variable 21
line edge data for hatch entities 92 object coordinate system (OCS) 247–248
line group codes 101 arbitrary axis algorithm and 249
linear dimension group codes 81 OBJECT_PTR group codes 188
lineweights, enum value 8 ObjectARX
LOFTED SURFACE group codes 135 group code 1005 xdata items
LTSCALE DXF header variable 21 and 241
LTYPE group codes 44 reference handles and 240
LUNITS DXF header variable 21 ObjectARX, reference handles and 240
LUPREC DXF header variable 21 objects
LWDISPLAY DXF header variable 21 object group codes vs. entity
lwpolyline group codes 102 codes 2
ownership of 159
objects (DXF format), vs. entities 2
M OBJECTS section
MATERIAL objects, group codes 179 about 159, 218
MAXACTVP DXF header variable 21 common group codes 160
MEASUREMENT DXF header variable 21 OBSCOLOR DXF header variable 21
MENTALRAYRENDERSETTINGS 194 OBSLTYPE DXF header variable 21
MENU DXF header variable 21 ole2frame entities, AutoLISP entnext
MIRRTEXT DXF header variable 21 function output (example) 121
mleader group codes 106 ole2frame group codes 119
mleaderstyle group codes 108 DXF output (example) 120
common 108 oleframe group codes 118
context data 111 opacity maps, group codes 183
leader line 115 OPEN command
leader node 115 ASCII control character handling
mline group codes 103 and 219
MLINESTYLE group codes 186 binary DXF files and 233
Model_Space block definition 59 ordinate dimension group codes 85
MSLIDE/VSLIDE commands 233 ORTHOMODE DXF header variable 22
mtext group codes 116 ownership pointers to extension
multileader group codes 106 dictionaries 239
ownership references vs. pointer
references 240
N
named object dictionary 159 P
nongraphical object group codes. See
names of specific objects Paper_Space block definition 59
normal vector, arbitrary axis algorithm pattern data for hatch entities 94
and 249 PDMODE DXF header variable 22
numerical order group codes 5 PDSIZE DXF header variable 22
PELEVATION DXF header variable 22
persistent inter-object reference
handles 239
256 | Index
persistent reactor tables 239, 243 Q
PEXTMAX DXF header variable 22
PEXTMIN DXF header variable 22 QTEXTMODE DXF header variable 24
PFACE command considerations 124
PINSBASE DXF header variable 22
PLIMCHECK DXF header variable 22 R
PLIMMAX DXF header variable 22 radial dimension group codes 82
PLIMMIN DXF header variable 22 ranges of group codes 3
PLINEGEN DXF header variable 22 RASTERVARIABLES group codes 192
PLINEWID DXF header variable 22 ray group codes 125
PLOTSETTINGS group codes 189 reading a DXF file (example) 227
point group codes 122 reference handles
pointer references vs. ownership hard vs. soft 240
references 240 pointer vs. ownership 240
polyface meshes in DXF 124 types of 239
polyline boundary data for hatch reflection maps, group codes 182
entities 91 refraction maps, group codes 184
polyline group codes 122 REGENMODE DXF header variable 24
polyface meshes and 124 region group codes 125
PROJECTNAME DXF header variable 23 RENDERENVIRONMENT group
PROXYGRAPHICS DXF header codes 193
variable 23 RENDERGLOBAL¶ 197
PSLTSCALE DXF header variable 23 REVOLVED SURFACE group codes 136
PSSTYLEMODE DXF header variable 23 rotated dimension group codes 81
PSVPSCALE DXF header variable 23 rows and columns (in tables), group
PUCSBASE DXF header variable 23 codes 143
PUCSNAME DXF header variable 23
PUCSORG DXF header variable 23
PUCSORGBACK DXF header variable 23 S
PUCSORGBOTTOM DXF header
variable 23 SAVE command
PUCSORGFRONT DXF header Binary option 232
variable 23 Select Objects option 218
PUCSORGLEFT DXF header variable 24 SAVEAS command
PUCSORGRIGHT DXF header ASCII control character handling
variable 24 and 219
PUCSORGTOP DXF header variable 24 binary DXF files and 233
PUCSORTHOREF DXF header Binary option 232
variable 24 Select Objects option 218
PUCSORTHOVIEW DXF header SECTION group codes¶ 126
variable 24 Section Type Settings group codes¶ 200–
PUCSXDIR DXF header variable 24 201
PUCSYDIR DXF header variable 24 SECTIONMANAGER group codes¶ 199
sequend group codes 127
SHADEDGE DXF header variable 24
SHADEDIF DXF header variable 24
Index | 257
SHADOWPLANELOCATION Header SURFACE group codes 133
variable 24 SURFTAB1 DXF header variable 25
shape group codes 127 SURFTAB2 DXF header variable 25
SKETCHINC DXF header variable 24 SURFTYPE DXF header variable 25
SKPOLY DXF header variable 25 SURFU DXF header variable 25
slide (SLD) files SURFV DXF header variable 25
about 233 SWEPT SURFACE group codes 137
data record types 234 symbol table entries
header format 233 common group codes 37
hex dump of (example) 235 structure of 35
old-format header 236 symbol tables
vectors and 234 common group codes 36
slide library (SLB) file format 237 deleted items and 35
SNAPANG revised VPORT header DIMSTYLE handle 35–36
variable 28 handles and 239
SNAPBASE revised VPORT header identifying 35
variable 28 structure of 35
SNAPISOPAIR revised VPORT header system variables, saved in DXF files 11
variable 28
SNAPMODE revised VPORT header
variable 28 T
SNAPSTYLE revised VPORT header TABLE group codes 139
variable 28 TABLES section
SNAPUNIT revised VPORT header about 35, 218
variable 28 example of 220
soft references vs. hard references 240 symbol table common group
soft-owner handles 8, 240 codes 36
soft-pointer handles 239–240 symbol table structure 35
solid group codes 89, 128 and writing a DXF file 229
SORTENTS DXF header variable 25 tables, group codes for 143
SORTENTSTABLE group codes 204 TABLESTYLE group codes 205
SPATIAL_FILTER group codes 203 tagged data 1
SPATIAL_INDEX group codes 202 TDCREATE DXF header variable 25
specular color, group codes 181 TDINDWG DXF header variable 25
specular maps, group codes 181 TDUCREATE DXF header variable 25
SPLFRAME DXF header variable 25 TDUPDATE DXF header variable 26
spline edge data for hatch entities 94 TDUSRTIMER DXF header variable 26
spline group codes 129 TDUUPDATE DXF header variable 26
SPLINESEGS DXF header variable 25 TEXT group codes 144
SPLINETYPE DXF header variable 25 text strings, group code range 4
SSECTIONSETTINGS group codes¶ 199 text style (in tables), group codes 206
strings, group code ranges 3 TEXTSIZE DXF header variable 26
STYLE group codes 46 TEXTSTYLE DXF header variable 26
subclass data marker 7 THICKNESS DXF header variable 26
subclass markers 241 THUMBNAIL section
SUN group codes 131–132 about 218
258 | Index
THUMBNAILIMAGE VIEWCTR revised VPORT header
group codes 215 variable 28
THUMBNAILIMAGE section VIEWDIR revised VPORT header
about 215 variable 29
TILEMODE DXF header variable 26 viewport entities
time/date variables, handling of 29 coordinate systems associated
tolerance group codes 146 with 248
trace group codes 146 group codes 150
TRACEWID DXF header variable 26 status field 151
TREEDEPTH DXF header variable 26 viewport group codes 150
VIEWSIZE revised VPORT header
variable 29
U VISRETAIN DXF header variable 27
UCS flags 153 Visual Basic programs (examples)
UCS group codes 47 for reading a DXF file 227
UCSBASE DXF header variable 26 for writing a DXF file 230
UCSNAME DXF header variable 26 VISUALSTYLE group codes¶ 208
UCSORG DXF header variable 26 VPORT group codes 51
UCSORGBACK DXF header variable 26 VPORT header variables, revised 28
UCSORGBOTTOM DXF header VSLIDE/MSLIDE commands 233
variable 26
UCSORGFRONT DXF header variable 26 W
UCSORGLEFT DXF header variable 26
UCSORGRIGHT DXF header variable 27 wipeout group codes 155
UCSORGTOP DXF header variable 27 WIPEOUTVARIABLES group codes 211
UCSORTHOREF DXF header variable 27 world coordinate system (WCS) 248
UCSORTHOVIEW DXF header WORLDVIEW DXF header variable 27
variable 27 writing a DXF file (example) 229
UCSXDIR DXF header variable 27
UCSYDIR DXF header variable 27
Underlay Definition group codes 207 X
underlay group codes 147 X and Y axes orientation
UNITMODE DXF header variable 27 calculations 248–249
user coordinate system (UCS) 248 X axis, arbitrary axis algorithm and 249
USERI1-5 DXF header variable 27 XCLIPFRAME DXF header variable 27
USERR1-5 DXF header variable 27 xdata
USRTIMER DXF header variable 27 and dimension entities 86
sample entity containing (DXF
V format) 243
xdata group codes 246
VBA_PROJECT group codes 211 binary DXF group codes 232
vectors, in slide files 234 XEDIT DXF header variable 28
VERSIONGUID DXF header variable 27 xline group codes 157
vertex group codes 149 XRECORD group codes 212
VIEW group codes 49 XY coordinates, working with 248
Index | 259
Y Z
Y axis, arbitrary axis algorithm and 249 Z axis
arbitrary axis algorithm and 249
OCS properties for 247
260 | Index

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AutoCAD 2010

Chapter 1 DXF Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 2 HEADER Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter 3 CLASSES Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chapter 4 TABLES Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Chapter 5 BLOCKS Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Chapter 6 ENTITIES Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Chapter 7 OBJECTS Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Chapter 8 THUMBNAILIMAGE Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Chapter 9 Drawing Interchange File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Chapter 10 Advanced DXF Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Organization of This Reference

Revisions to the DXF Reference

Formatting Conventions in This Reference

■ DXF.DXF file-specific description.

If the description is common to both DXF files and applications, no indicator

Object and Entity Codes

2 | Chapter 1 DXF Format

Group code value types

10-39 Double precision 3D point value

40-59 Double-precision floating-point value

60-79 16-bit integer value

90-99 32-bit integer value

100 String (255-character maximum; less for Unicode strings)

102 String (255-character maximum; less for Unicode strings)

105 String representing hexadecimal (hex) handle value

110-119 Double precision floating-point value

120-129 Double precision floating-point value

130-139 Double precision floating-point value

140-149 Double precision scalar floating-point value

160-169 64-bit integer value

170-179 16-bit integer value

210-239 Double-precision floating-point value

270-279 16-bit integer value

Group Code Value Types | 3

280-289 16-bit integer value

290-299 Boolean flag value

300-309 Arbitrary text string

310-319 String representing hex value of binary chunk

320-329 String representing hex handle value

330-369 String representing hex object IDs

370-379 16-bit integer value

380-389 16-bit integer value

390-399 String representing hex handle value

400-409 16-bit integer value

420-429 32-bit integer value

440-449 32-bit integer value

460-469 Double-precision floating-point value

480-481 String representing hex handle value

999 Comment (string)

1000-1009 String (same limits as indicated with 0-9 code range)

4 | Chapter 1 DXF Format

1010-1059 Double-precision floating-point value

1060-1070 16-bit integer value

1071 32-bit integer value

Group Codes in Numerical Order

Group codes by number

-5 APP: persistent reactor chain

-4 APP: conditional operator (used only with ssget)

-3 APP: extended data (XDATA) sentinel (fixed)