From a paper plan to a DXF file

Why the scale is decisive here

A PDF is looked at; a DXF is measured in CAD. A wrongly set scale is a blemish in a PDF and an error in every single wall in a DXF – and the planner only notices when the kitchen does not fit. So set the scale from a wall whose length you have really measured, not an estimated one. If dimensions are printed in the photo they are read; the dialog shows where the scale came from and how sure it is.

What is in the DXF file

Walls as lines with thickness, doors and windows as openings, room outlines and room labels on their own layers, units in metres, origin bottom left. It is a DXF R12 without proprietary extensions – which is why it opens in AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, Vectorworks, BricsCAD and the free viewers alike, and why hatches and blocks are deliberately plain.

Furniture is not exported. It belongs in the listing and the 3D view, not in the construction drawing, and every CAD has its own libraries for it.

What the recipient must still do

A plan reconstructed from a photo is a working basis, not a survey. Wall thicknesses are estimated from the picture; structural dimensions and room heights are not in it at all. Tell the recipient, and let them measure on site – the file carries the capture-tolerance note in its comment. For construction planning it replaces no survey; for the quoting phase it saves the appointment.

• Set the scale from a measured wall, never an estimated one
• Run the plan check before exporting: open wall ends and floating rooms are listed
• Layer names are descriptive; the recipient can hide labels