Different look of Texts in DXF/DWG files and ArchiCAD

Written by László Nagy

When an ArchiCAD Project is saved as DXF/DWG, Texts in the resulting file may differ from the way they looked in ArchiCAD. For example, the spacing of Texts may be different, so Texts block are not the same length or size.
Unfortunately, AutoCAD handles fonts in a peculiar fashion that slightly differs from Microsoft fonts, and industry typographic standards. This is the reason behind this phenomenon.

Although in general there is not much one can do about this, as the variety of letters increases in a given Text block, the better the translation will be. That is, using letters that go below the line, like "g", large letters, like "T", fat letters like "A" or "M" and thin letters like "i" in a good mix affect the accuracy of the translation algorithm. In general, longer Text blocks will be placed more accurately than shorter Text blocks.

We are working on the implementation of further refinements, which can help define font spacing and size better in the conversion of text from ArchiCAD to AutoCAD formats.

Page last updated: Thursday, September 16, 2004