Autodesk publishes the DWF specification and makes available C++ libraries (not available anymore) for any developer who wants to build applications around the DWF format, with the DWF Toolkit. a writer that allows anyone to create a DWF file from any applicationĭWF is an open file format.a viewer for project team members who wish to view design data without knowing AutoCAD.

The DWF technology centers on three components: The format also includes intelligent metadata that captures the design intent of the data being represented. These files can be one sheet or multiple sheets, very simple or extremely complex with a rich use of fonts, graphics, color, and images. A DWF file can describe design data containing any combination of text, graphics, and images in a device independent and resolution independent format. Technology ĭWF is a file format developed by Autodesk for representing design data in a manner that is independent of the original application software, hardware, and operating system used to create that design data. The AutoCAD file format (.dwfx) is based on ISO/IEC 29500-2:2008 Open Packaging Conventions. Another significant strength is that comments and markup can be reintroduced to, and edited in, some Autodesk products, such as Revit and AutoCAD. The sole purpose of DWF is to allow designers, engineers, project managers, and their colleagues to communicate design information and design content to anyone needing to view, review, or print design information – without these team members needing to know AutoCAD or other design software.Īn Autodesk DWF advocate blog cites as DWFs strengths over alternatives that the files have very high mathematical precision, and contain meta-data for sheets, objects and markup data. They can also publish 3D models from most Autodesk design applications.ĭWF files are not a replacement for native CAD formats such as AutoCAD drawings ( DWG).

With DWF functionality, publishers of design data can limit the specific design data and plot styles to only what they want recipients to see and can publish multisheet drawing sets from multiple AutoCAD drawings in a single DWF file. Because DWF files are highly compressed, they are smaller and faster to transmit than design files, without the overhead associated with complex CAD drawings (or the management of external links and dependencies). Design Web Format (DWF) is a file format developed by Autodesk for the efficient distribution and communication of rich design data to anyone who needs to view, review, or print design files.

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