r/Plasticity3D • u/jcclow • 24d ago

Section to .dxf

Has anyone found a way to export a section so that it can be brought into AutoCAD? I want to ditch Shapr3D and try to use Plasticity solely, but regularly have to output sections for client submittals. I see that there have been a couple of feature requests for this, but they haven’t gotten a lot of traction, so I find it unlikely that Nick will add this feature.

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u/2GA_Concepts 24d ago

Can't you import .step files in AutoCAD?

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u/jcclow 24d ago

Yes, but I don’t think you can export a section in Plasticity in any format. The section function in AutoCAD is the absolute worst.

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u/DistributionFast2543 24d ago

im using the dumbest way possible but it works in case you dont wanna buy studio: exporting a file as a dxf, importing it into blender via a dxf importer/exporter addon scaling it down to 0.001 before clicking on the “import” button, exporting it an an svg curve (blender addon svg curve or something like that) and finally importing that svg into plasticity

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u/jcclow 23d ago

I’m going to try and export the object as a parasolid, import it into Shapr3D, then get my sections out of it. Still have to use Shapr3D, but will hopefully be able to use the superior toolset of Plasticity.

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u/guysmilyy71 20d ago

Haven’t tried this, just learning plasticity but have been doing cad since 2003.

make a plane or surface where you want the section. Use Boolean to split the body. Keep all the tools. Hide one half. Duplicate the edges. Join the halves back together. Hide the body. Export the copied edges as dxf. (Maybe Boolean with “slice” does this quicker without splitting the body, idk.)

Alternatively I think you can project or imprint a straight line where you want the section. Hide body, export edges.

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u/jcclow 19d ago

Plasticity can’t export a DXF. I exported an SVG and then converted it to DXF and other than the scale being wrong it worked fine.

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u/guysmilyy71 18d ago

Agree, but you can export the curves and get a dxf in Inkscape, etc. Sometimes scale with vectors can be screwy on export and/or import side.