Hello, I am new to the project and interested in contributing on Issue #2446 DXF export should export dimension items as DXF dimensions (lp:#1832717) <https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/2446>.
The 7.0.0 release does not plot KiCad dimension items at all with the option "Plot graphic items using their contours" selected. With the option de-selected, then KiCad dimension items are plotted using LINE entities, as stated in the issue. Looking at what would be required to implement the DXF standard's DIMENSION entity, the minimum change would involve changes to DXF_PLOTTER::StartPlot() <https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/blob/7.0/common/plotters/DXF_plotter.cpp?ref_type=heads#L173> (The DIMENSION entities require a BLOCKS section to be defined.) in addition to whatever changes will be needed to the rest of the DXF plotting code. Because KiCad allows a number of customizations to the appearance of KiCad dimension items, the "minimal change" would likely not result in efficiently reproducing the dimension items exactly as they appear in KiCad in the DXF plot output. I see that QCAD's dxflib is already included in thirdparty, I assume this is used for DXF import? Rather than reinventing the wheel for plotting DIMENSION entities, what if dxflib was used for DXF plotting also? I assume there is a good reason for the DXF plotter being the way it is now. Is there a specific design intent that prevents using dxflib to plot? In general, could I get some advice on what kind of approach to take, what kind of contribution would be most helpful? John -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "KiCad Developers" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to devlist+unsubscr...@kicad.org. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/f84e169d-692f-48d6-981e-f37a3fdfb39cn%40kicad.org.
