26179f7428
* Draw object transparency on screen, in exports and in plots Transparency was read and saved (entity group 440, layer xdata, ByLayer and ByBlock) but never drawn. Display lists now carry each object's effective transparency (its own, its layer's, or the block reference's), and: - the canvas (GPU and CPU paths), ui.render and PNG/SVG exports blend it; TRANSPARENCYDISPLAY turns it off on screen and is now on by default, as in AutoCAD (initial value 1); - plots draw it only when "Plot transparency" is on: a page setup option (PAGESETUP `plotTransparency`, a checkbox in the Page Setup Manager and the Plot dialog), overridable per plot, with PLOTTRANSPARENCYOVERRIDE (0 never, 1 the setting, 2 always). PDF gets /ExtGState alpha, PNG plots blend, SVG uses opacity. Plots without it are byte-identical to before. The public DXF Reference has no plot layout flag for plot transparency, so the option is kept in the session and in JSON, not in DXF/DWG. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * Transparency fixes: attributes, PDF overlaps, drag previews - Attributes draw with their own transparency (their definition's, layer 0 meaning the reference's layer, ByBlock the reference's) instead of the block reference's. - PDF plots stroke overlapping transparent objects one by one, so they build up where they cross as in PNG plots; opaque output is unchanged. - Drag and rubber-band previews follow TRANSPARENCYDISPLAY. - Effective transparency is worked out only when it is drawn, reusing the layer the property lookup already found. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * Transparency: one PDF stroke per transparent primitive; opaque rebuilt previews - PDF plots never batch two transparent primitives into one path. Block and viewport contents share their reference's handle, so the per-object flush missed them; each primitive now blends on its own, as in PNG plots and on screen. Opaque output is unchanged. - Previews the session rebuilds with the current properties (rubber bands, copies of objects) are drawn opaque again: they carry CLAYER's transparency, not the objects'. The GPU drag of the objects themselves keeps following TRANSPARENCYDISPLAY. - Tests for attributes on a transparent reference layer, attributes without a definition, and the drag cache across the TRANSPARENCYDISPLAY toggle. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * Selection like AutoCAD: colour highlight and the Options Selection tab Selecting or hovering an object outlined each filled primitive (TrueType glyphs, dimension and leader arrowheads, solid hatches, wide polylines) by the rectangle around its triangles, and dashed everything else. A selected dimension's text became a row of dashed boxes, one per glyph, and its closed arrowheads small rectangles. Selected objects are now redrawn in the selection colour: lines solid, fills filled half see-through (so the lines and text on a highlighted hatch stay visible), and the whole object reads as selected, text and arrowheads included. A wipeout is always outlined, since filling it would hide the drawing under it. The Options dialog's Selection tab is laid out as AutoCAD's, with the settings CADCraft can act on, each one AutoCAD's variable, kept in the user profile: - Selection modes: noun/verb selection (PICKFIRST), Shift to add (PICKADD), Object grouping (PICKSTYLE bit 1, now saved in the profile). - Selection effect color (selectionColor, an interface preference; null is the theme's). - Grips: Show grips (GRIPS) and the object selection limit for display of grips (GRIPOBJLIMIT, 100; 0 no limit): grips are neither drawn nor picked beyond it. - Selection preview (SELECTIONPREVIEW): the object under the cursor is highlighted when a command is active (2) and when none is (1). - Visual Effect Settings: the selection area effect (SELECTIONAREA, WINDOWAREACOLOR 150, CROSSINGAREACOLOR 100, SELECTIONAREAOPACITY 25) and the Selection Preview Filter (PREVIEWFILTER 3: 1 objects on locked layers, 2 xrefs, 4 tables, 8 multiline text, 16 hatches, 32 groups). As in AutoCAD these are typed, not on the dialog: HIGHLIGHT (0 shows only the grips of selected objects; not saved, so every session starts highlighted), SELECTIONEFFECT (1 the selection colour, 0 dashed lines with fills outlined along their real boundary) and PREVIEWEFFECT (the preview dashed 0, thicker 1 or both 2). Left for later, as CADCraft lacks what they control: lasso, grip tips and menus, group grips, grips within blocks, associative hatch selection, command and property preview, PICKDRAG, PICKAUTO and PROPOBJLIMIT. DisplayList::fill_outlines returns the boundary of the region a filled primitive covers as closed polylines (edges only one triangle has; the slab filler's horizontal cuts, which need not line up between trapezoids, are split at every x on their line and kept where an odd number cover them), falling back to the bounding box over 600,000 vertices. The GPU and CPU highlight paths and the drawing comparison overlay share the same looks. The new labels have Ukrainian rows (the required catalog); other languages fall back to English. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> --------- Co-authored-by: EP995LAB <293597958+EP995LAB@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Co-authored-by: Cody Vogt <18035288+codyvogt@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Brandon Thomas <echelon@gmail.com>
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File-format parity
Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-10-12 · Change: minor (multiline attributes read, drawn and written) · Target: Autodesk AutoCAD 2027
Every format AutoCAD 2027 reads or writes, with CADCraft's support, fidelity and tests. Work items are in gaps.md; the weighted score feeds target-app-parity.md.
Headline (estimated): file formats ≈ 30% of AutoCAD's. Opening the commonest 2D DXF/DWG drawings works, but saving is lossy: everything CADCraft doesn't model is dropped, and no test uses a real third-party file. DXF and DWG save at 2000–2018 (2018 by default, #421). Remaining: ≈ 170–280 Opus 5.5 hours: ≈ 40–60 h for DXF/DWG fidelity (the part that decides beta), ≈ 110–180 h for the other formats below, and ≈ 20–40 h for 3D exchange formats that wait for 3D modelling.
How this was measured
- CADCraft: read from
crates/dxf,crates/io(dxf_read.rs,dxf_write.rs,pdf.rs,svg.rs,tests.rs) andcrates/dwgon 2026-10-10. Nothing was run (the measurement pass did no builds). - AutoCAD: the formats in its Open/Save As/Import/Export/Attach/Plot dialogs, from Autodesk's
published documentation and the menu tree in
xtask/data/menu-catalog.txt. The installed AutoCAD 2027 for Mac bundle was inspected by listing names only (clean-room rule: nothing inside it is read):Resources/Supportlistsacad.lin,acadiso.lin,acad.pat,acadiso.pat,acad.mln,.dctspell dictionaries,.pssand.shxfiles, which confirms the supporting formats below exist in the target. None of them may be copied. - No AutoCAD-produced file is committed or used as a fixture. A real-file corpus needs owner
action (see gaps.md): files made by people who license them to us, kept in a
separate
storytold/cadcraft-corpusrepo.
DWG, version by version
AutoCAD 2027 opens every DWG version from R2.0 onward and saves 2018 (AC1032, still the current
DWG format), 2013, 2010, 2007, 2004, 2000 and R14. CADCraft reads DWG by converting it to DXF
with the acadrust 0.6.3 crate and reading that DXF; it saves by writing its own R2000 DXF and
converting it to a DWG of the chosen version (#421): SAVEAS version, else the drawing's own
version (the file's $ACADVER, 2018 for a new drawing), at least 2004 unless 2000 is asked for.
The bridge repairs two acadrust 0.6.3 gaps in 2010+ DWG: merged table cells and table-style
title/header suppression.
| DWG version | Code | AutoCAD 2027 | CADCraft read | CADCraft write | Tested how |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1.0–R2.6, R9, R10, R11/R12 | MC0.0–AC1009 | read | no (is_dwg accepts only AC10xx magic; acadrust doesn't target pre-R13) |
no | — |
| R13 | AC1012 | read | acadrust claims support; untested | no | none |
| R14 | AC1014 | read, write | acadrust claims support; untested | no | none |
| 2000–2002 | AC1015 | read, write | yes via bridge | yes, when asked for (no true colours, transparency or table styles: the format has none) | synthetic round trips (dwg_at_every_version_reads_back, dwg_roundtrip_keeps_non_ascii_text) |
| 2004–2006 | AC1018 | read, write | via bridge | yes | dwg_at_every_version_reads_back, dwg_roundtrip_keeps_extension_data |
| 2007–2009 | AC1021 | read, write | via bridge | yes | dwg_at_every_version_reads_back |
| 2010–2012 | AC1024 | read, write | via bridge | yes | dwg_at_every_version_reads_back, ac1024_dwg_with_many_entities_opens |
| 2013–2017 | AC1027 | read, write | via bridge | yes | dwg_at_every_version_reads_back |
| 2018–2027 | AC1032 | read, write (default) | via bridge; untested on real files | yes (default for new drawings) | dwg_at_every_version_reads_back (synthetic only) |
| Web build | — | — | no (error: "save as DXF") | no | — |
Everything lost in the DXF read/write paths below is also lost through DWG, plus whatever
acadrust's own DXF output omits (proxy objects, ACIS data, custom objects: not measured). User
report #57: a 10 MB DWG failed after about two minutes; limits now stop runaway conversions
early (#175), but the throughput problem remains. DWG ≈ 30% read, ≈ 15% write.
DXF, version by version
| DXF version | AutoCAD 2027 | CADCraft read | CADCraft write |
|---|---|---|---|
| R12 (AC1009), ASCII | read, write | yes: no version gating; old-style POLYLINE/VERTEX read (polyface meshes flattened to 3D polylines) | no |
| R12 binary | read, write | no (binary parser expects R13+ 2-byte group codes) | no |
| R13–R2018, ASCII | read, write each of 2000/2004/2007/2010/2013/2018 | yes, one reader for all versions | yes, each of 2000–2018 (#421): R2000 structure (later versions add only optional groups) with that $ACADVER; UTF-8 text from 2007; no CLASS instance counts (91) |
| R13–R2018, binary | read, write | yes | yes, each of 2000–2018 (SAVEAS binary; a binary file stays binary on QSAVE) |
Code pages ($DWGCODEPAGE, ANSI_932/936/949/950/125x) |
yes | yes (#505): ASCII and binary DXF before 2007 decode from their code page (ANSI_874/932/936/949/950/1250–1258, DOS437/850/852/866, ISO 8859, Macintosh); a file that is valid UTF-8 reads as UTF-8; Johab and other DOS code pages read as ANSI_1252 (dxf/src/codepage.rs) |
writes \U+ escapes (#169), which is correct; declares ANSI_1252 |
\U+/\M+ escapes |
yes | yes (\M+ since #505; Johab \M+4 stays literal) |
\U+ yes |
DXF content: read and write by object type
| Content | Read | Write | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| LINE, POINT, CIRCLE, ARC, ELLIPSE, LWPOLYLINE (widths, bulges, elevation), SPLINE, RAY, XLINE | yes | yes | round-trip tests |
| POLYLINE 2D/3D | yes | yes (as LWPOLYLINE / 3D POLYLINE) | polyface and polygon meshes flattened: lossy |
| TEXT, MTEXT, ATTDEF, INSERT + ATTRIB | yes; multiline attributes (embedded MTEXT) read and drawn | yes; multiline attributes written as embedded MTEXT (DXF 2007 and later; older versions: one line) | ATTDEF prompt kept (#137) |
| DIMENSION (all 7 kinds) | yes | yes, with anonymous *D blocks |
a reopened dimension's *D block is regenerated under its name, unreferenced ones dropped (#495); DIMASSOC objects written |
| LEADER | yes | yes | |
| MULTILEADER | yes (#459) | yes, native MULTILEADER with MLEADERSTYLE (#459) | several landings per multileader are folded into one; per-object overrides and annotative scale contexts not kept |
| HATCH pattern / solid | yes | yes; associative hatches keep their boundary objects in blocks too, and the boundary carries the hatch reactor (stretched dynamic blocks drag the fill in AutoCAD) | |
| HATCH gradient | yes | yes (#162, fixes #80) | |
| SOLID, TRACE, 3DFACE | yes | yes | |
| ACAD_TABLE | yes | yes (entity + block) | |
| VIEWPORT | yes | yes; frozen-layer lists kept (#150), also as standard group 341 layer handles that other programs read | DWG: the DXF→DWG converter does not yet write group 341 (frozen layers survive a CADCraft round trip via xdata); VP layer colour overrides lost (#99, PR #197) |
| IMAGE | yes, with IMAGEDEF | yes, with IMAGEDEF and IMAGEDEF_REACTOR | no attach command or display of the picture yet (FF10) |
| WIPEOUT | yes | yes (#147, fixes #79) | |
| MLINE (+ MLINESTYLE), HELIX, TOLERANCE | yes (#510, #420) | yes | |
| REGION | other programs' REGIONs (ACIS data) kept as Unknown | our regions are written as closed polylines tagged with CADCraft xdata (#510; ACIS has no public spec) | |
| 3DSOLID, BODY, SURFACE, MESH, SHAPE, UNDERLAY, OLE2FRAME, LIGHT, CAMERA, SECTION, POINTCLOUD, proxy entities | kept as Unknown (raw tags) | written back as read, with their CLASS records (#528); dropped by DWG save (acadrust) | only their layer follows edits |
| Header variables | all read | 36 written | AutoCAD writes about 280 |
| Tables: LAYER (+ transparency, description), LTYPE, STYLE, DIMSTYLE, BLOCK_RECORD | yes | yes | |
| Tables: VPORT, VIEW, UCS, APPID | yes | yes: saved viewport configurations (#504), named views, UCSs | UCS elevation lost |
| Objects: LAYOUT, DICTIONARY, XRECORD, TABLESTYLE, DIMASSOC | yes | yes | |
| Objects: GROUP, MLINESTYLE, MLEADERSTYLE, IMAGEDEF, SCALE | yes | yes (groups #417, scale list #468) | |
| Objects: VISUALSTYLE, PLOTSETTINGS, materials, field objects and other unmodelled objects | kept raw (#528) | written back as read | not editable |
| Foreign xdata, extension dictionaries, reactors, unmodelled objects, colour books | kept raw (#528); an entity's xdata is part of the entity, so COPY, MIRROR, ARRAY and paste keep it on the copies (EXPLODE pieces don't) | written back, handles remapped, references to deleted objects dropped | through DWG: xdata on table records and blocks, entity colour books and reactors, custom-class objects lost (acadrust) |
| Objects: dynamic block data (ACAD_EVALUATION_GRAPH, BLOCK…PARAMETER, BLOCK…ACTION, grips) | read into a model (dynblock, blocks.dynamic): parameters, visibility states, value sets, stretch and lookup actions; references: their dynamic block, values and custom properties (blocks.reference, Properties ▸ Custom, read-only); kept raw (#528) |
written back as read; a changed visibility state is written as AutoCAD writes it (a new anonymous block with its AcDbBlockRepBTag, the objects' AcDbBlockRepETag, the reference's representation data) |
visibility states (and lookups that set only them) can be changed (blocks.reference.set, Properties ▸ Custom); distances, positions and the actions they drive not yet; DWG open and save keep it too (checked with an AutoCAD dynamic block) |
| Handles and owners | entity handles kept; others regenerated | consistent | stable across CADCraft re-saves (#495); other programs' table and object handles renumbered once |
DXF ≈ 50% read, ≈ 30% write (estimated; weights: common 2D entities 50%, annotation objects 20%, tables/objects 15%, foreign data preservation 15%).
Other formats
| Format | AutoCAD 2027 | CADCraft | Hours to parity (est.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| DWT templates | open, save | NEW/QNEW from .dwt and .dxf templates, SAVEAS .dwt (#552) |
0–1 |
| DWS standards | open, save, CHECKSTANDARDS | no | 6–10 |
| PDF output (PLOT, EXPORTPDF) | multi-sheet, layers, searchable text, hyperlinks | vector PDF with lineweights, real text in embedded TrueType subsets, layers (OCG), several sheets per file and hyperlinks (#567, #571); object transparency as PDF alpha when "Plot transparency" is on (the option isn't saved in DXF/DWG: no public plot layout flag) | 1–2 |
| PDF import (PDFIMPORT) and PDF underlays (PDFATTACH) | yes | no | 15–25 |
| Raster images attach (PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP …) | yes | IMAGE entity exists, no attach/loading/display path | 6–10 |
| PNG / JPEG / BMP / TIFF export | PNGOUT, JPGOUT, BMPOUT, TIFOUT | PNG; SVG too (AutoCAD doesn't export SVG) | 1–2 |
| DWF/DWFx export, DWF underlay | yes | no | 10–15 |
| DGN import/export/underlay | yes | no (needs a public spec; owner decision) | 25–40 |
| WMF, EPS, ACIS SAT, STL, FBX, IGES/STEP (Windows), 3DS | various | no; most are 3D and wait for M11 | 20–40 |
SHX fonts (.shx, big fonts) |
read | not parsed: our stroke font or FONTALT stands in, so text metrics differ from AutoCAD | 8–12 |
Linetype (.lin) and hatch pattern (.pat) files |
load user files | user files load (#552); linetype shape (SHX) elements are skipped | 1–2 |
Plot styles (.ctb, .stb), plotter configs (.pc3), .pmp |
yes | plot style tables in our own JSON format (plot-styles.md) and kept in the drawing; plotter devices with papers and printable areas in our own JSON format (plotters.md, #564); binary .ctb/.stb/.pc3/.pmp not read (no public spec) |
4–8 |
Scripts (.scr) |
SCRIPT | script text through the CLI, MCP and control channel; no SCRIPT command reading a .scr file |
1–2 |
Aliases (.pgp), CUI(x), workspaces |
yes | user alias files and ALIASEDIT (#552); no CUI(x) or workspaces | 4–8 |
SVG import (.svg, .svgz) |
yes (via scripts) | OPEN reads shapes, paths, groups and Inkscape layers into entities (#636); no CSS classes, use, fills, text or images |
2–4 |
AutoLISP (.lsp, .fas, .vlx), .dll/.arx plug-ins |
yes | .lsp loads (APPLOAD, (load), a dropped file; #758); no Visual LISP ActiveX (vlax-), DCL dialogs or reactors; .fas/.vlx are compiled and undocumented; no .dll/.arx |
see gaps.md (E1) |
Data extraction (.csv, .xls) and data links |
yes | DATAEXTRACTION/EATTEXT to CSV or a table (#433); table data links read CSV (#534); no .xls, no .dxe templates |
3–5 |
eTransmit (.zip packages) |
yes | no | 4–6 |
Tests
crates/io/src/tests.rs has 36 tests (round trips of entities, styles, associativity, tables,
constraints, non-ASCII text, DWG round trips, hostile input). All inputs are synthetic:
inline strings or our own writer's output. No test opens a file made by another program, and no
external validator runs in CI (ezdxf's audit was run by hand once, 2026-10-06). The next step is
a licensed real-file corpus with an open → save → re-open → compare test per file, and checking
our output in AutoCAD black-box.
Revision history
| Date | Change | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-12 | minor | PDF output: object transparency plotted as PDF alpha (/ExtGState /ca /CA) when the page setup's or the plot's "Plot transparency" is on; PNG plots blend it, SVG uses opacity; plots without it are unchanged byte for byte |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | DXF/DWG save: the Model layout's plot settings are written as CADCraft plots model space, drawing extents scaled to fit (PLOTSETTINGS 74 = 1, 75 = 0), instead of plot type 5 "Layout information", which other programs' Plot dialogs can't use for model space |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | VIEWPORT frozen layers also written and read as AutoCAD's group 341 layer handles, so third-party viewers honour per-viewport freezing in DXF (DWG converter gap noted) |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | HATCH: associative hatches inside blocks keep their source objects; boundaries carry {ACAD_REACTORS} |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Dynamic block grips: grip objects read by graph id; a drag is saved as AutoCAD saves a Properties change |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Dynamic block references: visibility states can be changed and are saved as AutoCAD saves them |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Dynamic block references: definition, values and custom properties read (blocks.reference, Properties ▸ Custom) |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Dynamic block data row: parameters and actions read into a model (blocks.dynamic); kept by DXF and DWG save |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Multiline attributes (embedded MTEXT) read, drawn and written back instead of losing their text |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | Rows refreshed for merged work: code pages and \M+ (#505), MULTILEADER (#459), IMAGE, MLINE/HELIX/REGION/TOLERANCE, VPORT/VIEW/UCS tables, modelled and raw objects, foreign data (#528), DWT templates and user .lin/.pat/.pgp files (#552), PDF output (#567, #571), plotter devices (#564), data extraction (#433, #534); weighted percentages not re-measured |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | DXF (ASCII and binary) and DWG saved at 2000–2018, 2018 by default (#421) |
| 2026-10-10 | minor | WIPEOUT and gradients written since #147/#162; other save losses remain (#201, #204, #208, #209, #213, #223) |
| 2026-10-10 | major | First file-format parity doc: DWG and DXF version by version, per-object read/write, other formats |