Start a new topic

I am converting a GDSII to DXF using ACE 3000. It works fine, however how can I keep my resulting DXF files smaller?

To make the resulting DXF file smaller, we would recommend the following suggestions: 

1. Does your GDSII have Hierarchy (i.e. cells nested into one another)? If yes, make sure that you uncheck the option "Flatten Hierarchy". This allows the DXF to maintain the hierarchy found in the GDSII and will drastically decrease the final DXF file size. 

Note: If the GDSII is flat (i.e. no hierarchy), are there patterns that can be stepped and repeated? If yes, try converting a smaller portion of the GDSII and then perform the Step/Repeat in AutoCAD (using MInsert Blocks). 

2. Try having ACE detect if there are any arcs in your GDSII. One single arc can save up to 200 polyline vertex points. During DXF Export options check the item "Output Arcs (when possible)". 

Note: Since you probably have a huge GDSII file, this may be time consuming because ACE must analyze each boundary and determine if sections of it can be replaced by arcs. 

3. Try exporting as a DWG file instead of DXF. DWG files are typically 5X smaller than DXF files. 

4. Feel free to submit a support ticket and send us a sample GDSII file; and we'll be happy to test it here and see if there are any additional features we can add to decrease the resulting file size. 
Login or Signup to post a comment