Export DXF and HPGL
Both formats are under File → Export. DXF delivers your plan as a drawing for CAD programs, HPGL for a cutting or drawing plotter.
Both export line work only: text (labels, dimension-line numbers) and filled areas are in neither file, only outlines. For a drawing with labels, the SVG export is better suited.
Hidden layers count too
Unlike the SVG export, the DXF and HPGL exports do not check which layers are currently visible: the whole plan always goes out, hidden layers included. Hiding something therefore does not keep it out of the file; for that you actually have to delete it from the plan. Both exports also only know the whole plan; there is no export of just the current selection for DXF or HPGL.
DXF
File → Export → DXF… opens a dialog with six checkboxes before the file is downloaded:
- Header+Tables (on by default), also writes the DXF header data (
HEADER), the layer table (TABLES) and the file terminator (EOF). Switched off, the export delivers only the plain drawing elements, without header, tables, or terminator — a fragment for tools that insert it into an existing drawing rather than expecting a standalone file. - TrueColor (on), writes each element's actual RGB color instead of relying on the classic 16-color palette. If your target program does not read TrueColor, only black and white remains, so switch it off.
- LineWeight (on), writes each element's stroke width into the file (in 1/100 mm, 0 to 2.11 mm).
- Triangles (3DFACE) (on), exports areas as
3DFACEentities. Switched off, the export leaves out all areas; only lines and polylines remain. - Prefer LWPOLYLINE (2D) (on), writes a consistently flat polyline as a compact, purely
two-dimensional
LWPOLYLINEinstead of a classicPOLYLINEwith its own entry per point. This only affects polylines that are flat anyway; a genuinely spatial polyline always stays aPOLYLINE, regardless of this setting. - Force 2D (z=0) (off), sets the height of every point to 0, even for spatial geometry. For a pure floor plan, or when the target program does not know a third dimension.
For a cutting plotter or a pure 2D program
Switch on Force 2D and leave Prefer LWPOLYLINE on. The result is a flat, compact drawing without height values. With Force 2D off, a spatial layout instead turns into a DXF file that contains heights a 2D tool does not expect.
HPGL
File → Export → HPGL… has no options; a click on Export is enough.
HPGL is the language of pen and cutting plotters. A cutting plotter uses it to cut your track plan as a stencil out of cardboard, film, or thin wood.
Circles and arcs also turn into lines: HPGL has no third dimension, the plan is output flat. The file uses a single pen throughout; the colors in your plan play no role for the export. Very large plans are automatically scaled down by the export as far as needed to fit the coordinate range of the format (around 819 mm per axis at full resolution) — there is no setting for a specific paper or workpiece size. So check the actual size on your plotter before you cut.