View 2D DXF CAD drawings inside VS Code. Opening a .dxf file shows the drawing
instead of thousands of lines of raw group codes.
Features
Opens by default — double-click a .dxf file in the Explorer and the
drawing appears. No command to run, no preview button to find.
True colors — entity and layer colors are read from the file, so the
drawing looks the way it does in your CAD software.
Blocks are expanded — doors, windows, fixtures and symbols placed as block
references render in place, with their rotation, mirroring and scaling applied.
Smooth curves — splines are evaluated properly rather than drawn as the
straight lines between their control points.
Real sheets — a paper space layout renders the model through its viewports,
clipped to each window, so you see the drawing as it prints. Every layout gets
its own page.
Layer switches — hide and show layers per sheet without losing your place.
Filled regions — hatched areas render, solid or patterned.
Export — save the current view as SVG or PNG.
Pan and zoom — scroll to zoom toward the cursor, drag to pan, double-click
to fit the drawing back into view.
Live reload — re-export from your CAD program and the preview follows.
Supported entities
LINE · CIRCLE · ARC · POLYLINE · LWPOLYLINE · SPLINE · ELLIPSE ·
TEXT · MTEXT · DIMENSION · INSERT (block references, including nested) ·
SOLID · POINT · 3DFACE · HATCH
Anything the preview cannot draw is named in a banner at the top, so a partially
rendered drawing never looks like a complete one.
Reading the raw file
The DXF text is still one step away: right-click the file, choose Reopen Editor
With…, then Text Editor.
Limitations
2D only.3DFACE entities are flattened onto the XY plane as a wireframe;
true 3D solids and meshes are not rendered.
Hatch patterns are approximated with evenly spaced lines; the real
pattern definitions are not read, so hatched areas show the right region and
angle rather than the exact pattern.
Dimensions draw their label and measured line; extension lines and
arrowheads are not reconstructed.
Extra sheets are numbered rather than named, because layout names live in a
part of the file this extension does not read.
