CADverter

3D → 2D drawing · exact hidden lines · nothing uploaded

Make a dimensioned 2D DXF drawing from a STEP file

Open a .step model and press Make drawing: CADverter projects it onto a sheet with aligned views, removes hidden lines exactly, adds a title block and dimensions, and writes the sheet as a layered .dxf. No CAD seat required, and the model never leaves your browser.

Drop a STEP file here to turn it into a 2D drawing
one file or many — or
no file handy?

🔒 File contents stay on this device — the CAD kernel and every file writer run in this browser tab.

Views that line up the way a draughtsman expects

You pick the views — front, top, side and an isometric — from a live preview of the sheet, and CADverter places them in true first-angle or third-angle alignment: the top view directly above (third angle) or below (first angle) the front view, sharing its width; the side view level with it, sharing its height. Views that merely sit near each other read as wrong to anyone who works from drawings, so alignment is enforced rather than approximate.

Sheet sizes, border and title block

Sheets are ISO A4, A3 and A2 or ANSI A, B and C, landscape, with a border and a title block carrying the part name, the scale that was chosen to fit the views, the sheet size and the unit. The scale is a real drawing scale — 1:2, 2:1 — not an arbitrary zoom, so a dimension read off the paper with a rule agrees with the printed number.

Hidden lines removed exactly, not faked

Each view is produced by OpenCASCADE’s exact hidden-line-removal algorithm on the B-rep itself, not by rendering the model and tracing pixels. Curved surfaces contribute their true silhouettes, tangent edges are handled as edges, and every line on the sheet is real geometry with real endpoints. That is what makes the DXF worth having: it opens in AutoCAD, LibreCAD, QCAD or Fusion as editable lines and arcs, not as a picture.

Exactness has a cost. On a large assembly this is the slowest operation on the site, so the panel shows a measured time estimate and asks before starting anything long; you can cancel a projection that is running.

Dimensions taken from the geometry

CADverter annotates the sheet with a minimum complete dimension set derived from the model — overall extents on the principal views and the diameters of circular features that the projection exposes — with extension lines, arrows and text at sizes that scale with the sheet. They are a starting set for a real drawing, not a substitute for a drafter’s judgement about which dimensions a machinist needs; faceted parts (a mesh that was sewn into a solid) receive the core extents only, because a facet edge is not a feature.

What is in the DXF

The writer emits AutoCAD 2000 (AC1015) DXF with $INSUNITS set to the drawing’s unit. Views, dimensions, the border and the title block sit on their own layers; arcs, circles and ellipses are written as true ARC, CIRCLE and ELLIPSE entities and splines as SPLINE, never flattened into segments. AC1015 rather than R12 is deliberate: R12 has no spline or ellipse and would force every curve into polylines.

The same sheet can be written as SVG, PDF, Illustrator, EPS or HP-GL from the same panel; the panel names what each target cannot carry.

Meshes can be drawn as well

An STL or OBJ has no exact surfaces, but it can still become a drawing: CADverter sews the mesh into a solid first and projects that. Silhouettes come out as chains of short edges where the mesh was faceted, which is faithful to the input. For a clean drawing from a mesh, run Reconstruct surfaces on the way to STEP first and draw the result.

The model stays in the tab

The hidden-line pass, the sheet layout and the DXF writer all run inside the browser. Watch the Network panel while a drawing is produced: nothing but this page’s own assets and the kernel binary is fetched, and no request ever carries your model. The production build is tested against that claim.

STEP to 2D drawing questions

Can I choose which views appear?

Yes. The panel shows a live preview of the sheet; toggle front, top, side and isometric, choose first- or third-angle projection and the sheet size, and the layout updates before you commit.

Is the DXF editable in AutoCAD or LibreCAD?

Yes. Every line, arc and dimension is a native DXF entity on a named layer. Open it, move dimensions, add the ones your shop needs.

How long does a drawing take?

A single part takes seconds. A large assembly can take minutes because hidden-line removal is exact; the panel estimates the time first and asks before starting a long run.

Can I get a PDF instead of a DXF?

Yes — PDF, SVG, Illustrator, EPS and HP-GL are on the same panel. PDF approximates arcs with segments and the panel says so; DXF and SVG keep them as true curves.

See also: the reverse: extrude a DXF into a solid · convert the drawing to SVG afterwards · or mesh the STEP for printing — or the CADverter home page for every format.