AAMA/ASTM Pattern Files (DXF)

AAMA DXF (and its ASTM successor, ASTM D6673) is how the sewn-products industry exchanges pattern pieces: Gerber AccuMark, Lectra Modaris and Diamino, Optitex, Tukatech, StyleCAD, Audaces, Valentina/Seamly2D and the cutting rooms' marker-making, nesting and cutting software all read it. Write one with File › Export › Export…, choosing AAMA/ASTM Pattern Files (DXF) (.dxf). It is offered first for Sewing and Leather goods drawings (see Industries).

What it writes

The file is an AutoCAD R12 DXF laid out as the AAMA convention and ASTM D6673 describe it: layers are numbered, and each pattern piece is a block inserted where it is in the drawing.

Layer	What is on it
1	The piece's cutting line (its boundary), a closed polyline; and its text: Piece Name:, Size:, Quantity:, Category:
2	Turn points: a point at each corner of the piece's lines
3	Curve points: points along each curve
4	Notches: a line from the edge, as long and in the direction of the notch
6	Mirror lines (a piece cut on the fold)
7	The grain line, from its tail to its head
8	Internal lines: folds, pocket and placement lines, darts
11	Internal cutouts: holes inside the piece
13	Drill holes: a point at each hole's centre
14	Sew lines
15	Other text in the piece (annotation)

The style's own text — Style Name:, Creation Date:, Author:, Sample Size: and Units: METRIC or ENGLISH — is written once, outside the pieces. Curves are written as points along them (within the curve tolerance), as these systems expect.

How pieces are found

A piece is a closed outline on a cutting-line layer (the Cut layer, unless you choose others): each region the cutting lines enclose is a piece, except a region inside another piece, which is that piece's internal cutout.
Everything else goes with the piece it lies in. Lines, holes and text outside every piece are left out, and the messages say how many.
Grain lines, notches and drill holes are found by their shape as well as by their layer: a straight line with an arrowhead (the Grain Line and Piece Label tools' arrows) is a grain line, its arrowheads left out; a short straight line meeting the piece's edge (a Notch) is a notch — one marked on the sewing line is brought out to the cutting edge; a circle on the Drill layer (the Drill Hole tool's) is a drill hole.
The piece's name, quantity and category come from its text: a Piece Label's lines (its name, Cut 2 or Cut 1 pairs (mirrored), its material), or text such as Body: cut 2. Mirrored pairs are written as twice the number of pairs. A piece with no name is called Piece 1, Piece 2 …

Options

Option	Does
Style name, Author	Written as the style's text. The style name starts as the file's name.
Units	Metric (millimetres) or English (inches); the drawing is converted as needed.
Sizes	One size: the drawing as it is, with the Size name you give. Or a SELECT block whose choices are the sizes: each piece is written in every size, a block of its own with its size (as Grading draws them), and the size the drawing is in now is the sample size.
Layers	What each layer's lines are: cutting line, internal line, sew line, grain line, notches, drill holes, mirror line, text, or left out. They start from the layers' names and the usual layers: Cut is the cutting line, Perforation (where the library's patterns and the Seam Allowance tool put the dashed sewing line) the sew line, Dimension the text, Drill the drill holes, Registration left out, other layers internal lines.
Notches up to (Advanced)	A straight line this long or shorter meeting a piece's edge is a notch (15 mm).
Turn and curve points (Advanced)	The points on layers 2 and 3; most systems expect them.
Curve tolerance (Advanced)	How far the points along a curve may stray from it.

In your pattern or cutting software

Import the file as AAMA or ASTM DXF (Gerber AccuMark: Convert › AAMA/ASTM; Lectra: Import › DXF AAMA; Optitex: File › Open as DXF AAMA), choosing the same units if it asks. Each block becomes a piece with its name, quantity and grain line, ready for a marker. The sizes are written as pieces of their own: no grade rule table is written, so a system that grades from rules sees each size as its own piece.