Design editor
Export curves as DXF
Take a board's outline, rockers and slices into CAD, cutting software or another shaping app as a DXF, a printable PDF, a Shape3d file or an AkuShaper file, and the solid as STEP.
On this page 11 sections
Steps
-
Open the design and choose Export
From the designs list or the design page, open the ⋯ menu and select Export, then choose Curves.
-
Pick the file
- DXF for CAD, cutting software and other shaping apps.
- Curves PDF for the bench: the outline at 1:1, tiled across pages with cut marks and a ruler, then the rocker and every slice as reference pages.
- Shape3d (.s3dx) to open the board in Shape3d X, Shape3d Lite, AkuShaper or SurfStudio.
- AkuShaper (.brd) to open the board in AkuShaper as an unlocked board in its own format.
-
Export
The file is generated on the server and downloads as soon as it is ready. Exporting the same version again hands you the same file without counting as a new export.
What the DXF contains
The DXF is R2010 in millimetres, so it opens at true size, without a scale step, in any CAD or CAM package that reads an R2010 DXF. We checked it in FreeCAD. Each curve sits on its own layer:
| Layer | What it is |
|---|---|
| OUTLINE and OUTLINE_MIRROR | The plan outline, right and left rails, closed at the tail and at the nose so the two make one closed loop. A swallow or fish notch is drawn, and a slice inside the notch is drawn as the two horns. |
| ROCKER_BOTTOM and ROCKER_DECK | The side profile below the plan: the bottom rocker and the deck line along the stringer. |
| SLICE_… | One layer per slice, named by its station in millimetres from the tail (SLICE_305 is 305 mm from the tail), drawn in a row below the profile. There is a slice 2% in from each tip and at the standard stations, with more between them so no two are further apart than a sixteenth of the board. Each slice sits in its own frame with the bottom of the stringer at zero, the same way Shape3d and AkuShaper draw theirs. |
| BOTTOM_CONTOUR | The bottom's vee or concave depth at each station, as a curve on its own baseline under the profile, concave above the line and vee below, at true scale in millimetres. |
| FEATURE_1, FEATURE_2, … | One layer per 3D layer: the outline of each strip on the plan, labelled with the layer's name, what it does and how deep it goes. What a layer does to each section is in the slices. |
| STATIONS | Tick marks and labels where each slice was taken. |
Every curve is a spline through the measured points. The layers ending in _POLY carry the same curve as a plain polyline for software that ignores splines, so you can keep whichever your tool reads and delete the other.
The tail is at x = 0 and the nose at x = board length. The plan is centred on y = 0, with the right rail at positive y.
What the Shape3d file contains
The .s3dx carries the outline, the bottom and deck rockers and the slices as editable curves, with the dimensions and the measured volume in the header. The header also carries the V/Concave figures Shape3d shows for the tail, the nose and the whole board, worked out from the board's own slices, 3D layers included, the way Shape3d works out its own. It carries no 3D layers as layers, and no artwork or fin boxes. A board opened from it is a clean set of curves to keep shaping, not a copy of the Surfbase scene.
Swallow, fish, moon and bat tails
The DXF draws the notch, a bat's centre tongue included. The Shape3d file carries the notch in its outline the way Shape3d's own files do: SurfStudio draws it, and AkuShaper draws it as it draws any Shape3d swallow. Shape3d itself cuts a swallow with a 3D layer, which a curves-only file does not carry, so Shape3d shows the tail closed until you add the swallow there. AkuShaper's own format has no notch, so the AkuShaper file closes the tail across the horns.
Asymmetrical tails
The curve files carry one half of the outline, mirrored. A board with an asymmetrical tail is exported with its toe-side rail on both sides, and the export says so when it finishes.
What the AkuShaper file contains
The .brd carries the same curves as AkuShaper's own files, outline, bottom and deck profiles and the slices, with the dimensions in its header, encrypted the way AkuShaper expects so it opens without a password. It carries no machine settings, so a cutter sets their own blank and cutter parameters as they would for any new board. Surfbase writes this format under AkuShaper's written authorisation.
STEP for CAM
A STEP solid is in the 3D Model export, beside STL and OBJ. It is a faceted solid: every triangle of the board's mesh becomes a planar face and the faces are sewn into one closed solid, in millimetres, in the AP214 schema, so it opens in any CAD or CAM package that reads an AP214 STEP. We read it back through Open CASCADE, the kernel FreeCAD is built on. It is not a smooth spline surface, so the file is large and the surface shows the mesh's facets when you zoom in. The export says so in its notes.
Bringing an export back into Surfbase
The curve and mesh exports import back into Surfbase as the board they came from. The Curves PDF and the STEP are one-way: the PDF is for the bench, and the STEP is a faceted copy of the board's mesh, so export the STL or OBJ when the model has to come back in.
- DXF, Shape3d and AkuShaper files carry the curves themselves. Imported, the outline and both rockers come back within a quarter of a millimetre, and every section within half a millimetre on a surfboard and a millimetre on a bodyboard.
- STL, OBJ, GLB and glTF files carry a mesh, not curves, so Surfbase measures the board back off it. The outline comes back within about a pencil line (1.5 mm, up to 2 mm on a long board) and the rockers within a millimetre. A model Surfbase exported says which way round the board is, so even a foil board, whose deck and bottom are both lowest in the middle, comes back the right way up.
Volume in the exported file
The volume in the Shape3d header is the one Surfbase measured from the lofted 3D shape. Shape3d, AkuShaper and SurfStudio each recompute volume from the curves with their own method, so expect them to agree with Surfbase to within a few tenths of a litre on a surfboard, not to the last decimal.
Plans
Curves exports count as technical exports, alongside the 1:1 Outline PDF and the 3D model. Free workspaces get three a month; every paid plan is unlimited. See Compare plans and limits.
When Curves is unavailable
A design that was created from a 3D model with no outline, rocker or slice curves has nothing to export here. Import or draw its curves first. A design whose recorded measurements are too sparse to derive geometry shows the same reason the 1:1 Outline PDF does.
Was this guide helpful?
Thanks for telling us.
Sorry it missed. Tell us what you were looking for and a person will write back.