DXF Graphic Entity Base Class

Common base class for all graphical DXF entities.

All graphical entities reside in an entity space like Modelspace, any Paperspace or BlockLayout.

See also

ezdxf.gfxattribs module, helper tools to set graphical attributes of DXF entities
ezdxf.colors module
Tutorial for Common Graphical Attributes

Subclass of

ezdxf.entities.DXFEntity

Warning

Do not instantiate entity classes by yourself - always use the provided factory functions!

class ezdxf.entities.DXFGraphic

rgb

Get/set/delete DXF attribute dxf.true_color as (r, g, b) tuple, returns None if attribute dxf.true_color is not set.

entity.rgb = (30, 40, 50)  # set as tuple[int, int, int] or color.RGB
r, g, b = entity.rgb  # returns tuple[int, int, int] or None
del entity.rgb  # discard true color value, no exception if not exist

This is the recommend method to get/set/delete RGB values, when ever possible do not use the DXF low level attribute dxf.true_color.

transparency

Get/set the transparency value as float. The transparency value is in the range from 0 to 1, where 0 means the entity is opaque and 1 means the entity is 100% transparent (invisible). This is the recommend method to get/set the transparency value, when ever possible do not use the DXF low level attribute DXFGraphic.dxf.transparency.

This attribute requires DXF R2004 or later, returns 0 for older DXF versions and raises DXFAttributeError for setting transparency in older DXF versions.

property is_transparency_by_layer: bool: Returns True if entity inherits transparency from layer.

property is_transparency_by_block: bool: Returns True if entity inherits transparency from block.

ocs() → OCS: Returns object coordinate system (OCS) for 2D entities like Text or Circle, returns a pass-through OCS for entities without OCS support.

get_layout() → BaseLayout | None: Returns the owner layout or returns None if entity is not assigned to any layout.

unlink_from_layout() → None

Unlink entity from associated layout. Does nothing if entity is already unlinked.

It is more efficient to call the unlink_entity() method of the associated layout, especially if you have to unlink more than one entity.

copy_to_layout(layout: BaseLayout) → Self

Copy entity to another layout, returns new created entity as DXFEntity object. Copying between different DXF drawings is not supported.

Parameters:: layout – any layout (model space, paper space, block)
Raises:: DXFStructureError – for copying between different DXF drawings

move_to_layout(layout: BaseLayout, source: BaseLayout | None = None) → None

Move entity from model space or a paper space layout to another layout. For block layout as source, the block layout has to be specified. Moving between different DXF drawings is not supported.

Parameters:

layout – any layout (model space, paper space, block)
source – provide source layout, faster for DXF R12, if entity is in a block layout

Raises:

DXFStructureError – for moving between different DXF drawings

graphic_properties() → dict: Returns the important common properties layer, color, linetype, lineweight, ltscale, true_color and color_name as dxfattribs dict.

has_hyperlink() → bool: Returns True if entity has an attached hyperlink.

get_hyperlink() → tuple[str, str, str]: Returns hyperlink, description and location.

set_hyperlink(link: str, description: str | None = None, location: str | None = None): Set hyperlink of an entity.

transform(m: Matrix44) → Self

Inplace transformation interface, returns self (floating interface).

Parameters:: m – 4x4 transformation matrix (ezdxf.math.Matrix44)

translate(dx: float, dy: float, dz: float) → Self

Translate entity inplace about dx in x-axis, dy in y-axis and dz in z-axis, returns self (floating interface).

Basic implementation uses the transform() interface, subclasses may have faster implementations.

scale(sx: float, sy: float, sz: float) → Self: Scale entity inplace about dx in x-axis, dy in y-axis and dz in z-axis, returns self (floating interface).

scale_uniform(s: float) → Self: Scale entity inplace uniform about s in x-axis, y-axis and z-axis, returns self (floating interface).

rotate_x(angle: float) → Self

Rotate entity inplace about x-axis, returns self (floating interface).

Parameters:: angle – rotation angle in radians

rotate_y(angle: float) → Self

Rotate entity inplace about y-axis, returns self (floating interface).

Parameters:: angle – rotation angle in radians

rotate_z(angle: float) → Self

Rotate entity inplace about z-axis, returns self (floating interface).

Parameters:: angle – rotation angle in radians

rotate_axis(axis: UVec, angle: float) → Self

Rotate entity inplace about vector axis, returns self (floating interface).

Parameters:

axis – rotation axis as tuple or Vec3
angle – rotation angle in radians

Common graphical DXF attributes

DXFGraphic.dxf.layer

Layer name as string; default = “0”

DXFGraphic.dxf.linetype

Linetype as string, special names “BYLAYER”, “BYBLOCK”; default value is “BYLAYER”

DXFGraphic.dxf.color

AutoCAD Color Index (ACI), default value is 256

Constants defined in ezdxf.lldxf.const or use the ezdxf.colors module

0

BYBLOCK

256

BYLAYER

257

BYOBJECT

DXFGraphic.dxf.lineweight

Line weight in mm times 100 (e.g. 0.13mm = 13). There are fixed valid lineweights which are accepted by AutoCAD, other values prevents AutoCAD from loading the DXF document, BricsCAD isn’t that picky. (requires DXF R2000)

Constants defined in ezdxf.lldxf.const

-1

LINEWEIGHT_BYLAYER

-2

LINEWEIGHT_BYBLOCK

-3

LINEWEIGHT_DEFAULT

Valid DXF lineweights stored in VALID_DXF_LINEWEIGHTS: 0, 5, 9, 13, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 53, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 106, 120, 140, 158, 200, 211

DXFGraphic.dxf.ltscale

Line type scale as float; default value is 1.0; (requires DXF R2000)

DXFGraphic.dxf.invisible

1 for invisible, 0 for visible; default value is 0; (requires DXF R2000)

DXFGraphic.dxf.paperspace

0 for entity resides in modelspace or a block, 1 for paperspace, this attribute is set automatically by adding an entity to a layout (feature for experts); default value is 0

DXFGraphic.dxf.extrusion

Extrusion direction as 3D vector; default value is (0, 0, 1)

DXFGraphic.dxf.thickness

Entity thickness as float; default value is 0.0; (requires DXF R2000)

DXFGraphic.dxf.true_color

True color value as int 0x00RRGGBB, use DXFGraphic.rgb to get/set true color values as (r, g, b) tuples. (requires DXF R2004)

DXFGraphic.dxf.color_name

Color name as string. (requires DXF R2004)

DXFGraphic.dxf.transparency

Transparency value as int, 0x020000TT, 0x00 = 100% transparent / 0xFF = opaque, special value 0x01000000 means transparency by block. An unset transparency value means transparency by layer. Use DXFGraphic.transparency to get/set transparency as float value, and the properties DXFGraphic.is_transparency_by_block and DXFGraphic.is_transparency_by_layer to check special cases.

(requires DXF R2004)

DXFGraphic.dxf.shadow_mode

0

casts and receives shadows

1

casts shadows

2

receives shadows

3

ignores shadows

(requires DXF R2007)