Exporting Geometry (DXF/STL/OBJ)

Once your chute design is complete, you can export the geometry back out to a CAD or 3D program using File > Export Geometry..., in whichever of the three supported formats suits your downstream tool:

Format	Extension	Typical use
DXF	`.dxf`	AutoCAD® and most CAD packages, as 3DFACE entities.
STL	`.stl`	3D printing, mesh viewers, or any tool expecting a triangulated mesh (quad faces are triangulated on export).
OBJ	`.obj`	SolidWorks®, MicroStation® and most other 3D modelling tools; quad faces are kept as quads.

To export your chute drawing

Open the chute project file you want to export (if not already open).
Select File > Export Geometry....
Choose a file name, extension and location, then press Save.
HelixChute2 exports every face that is currently switched On in the Layers table. For DXF, each Layer that is On becomes a layer of the same name in the DXF file; for STL, each Layer becomes a named solid block; for OBJ, each Layer becomes a named group.

You can now open the exported file in your CAD or 3D program to complete the detail design, or to share the finalised chute geometry with others.

Sample export. The same detailed chute geometry is available pre-exported in all three formats under samples\Geometry (Demo Chute.dxf / .stl / .obj) so you can see exactly what each format produces.

FreeCAD

FreeCAD (free, open-source) is a good option for opening or building on HelixChute2's exported geometry, but its DXF import needs one extra setup step:

OBJ and STL open with no special setup – File > Import just works. OBJ also preserves each Layer as a separate, correctly named object; STL imports as a single merged mesh (STL itself has no real concept of separate named solids, so this is expected, not a bug).
DXF needs FreeCAD's legacy DXF importer, which isn't installed or enabled by default:
1. Open Tools > Addon Manager and install the "dxf Library" addon (by Yorik van Havre). It's a macro-style addon (plain Python files), so look under the Macros list if the Addon Manager splits its listing by tab.
2. Open Edit > Preferences > Import-Export > DXF and enable "Use Legacy Importer".
3. File > Import the .dxf file as usual. With the legacy importer enabled, each Layer imports as a separate, correctly named object – the same result as OBJ.
Without this addon/setting, FreeCAD's default DXF import silently produces no geometry at all from HelixChute2's exported files (it may show layer names but zero faces) – its built-in DXF readers don't support the 3DFACE entity type that chute geometry is made of. This isn't specific to HelixChute2's files; the same applies to any DXF file made of 3D faces rather than 2D drawing entities.