To do an ellipse, set AutoCAD's PELLIPSE variable to 1 before drawing the ellipse. Spirals probably won't work.

If you don't change the PELLIPSE variable, v12 .dxf files will convert it to short straight segments. PELLIPSE at 1 will give you an ellipse made of arcs.
Not sure, but a spiral may be converted to line segments as well when saved as v12.

Ok thanks  Ger. One last question, Is this an L-cam thing or are there cam programs out there that these line segment rules do not apply? This is the question I posted on Vectric's forum. It basically says exactly what I need to know:

Hi to all. I researched the various programs Vectric offers for a while now, and do have a general understanding of each of them. I currently use Autocad 2010 and Mach3. I don't know much about the cam programs out there, but have found out a few things. What I need is a cam program that will accept Autocad dxf files that contain shapes like spirals and ellipses. Currently the Lazycam that comes with Mach is choosy, and needs certain spherical shapes to be converted to polylines or something like that.( A true ellipse is one continuously changing line wheras polylines are a lot of tiny straight lines that make up the shape). Some shapes like 2d spirals I'm told Lazycam will not even accept. Do any of the Vectric products make simple these cam abilities or is this a fundamental rule that applies to all cam programs? Anyhelp would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

There are no g-codes for ellipses and spirals, so some type of conversion needs to take place. Regardless of the application(s) used. Most  programs that accept .dxf files will typically not read either of them. As I mentioned, the process of saving as V12 in AutoCAD does the conversion for some entities, as those entities are not supported in the v12 .dxf format.

I drew a new spiral, changed the line properties with the Pedit feature, saved it as r12dxf, and it loaded to Lcam. It looked right, but had a couple breaks in the chain. I'll work on that next. At least I learned this much!  Thank you guys for all your help and comments. You  truly are worth your weight in gold.

How are you drawing a spiral? Helix? Just looked (2007), and I drew a Helix spiral, explode into a spline and export as .dxf just fine, although there are a LOT of small segments.

Yes helix command, or spiral because it's 2d. I'll read about what you said explode and spline tomorrow. I'll also check and make sure it's not trying to pick up height( or make a helix). Could be an error I'm making there too. Thanks buddy.

In 2007, pedit can't do anything with a helix (spiral). Just curious as to how you're doing what you're doing

I don't know, its Acad2010.  I did like I said. Helix command, drew helix/spiral, went to Pedit, chose object, defined properties(which I don't remember explicitly what I chose, but made a few clicks), and saved as r12dxf. Closed Acad, pulled up the shape in Lcam. It came up complete, just as drawn, but had 2 places where it was broken(chains).Came up on Mach screen not complete but for right now, I am satisfied I at least got something close. I don't know my way around Lcam since I'm new to cad and cam, but these small sucesses help me make it through till tomorrow.

What I'm wondering now is, if what I intended to make as a 2d spiral somehow accidentally had height entered(by myself in cad) and became a 3d helix. This would explain creating a chain( I think). Or it could have processed as 2d like intended, and now needs some manual inspection of the code lcam put out. I read that it could be as simple as a few z commands in the program that need taken out. (z zeroes generated by lcam). There's a lot of speculation here, and I have to assume first that the lack of success are the result of my errors, not that of the software.