DRAWING DATA GENERATING METHOD

A drawing data generating method according to an embodiment is a method for generating drawing data input to a drawing apparatus that draws a plurality of figure patterns on an object using a charged particle beam. The method includes generating the drawing data in accordance with a data format that not only defines a plurality of pieces of figure information, but also sequentially defines dose information of each figure before or after the plurality of pieces of figure information. The dose information of each of the second and succeeding figures is converted to a representation based on the dose information of any preceding figure, and a data length of the dose information is made variable for each figure. For example, the dose information of each of the second and succeeding figures is converted to a difference representation between a dose of the figure and a dose of the preceding figure, and a data length of the difference representation is changed in accordance with the magnitude of a difference value.