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I don't use Designer a lot but I recently designed a three layer steel/stainless steel/steel ranch sign to be laser cut and went through a lot of finagling to get it into DWG format for the laser cutting vendor. Affinity claimed previously that adding DWG import/export was too complex and would never happen. Glad to see it added finally. I hope that those who use DWG a lot will find the implementation useful. Looking forward to having it the next time I need dwg format. Thank you for responding to all those requests. I am sure it took a lot of effort to implement in Designer. Love the Affinity suite or programs. Love that it is available in a stand-alone format rather than a subscription. That's the main reason I switched from Adobe Photoshop to Affinity Photo.

there are lots of workarounds to the better solution of having dxf output in Affinity but not very efficient for multiple projects or production use. I worked on a ranch sign for my son-in-laws ranch as a present. The laser cutting outfit only takes the design in dxf format. That seems pretty universal because their laser cutter uses dxf format. It took me a long time to reduce the polygon segments but eventually with Inkscape and Affinity Design and CanvasDraw X I got a simplified dxf file to the laser cutter. I could have paid the Laser Cutter to finish the design but was able to do it myself albeit with a lot more time and effort. This thread has been around for a long time. At some point previously someone from Affinity explained why dxf output would never happen from Affinity’s standpoint. I think with the right talent it is possible but maybe not worth the cost for Affinity.

Apple has a problem loading LibreCad due to the lack of a certificate-security

this the way I finally found to do it. i use ACD Canvas Draw X a lot so I saved in svg format from that to Inkscape Just needed dxf a couple times for a file to send to a laser cutter for a sign. You have to remember to ungroup all objects and convert to paths in Inkscape prior to saving the svg file in dxf format. Choosing Autocad R12 during the dxf saving process seemed to work best in my case but your laser cutter may want R14. Sure would like dxf format added to AD!

so finally found a procedure to produce a valid dxf file. Save the file from vector drawing program in svg format. Open in Inkscape. Ungroup ALL objects. You may need to select all layers and do this multiple times. Convert ALL objects to paths then save as dxf file AutoCad revision 12. The laser cutter in Reno was able to use this file though it opened as a very large drawing and had to be scaled down.

PaolaT-It is a bit more complicated than that. Inkscape tutorial says make sure all objects are ungrouped and lwpoly objects are unchecked or not included in the dialog. Before I found this in the tutorial the saved dxf file did not open correctly in the laser cutting program. Haven’t heard from the laser cutting guys yet on the latest attempt because they are in the middle of installing a new laser. They looked at it briefly and said it looked more promising

Also in the Inkscape tutorial was a note about most cutting facilities using older AutiCad revisions and that saving with 2006 to 2010 revisions might be more successful than 2013 or 2014 revisions.

PaolaT-It is a bit more complicated than that. Inkscape tutorial says make sure all objects are ungrouped and lwpoly objects are unchecked or not included in the dialog. Before I found this in the tutorial the saved dxf file did not open correctly in the laser cutting program. Haven’t heard from the laser cutting guys yet on the latest attempt because they are in the middle of installing a new laser. They looked at it briefly and said it looked more promising

Most cutting programs including the AutoCad based one at the laser cutter require input file to be dwg or dxf format. PDF is not supported.

OK found it. Just go to Window->Studio uncheck "hide studio". THANK YOU.

Several people have mentioned exporting to svg then finding a converter to dxf. I work on a MAC and haven't found anything to convert to dxf that can be read on a PC at the laser cutter facility. The CanvasXDraw app shows all the objects, paths and nodes of the vector drawing in the dxf, dwg, eps and CanvasXDraw native format as does AffinityDesign for MAC but the dxf file doesn't show up properly on the PC nor does a dwg file. Anyone done this successfully from Affinity Design 2 for Mac to dxf on a PC via third party converters or other MAC programs?

YEP! Another voice pleading for dxf export from Affinity Designer. Just designed a ranch sign as a Christmas present to be laser cut from 1/8" steel plate but have found no way to successfully get afdesign format to dxf. Tried SVG into CanvasXDraw then output dxf on a MAC but the cutting facility can't see the file even though all the vector objects show in Canvas AND Affinity Designer. Also tried various online converters with no luck. They complete but when I open the file it is blank.

NEW TO AFFINITY DESIGNER-I just had my layers/history/navigation panel disappear. There is no Studio entry in the View menu in Affinity Designer. as there is in Affinity Photo Toggling the UI does not bring it back. How do I get the right window with layer/history/navigation panels back? affinity designer view menu.pdf