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DXF or DWG file import in Affinity Designer


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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I also need DXF/DWG support.  Like some other posters, part of the Illustrator workflow I'm trying to replace is prep of flat parts for laser cutting, coming from a CAD suite (Alibre Design, in my case).  There are no other vector export formats available that would bridge the gap.

To elaborate a bit, my current workflow looks like this:

Alibre Design (3D parametric CAD model) -->
  Alibre Design (2D drawing of flat part) -->
  Export to DWG (DXF is also available) -->
Illustrator (import of DWG, preliminary path prep and layout) -->
  Illustrator (prep of final cutting template) -->
  Export to EPS for cutting service

How important is this feature to me?  This important:  It lets me kill an Adobe CC subscription.

That does have one caveat: I haven't tested Designer's EPS output with my cutting service yet, but I gather that there are users doing laser, waterjet, etc. cutting via EPS export already, so I'm optimistic here.

I'll note that Affinity Designer is doing very well in preliminary testing to replace Illustrator for some important non-CAD pattern design prototyping tasks.  The excellent snapping support is a big aid for that, since I tend to build templates as tessellating shapes, colored appropriately to represent a final surface design.  (i.e. I basically build a big color-by-numbers template using grouped, tessellated forms which allows design space exploration before committing to a final design.)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I also request dxf (or ai) export support.

 

Inkscape can do the conversion from svg to dxf sometimes, but at other times, it crashed on my Mac. I've tried an online conversion service which seems to work. However, I cannot imagine the trouble of doing the conversion when testing design. I use a CAD program (TurboCAD) usually, but it has very poor text support. The design is used to drive a laser cutter. Often, the output needs to be modified many times before the desired result is obtained, if AD can output directly in dxf (or ai), the workflow will be much more streamlined.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I am currently using Inkscape to create SVG files from AutoCAD DXF files. I use AutoCAD in my day job and I am therefore more comfortable with it for producing certain types of paths.

 

Is it safe to say that, since this thread has been going for a couple of years now, that DXF import is not on the agenda at the moment, which is a shame, because I like what Affinity Designer can do, but I need DXF import and therefore I will have to wait for this to be added.

 

cheers

 

andy

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Hoping that the Affinity Design crew read this... Annother request for dxf support.

DXF is such a useful format for import/export to CAD and is so important to laser or vinyl cutting and 3D printing etc etc that it would make Affinity very popular in many specialist worlds that I'm sure will be eagre to promote the product in favour of Adobe Illustrator of CorelDraw !!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

would really important to have 3d file import/export, maybe formats like .igs or .sat would be easier or better to implement?
i my case i would like to be able to make stuff in fusion360 import .iges or something to designer and export as .svg or whatever...
hopefully this is will happen soon
thank you

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  • 2 weeks later...

I bought Affinty designer very recently just to find out that it does not work with DFX files which are the reason for my work, and then I find this forum where since 2015 all the people who have bought designer come asking for a solution to this problem but apparently nobody has listened to the consumer's requests of affinity designer, I really hope that someone from the creators of this program reads and solves a problem that people have been asking for the solution for the last three years
 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm not the first one to say it in this thread, but I own Affinity Photo and the only thing preventing me from also buying Designer is that it lacks .DWG/.DXF support. These are important enough to be dealbreakers. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

DrawPlus imports dxf with all the layers. Great for colouring up a technical drawing. Exports pretty well too. Seems that Affinity is aimed at the art type graphic artist rather than the technical illustrator. Without that facility it is no use to me. I will just keep on with DrawPlus.

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