Creating Different Layers in an Inventor Drawing and Exporting to AutoCAD

Brady Scoffield

You can create layers in Autodesk Inventor and have those layers export to AutoCAD. Here are the steps that I've found work pretty well when trying to export an Inventor drawing with layers that AutoCAD will recognize.

Adding Layers to Inventor Drawings

  • Make sure the style library for the project is set to Read/Write
  • When a model/dwg is open
    • Manage tab-->Styles Editor
  • Expand Layers
  • Click New…
    • Will create a copy of the currently selected layer
    • Rename as required
  • Here you can edit the color, linetype and lineweight
    • Just like in AutoCAD layer manager
  • Once layer(s) have been created Save and Close the styles manager
  • Back in the drawing
    • Shift right-click, change selection to part priority
  • Select the desired part
    • Right click --> select as edges
  • Go to annotate tabe
    • In the format panel, select desired layer for selected part
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Layer manager inside the Styles Editor

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Set up AutoCAD to recognize Inventor Layers

  • Open AutoCAD or ACAD Mech
  • Open the Layer Manager
  • Create the layers you wish to export from Inventor
    • The names of the layers much match exactly
    • Set colors, line types and line weights as desired
  • Once layers are created, save the ACAD file as a drawing template

Exporting Inventor DWG to AutoCAD

  • In Inventor select File>Save Copy As
  • Select AutoCAD dwg as the file type and click Options
  • Choose the AutoCAD version you are working with
  • Click Next
  • On the next screen select the Export Options as desired
  • Before clicking Finish, make sure you search and select the AutoCAD Template file that was created to match the Inventor layers
  • Click finish

Layers_4

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When you open the file in AutoCAD you will notice that the layers created and assigned in Inventor will appear in the AutoCAD file.

Good luck!

Brady

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