Importing CAD documents

The importing of CAD documents is a one-way process. You cannot overwrite the original file once it has been imported, instead saving it as an Affinity document. However, you can edit the CAD content and then export the file as a PDF document.

The DWG file format is the proprietary vector-based format for Autodesk® AutoCAD® apps. CAD apps can save to the DXF interchange file format, allowing easier importing of AutoCAD designs into a wider range of third-party apps.

For models, a drawing scale is applied to the imported CAD document in Affinity so it is presented at an acceptable size that fits your page. For paper space layouts, called pages in Affinity's CAD import dialog, the layouts are imported at a 1:1 ratio and have a drawing scale that represents each layout's viewports. For layouts with multiple viewports, each layout is imported as an artboard (Designer) or spread (Publisher) that has a drawing scale that represents the viewport's zoom.

To import CAD documents (DWG/DXF):

From the Home screen, tap Open.
On the pop-up menu, select Import Document to access your local or cloud storage.
Navigate to and tap the file you want to open.
From the dialog, you can choose:
- Selection—chooses the CAD layout(s) or the model to import.
  - All Pages—imports one or more Paper Space layouts if present, excluding the Model space. Each layout becomes a separate artboard.
  - Single Page—imports an individual Paper Space layout if present; you can choose the specific layout from an additional Selected Page option.
  - Model—imports just the Model space (with margins and offsets) without Paper Space layouts.
- Insertion units—sets the document units for the document when Model is chosen.
- DPI—sets the resolution for the document.
- Background colour—adds a background colour of your choice to the page (as a coloured rectangle).
- Colour override—this changes the colour of all strokes in the document. Gradient fills use the colour with adjusted luminosities for gradient colours.
- Remove hidden items—if checked, hidden or frozen layers are excluded on import.
- Display entity handles—when enabled, each imported named entity is given a handle suffix, e.g. HATCH - 0x19C2 instead of HATCH. Use for troubleshooting problems with individual entities.
- Override line weights—when Selection is set to Model, all line weights will be set to 0.1 pt with this option enabled.
- Sanitise model—removes any objects in the model that appear physically distant from the main model; these objects can be introduced by CAD plug-ins. This would otherwise affect Affinity's ability to scale the model to fit the page.

Once open, you can display the CAD design as it would be seen in a CAD app by setting the Main View Mode to Hairline in the Navigator panel.

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