topic Re: DXF created by Affinity Designer 2 does not import when using Insert > Insert DXF in Fusion Support Forum

DXF created by Affinity Designer 2 does not import when using Insert > Insert DXF

joshua_t_badger — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 19:51:27 GMT

I've attached a zip file with a .png file showing what the image looks like (very simple), as well as the original .afdesign and the dxf it exported.

I try to insert into a fresh Fusion workspace using Insert > Insert DXF, then selecting the plane to insert on and the .dxf file from my computer. This is the workflow I've used coming from Adobe Illustrator and had no problems with. However, with the Affinity Designer-generated .dxf, it hangs for a minute, then acts like I didn't select an image and greys out the "OK" button.

1. Is there a way to see the errors that Fusion is throwing (that aren't coming up in the UI in an obvious way)? Something like running Fusion from terminal (I'm on a mac) and seeing tracebacks? I understand this is likely actually an issue with how Affinity Designer exports its .dxf files, but I'm struggling to figure out what that difference is. I'd love to be able to provide some technical data to the Affinity team to see if they can fix the issue.

2. DXF is the only (up to now) reliable format I've had to bring designs from Illustrator to Fusion maintaining consistent scale between the two applications. As I'm leaving Illustrator behind, has anyone else had luck using Affinity (or another Illustrator alternative) to bring vector images into Fusion (in case DXF is the wrong path here)?

Betreff: DXF created by Affinity Designer 2 does not import when using Insert > Insert DXF

g-andresen — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 21:35:41 GMT

Hi,

file is empty > no vectors!

günther

Re: DXF created by Affinity Designer 2 does not import when using Insert > Insert DXF

MRWakefield — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 23:50:04 GMT

The only entity I can see in the DXF is a "HATCH". I'm guessing that isn't something that Fusion knows what to do with. I'm unable to open the .afdesign file as I've reverted back to 2.5.7. I updated to 2.6 but there was a bug in Publisher that I couldn't live with so I'll wait for the next update. Anyway, if you remove the fill and give it a stroke width it then exports as splines which you can then import into Fusion.

EDIT: Actually you don't need to remove the fill, just give your entities a stroke width.

Hope this helps.

Re: DXF created by Affinity Designer 2 does not import when using Insert > Insert DXF

joshua_t_badger — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 04:21:35 GMT

Ha, that was it exactly. Adding a non-zero stroke is so counter-intuitive, but it totally made the import work. Thanks!

Re: DXF created by Affinity Designer 2 does not import when using Insert > Insert DXF

g-andresen — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 09:06:00 GMT

Hi,

I recommend that you create such simple sketches directly in Fusion.
This also has the advantage that the sketches are fully defined.
Imported sketches have the disadvantage that you can change their sizes, angularity, etc. after importing them, even if you had previously defined the dimensions (in the external application).

günther

Re: DXF created by Affinity Designer 2 does not import when using Insert > Insert DXF

joshua_t_badger — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 08:34:11 GMT

This was just a simple example; the pieces I'm doing are simple art pieces for 3D printing, and their designs are absolutely better done in graphics software.