Save As DXF's will not place in Adobe Illustrator 2021

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone,

To use our Laser Cutter we need to print very thin lines of a specific color (ie RGB Red) from illustrator to our ULS laser software .  Preferring to do our design work in Fusion 360, we have developed a work flow of doing the design in Fusion, Creating a sketch on the top surface of the object you want to cut, save that sketch as a DXF (by right clicking on the sketch), Go to Adobe Illustrator, use File:->Place, tick show import options, make sure 1 unit equals 1mm, place image.  Then change thickness of lines to 0.1 and color of line RGB red.  Happy Days.

The problem is the new version of Adobe illustrator (2021) will not recognize sketches that have been saved as DXF from Fusion.

I know this is a problem that has came about because of a new version of Adobe Illustrator has been released, but I was wondering if is it a DXF version problem or something like that?

Has anyone else come across this problem and do they have any fixes.

I am aware of the CAM option with the DXF output, but the process of getting a DXF from this compared to right clicking on a sketch and choosing "Save as DXF" is a lot more complicated.  I also don't know if this temp DXF file is going to be any better in regards to importing into Illustrator.

On a side note, if someone from Autodesk is reading this post, the option to choose line thickness and color when using the save as DXF option on a sketch would be a create feature.

Cheers

[Phil.E]

Hi,

Sorry to hear of this trouble. In searching for answers I found your other posts on the Adobe forums. It's too bad there are no answers given.

Not sure if you've done this, but is there any official help document that states what version of DXF is supported? My guess is they dropped support for older dxf versions.

I've forwarded your suggestion about line weight, color, and layer control to the sketch team to consider. In the meantime does an addin like this one do what you need?
https://apps.autodesk.com/FUSION/en/Detail/Index?id=7634902334100976871&appLang=en&os=Mac

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

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Hi @Phil.E,

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My guess is they dropped support for older dxf versions.

This is the conclusion I've also come to.  Having said that, do you think there is anything in the wind at Autodesk to  update the DXF exporter engine so that it's exports in a file format that is less than 23 years out of date?

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Not sure if you've done this, but is there any official help document that states what version of DXF is supported? 

Unfortunately I haven't found anything yet.  I have raised the issue with Adobe and I've sent them example fusion 360 DXF sketch exports, so I'm hoping to get a response shortly.

In the meantime does an addin like this one do what you need?
https://apps.autodesk.com/FUSION/en/Detail/Index?id=7634902334100976871&appLang=en&os=Mac

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 Unfortunately this add-in exports DXF in an even older version of DXF:- AC1006 (1988).  So this one is 32 years out of date. 

I've forwarded your suggestion about line weight, color, and layer control to the sketch team to consider.

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Thanks for this, hopefully this might kick the sketch team into action and they might update the DXF export options at the same.

For anyone reading this post and if this issue still hasn't been addressed, I've found a work around (unfortunately it's only free for the first 14 days)

Google AutoDWG converter.  You can use this to change the version number of a DXF, right up to the current 2020 version.

Regards 

Warren

[Phil.E]

I'm having trouble finding any official statement from Adobe about supported versions other than this:

"AutoCAD files include both DXF and DWG formats. You can import AutoCAD files from version 2.5 through version 2007. During import, you can specify scale, unit mapping (custom unit for interpreting all the length data in the AutoCAD file), whether to scale lineweights, which layout to import, and whether to center the artwork."

This appears to be from the latest  User Guide.

Are you saying you were able to use a DXF from google that is version 2020?

[Anonymous]

Are you saying you were able to use a DXF from google that is version 2020?

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Sorry, That line was meant to mean, Do a Google search for a program called "AutoDWG converter".  Using this program you can change the version of a DXF to what ever version you want.  Using this program was a work around to the issue with Fusion DXF's not placing in Illustrator 2021.  

"AutoCAD files include both DXF and DWG formats. You can import AutoCAD files from version 2.5 through version 2007. 

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This implies that a DXF saved for a Fusion 360 sketch should work as version 2.5 is back in the 80's.

NB: I have a post on an Adobe forum site where I have uploaded a DXF created in Fusion. Adobe has replied and they have replicated the issue in house and they say that it should be fixed in the next update.

[Phil.E]

Okay, so it sounds like you used the 3rd party converter to change the version of the dxf. Do you recall what version you made, that Illustrator would accept?

"AutoCAD files include both DXF and DWG formats. You can import AutoCAD files from version 2.5 through version 2007. "

This is a quote directly from the Adobe Illustrator user guide. It says that Illustrator supports version 2.5 thru 2007. So Illustrator does not officially support dxf that is not at least 13 years old. I'm just quoting their help documentation.

The response from Adobe is telling. It sounds like the 2020 version has a regression that blocks older DXF, just a guess. If they are fixing it, it's their bug. 

Thanks for all the comments and questions. I think this can be marked solved at this point.

Regards,

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thanks for all your help in regards to this issue.

To me there are a couple of points to take away here.

1. As at Nov 2020, the version of DXF that is created by Fusion 360 when saving a sketch as a DXF is AC1014 (1997) which is 23 years old.

2. Adobe Illustrator 2020 is able to import this type of DXF.

3. Adobe Illustrator 2021 (at the time of writing this post) will not import AC1014 DXF's (Fusion 360 DXF's) even though is supposed to be able to handle this version of DXF (as quoted by Phil from the Adobe help site), so the issue appears to be a bug on Adobe's part when they upgraded to the 2021 version.

4. Adobe have been informed of this issue (by me) and have state that it "should be fixed" in the next update.

5. In the meantime you can use a third party program like AutoDWG Converter 2019 from autodwg.com (no affiliation, just a program I found from a Google search) to change the DXF version to what ever version you want.  At the time of posting this a 2000 version of DXF would import into Illustrator 2021, so you can use AutoDWG to convert Fusion generated DXF into a format that Illustrator 2021 accepts.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Update: 26-11-2020

Adobe has released an update to Illustrator (V25.0.1) and this version has fixed the problem with DXF's from Fusion 360 not placing in Illustrator.

[kksAZZV7]

I have tried today and I can still not import DXF from Fusion into Illustrator 2021. Nothing is importet is just white...

[Phil.E]

Have you updated Illustrator to the version indicated by @Anonymous ?

"Adobe has released an update to Illustrator (V25.0.1) and this version has fixed the problem with DXF's from Fusion 360 not placing in Illustrator."

[kksAZZV7]

Hi Pjil

Yes. I have the newewst update Illustrator version 25.1

[Phil.E]

Okay, then we should look at the dxf. Can you attach it here?

Is it a dxf made from a sketch?

[matt_maurin]

I know this says solved, but I'm getting nothing but a large dot in the center of my Illustrator 25.4.1 document.

Attached is the DXF I exported from Fusion 360.

Corel Draw and Inkscape only accept partial lines inside and the circle outside.

Google Classroom, where my students turn in their work,  shows a full preview of the DXF so it's all there for a program to read...

[g-andresen]

Hi,

DXF is a bag of tricks that each application interprets in its own way.

This has always been the case and will probably remain so.

günther