What happens to AutoCAD layers in Autodesk Inventor?

AutoCAD Drawings (.dwg) imported into Autodesk Inventor

When you import an AutoCAD or Mechanical Desktop file into Autodesk Inventor, you select the layers to translate and the type of Autodesk Inventor file to be the destination.

The selected layers in the DWG file are placed on one or more sketches in the Autodesk Inventor file, depending on your translation choices.

• If you translate the 2D data to an Autodesk Inventor part file (.ipt), the geometry and associated dimensions are placed in one or more sketches in the part file. You can set the mapping of layers to sketches.

  Unassociated dimensions and other symbols and annotations are not translated.

• If you translate the 2D data to an Autodesk Inventor drawing file (.idw), the geometry and associated dimension are placed on one or more sketches in the drawing. You can set the mapping of layers to sketches.

  Unassociated dimensions and other symbols and annotations are placed on the drawing sheet.

The display and visibility of elements in Autodesk Inventor drawings are controlled in several ways:

Color	Drafting standards, dimension styles , and text styles control the colors of dimensions and other annotations in a drawing. Layers retain the color and color overrides during translation.
Dimensions	Dimension style control the attributes for dimension, tolerances, hole notes, and other dimension objects in a drawing.
Line type	Drafting standards control format and color of line types in a drawing. Layers that are translated retain the same line type definition as in AutoCAD.
Visibility	Layers that are off or frozen in AutoCAD are translated to Autodesk Inventor, and the layers visibility is set to off. Design views control the visibility of geometry in drawing views. You can use menu options that hide or display dimensions, annotations, and other drawing elements.

AutoCAD Drawings (.dwg) and Autodesk Inventor Drawings (.dwg) opened in Autodesk Inventor

When you open an AutoCAD file in Autodesk Inventor, the layers:

• Display exactly as they do in AutoCAD.
• Retain the same definitions as in AutoCAD.

Use the Styles Editor to edit the color, line type, and visibility properties a layer.

For more information, see .