FAQ: What happens to AutoCAD Layers in Inventor?

AutoCAD Drawings (.dwg) imported into Inventor

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

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

If you translate the 2D data to an 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 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 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 styles 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 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.

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

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