The Complete AutoCAD to Inventor Conversion Guide
Table of Contents
- General Information
- Converting and Optimizing AutoCAD Files to Inventor
- What are AutoCAD and Inventor files commonly used for?
- Comparison of Features Supported by AutoCAD and Inventor
- Limitations of AutoCAD Files to Inventor Conversion Workflow
- What's the best way to get AutoCAD files into my 3D applications, and are there alternatives to using Inventor?
General Information
This guide is part of the RapidPipeline 3D Formats Knowledge Database. It shows how to convert AutoCAD to Inventor, if you'd like to know more about the formats, please check out the following links:
Converting and Optimizing AutoCAD Files to Inventor
There are various ways to convert between AutoCAD and Inventor. With RapidPipeline, you can easily convert and and optimize AutoCAD files, at scale. It supports Inventor, as well as many other file formats (examples: 3dsMax, CATIA, Creo, FBX, glTF, Navisworks, OBJ, PLY, Revit, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, STEP, STL, USD, USDZ, VRM), at high quality.
Below you can find a video explaining how to convert your files:
What are AutoCAD and Inventor files commonly used for?
The AutoCAD file is a format mostly used for Industry-standard 2D and 3D computer-aided design software for technical drawing and drafting.
The Inventor file is a format mostly used for Professional 3D CAD software for mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation.
Comparison of Features Supported by AutoCAD and Inventor
| Feature | Supported by AutoCAD | Supported by Inventor |
|---|---|---|
| Morph Targets | No | No |
| Rigid Animations | No | Partial0 |
| Skinned Animations | No | No |
| Animations | No | Partial1 |
| Free-Form Surfaces | Yes | Yes |
| Geometry Compression | No | No |
| Quad Meshes | Yes | Yes |
| Basic 3D Geometry | Yes | Yes |
| PBR Materials | No | Partial2 |
| Transparent Materials | Yes | Yes |
| Vertex Colors | Partial3 | Partial4 |
| Materials | Partial5 | Yes |
| Scene Composition | Yes | Yes |
| Hierarchical Scene Graph | Yes | Yes |
| Scene Nodes | Yes | Yes |
| Standardized Format | Partial6 | Partial7 |
| Embedded Textures | Partial8 | Partial9 |
| Multiple UV Channels | Partial10 | Partial11 |
| Normal Mapping | No | No |
| Procedural Textures | No | No |
| Texture Compression | No | No |
| Texture Transforms | Partial12 | Partial13 |
| Texturing | Partial14 | Partial15 |
What's the best way to get AutoCAD files into my 3D applications, and are there alternatives to using Inventor?
Doing 3D conversion right, especially at scale, can be tricky, as 3D data is in general a rather complex (yet very powerful!) medium. This also applies to AutoCAD and Inventor files - the conversion guide above provides a rough first idea about that. Once you know what you would like to do, tools like RapidPipeline can help you perform the necessary steps, and to even automate the process for thousands or even millions of files.
Especially when introducing pipelines and workflows at scale in an enterprise context, it is usually good to rely on dedicated tools and expertise, making sure you do not introduce any steps into your 3D workflow that are detrimental to the final output's quality, or that take your team too much time (and money).
If you're interested to hire dedicated expertise from the best in the field to help your company reach your goals fast and reliably, please do not hestitate to contact DGG. Being the creators of RapidPipeline, and ambassadors for open 3D standards for more than a decade, we have been building some of the world's most advanced 3D pipelines, having processed many millions of 3D assets.
Therefore, our expertise will help you to reach your goals faster, at scale, and with the least possible friction, since we are focused on maximum interoperability.
To get started with 3D data conversion and optimization today, sign up for a free account!
If you have any questions, feel free to chat with our human team.
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