So, how do we create DWG files with Inventor? Inventor comes by default with both IDW and DWG templates. If you ever need to share data with colleagues using AutoCAD or many other CAD systems, you’ll find DWG is acceptable almost anywhere. How do I choose which file format to use? If you never share data with others, use IDW. The advantage of DWG is that the files will open natively in Inventor and AutoCAD, and there are many other programs and Viewers that are compatible with DWG data. The downside of IDW is that there are very few compatible programs for viewing or exchanging IDW data.ĭWG files are native to AutoCAD, the file size will be a little bit bigger than IDW and they may take fractionally longer to open than IDW. The file size is a little bit smaller and they load a little bit faster. So, what’s the difference between IDW and DWG?

Of course, it was soon realized that customers expected Inventor to be able to open and work with AutoCAD data, and DWG was added as a drawing format. When it was first launched, it was decided to rewrite the rule book and create a brand-new drawing format for Inventor called.

IDW versus DWGĭid you know that you can open Inventor drawings in natively in AutoCAD? Autodesk Inventor was created by Autodesk in 1999. Perhaps you are transitioning from one product to the other? Perhaps you are coming from AutoCAD to Inventor, and you want to re-use or repurpose some of the work you did inside AutoCAD inside Inventor? Or perhaps you are collaborating with colleagues who can only provide you with 2D details, and you need to convert them to 3D? Maybe it’s the other way? Maybe you work fully in 3D Inside Inventor, but your clients or customers are asking for 2D Drawings as a deliverable? Maybe you want to keep your survey drawings and site layouts in 2D, but you want to coordinate with mechanical designs that have been modeled in 3D? However you want to use 2D and 3D design, there is a workflow to help you. We’d like to show you some tips, tricks, and workflows to use 2D drafting in AutoCAD and 3D parametric design in Inventor together. You don’t have to choose between 2D and 3D. Is there still a place for 2D drafting in modern design and manufacturing? Depending on your processes and technology, the answer may be yes or no, but for many of us, it’s going to be somewhere in between.

3d inventor