Convert Adobe Illustrator Files to DWG for AutoCAD (Free, Online)
Convert Adobe Illustrator .ai files to DWG for free, right in your browser, with no Illustrator and nothing to install.
When a graphic designer sends you Illustrator artwork (a client's logo, a wayfinding sign, a perforated or laser-cut panel pattern, a light fixture graphic) and you need it in AutoCAD for an elevation, a site plan or the fabricator's drawings, open the .ai on this page and download a DWG. This tutorial opens a wayfinding sign drawn in Illustrator at full size, zooms in on its curves, switches its Illustrator layers on and off, and shows the artboard size and the drawing scale for artwork drawn smaller than life (1:2 up to 1:500). The DWG comes out in millimetres at the sign's real size with the corner of the sign at zero, on the same layers as in Illustrator, with the coloured fills as solid hatches, the curves smooth, circles as true circles, wide strokes at their width and the text as text you can edit. We open it in our free DWG viewer and measure the panel: 1200 mm, as drawn. Illustrator files saved with PDF compatibility (the default since Illustrator 9) and older PostScript .ai files both open. Your file is read in your browser and never uploaded.
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Transcript
Intro
Here is how to bring Illustrator artwork into AutoCAD for free, in your web browser, without Illustrator.
Open the Illustrator to DWG converter
Go to innerscene.com/tools/ai-to-dwg. There is no account to make, and the file is read on your own computer. It is never uploaded.
Open an Illustrator file
Click Open an Illustrator File, or drop the file on the page. This is a wayfinding sign for the second floor of a building, drawn in Illustrator at full size: the panel, pictograms, text, fixing holes and the cut line for the router. The status line shows the artboard: 1200 by 450 millimetres.
Check the curves
Hold Control and scroll to zoom in and check the artwork. The cup and its steam stay smooth, because the curves are read as the vector paths Illustrator saved.
Illustrator layers
Open Tools, then Layers. These are the layers from Illustrator. Untick Panel, and the background is hidden, leaving the graphics, the text, the fixing holes and the cut line. A layer you hide here is also left out of the DWG. Tick it again to bring it back.
Real size and drawing scale
Open Tools again. Under Drawing scale, the artboard is 1200 by 450 millimetres, and the artwork is drawn at full size, 1:1. If the artwork was drawn smaller, say a facade graphic at 1:50, pick that scale, and the DWG comes out at its real size.
Download the DWG
Now click Download DWG. The drawing is written right here in your browser, in millimetres, with the corner of the sign at zero. The Export menu also saves a DXF, and SVG, PDF and PNG files.
Open the DWG
Here is the DWG in our free DWG viewer, at innerscene.com/tools/dwg-viewer. It opens the same way in AutoCAD. The coloured fills, the curves and the text came through. Open Tools, then Layers: Panel, Graphics, Text, Fixings and Cut line are all there, so you can switch off the panel or send the cut line to the fabricator on its own.
Measure it
To check the size, open Tools and choose Add measurement, then click two points. They snap to the corners. Across the panel it reads 1.2 metres, the real width, so the sign drops straight onto an elevation or a site plan.
Apps for Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
There are free apps too. On Windows, a small helper lets you double-click an Illustrator or DWG file in File Explorer to open it in this viewer. There is a Mac version, an app for iPhone and iPad on the App Store, and one for Android phones and tablets on Google Play.
Summary
That is the free Illustrator to DWG converter at innerscene.com. EPS and SVG files convert the same way, and the links are in the description.
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