About AutoDXF

AutoDXF is an add-in for Autodesk Inventor. It's available in the Inventor assembly and part environment and is used for working with sheet metal parts and batch creating and exporting sheet metal flat patterns or 3D models from the entire assembly in a few simple steps. It also provides many handy features that make working with sheet metal flat patterns easier.

AutoDXF v6.3 features in a glance

· Automatically finds sheet metal parts from the assembly or enables quick DXF/DWG export directly from sheet metal part environment.

· Export of 3D folded models and flat patterns to STEP format.

· Allows you to quickly locate and open specific sheet metal component.

· Enables easy recognition flat pattern status of sheet metal parts.

· Automatic creation of flat patterns.

· Thumbnail previews of bent parts and flat patterns.

· Direct rotation of flat patterns in 90° increments.

· Rotation along the longest edge and rotation along the longest bend.

· Automatic flipping of flat patterns so most of the bends are in up direction.

· Bends counter – use number of bends in building file name or for inclusion in DXF texts.

· Automatic detection of tapped holes on flat patterns. These can optionally be placed on a separate layer when exporting to DXF format.

· Automatic placement of points or crosshairs in the centres of threaded holes (when exporting to DXF) for laser/plasma marking.

· Automatic detection of (small) holes. Those can be optionally placed on a separate layer when exporting to the DXF format and points or crosshairs in the hole centres for laser/plasma marking can be created.

· Writing of bending angles and directions on bending lines in DXF files.

· Creation of bend marks at the starts and the ends of the bend lines.

· Creation of circular cutouts at the ends of the bend lines

· Batch export of flat patterns to DXF or DWG files.

· Add configurable text descriptions to DXF files.

· Flexible naming of DXF and DWG files.

· Setup of layer names, colors, line weights, and line widths.

· Export a list of sheet metal parts, including thumbnails of bent parts and flat patterns, to Microsoft Word.

· Material list creation.

System requirements

AutoDXF v6.3 works with Autodesk Inventor 2025, 2026 and 2027. Please use AutoDXF v5.6 for Inventor 2022-2024 or v4.7 for Inventor 2018 - 2021. Microsoft Word is required if you want to use Export to Word functionality.

Trial version limitations

The trial version offers limited functionality. The limitations are:

· Finds a maximum of 4 sheet metal parts and creates 4 DXF or DWG files

· 'Demo verzija' text is added to DXF texts

· Only up to 4 holes are detected

· Only up to 4 marking crosshairs are created in the hole and thread centres

· Only up to 4 angles and directions are written on the bend lines in exported DXF files

· Cutouts are created only on one side of the bend lines

· Quick DXF/DWG/STEP export from the sheet metal part environment is not supported

Purchase of the full version of AutoDXF

To purchase the full version of AutoDXF, please visit http://www.basic.si/autodxf or call +386 1 5830 100 on contact us via info@basic.si

How to run the program?

To run the software, click the AutoDXF button on the Tools ribbon in the Inventor assembly environment:

To reset AutoDXF window location and size press and hold F11 button and then click the AutoDXF button.

After clicking the command AutoDXF window shows up:

To run AutoDXF directly from the sheet metal part environment click command AutoDXF in the Sheet Metal ribbon:

Quick DXF/DWG export directly from the part environment is available only in the full version of AutoDXF.

Additional command AutoDXF Text Location is added to flat pattern environment:

User interface language can be changed in menu Settings/ Language. Currently there are 3 languages available: English, German and Slovenian.

Buttons at the bottom of the window:

Find sheet metal parts – searches the assembly structure and places all sheet metal parts in the list.

Flat patterns preview – creates thumbnails of flat patterns.

Auto flip – automatically flip the flat patterns in such way that most of the bends are in the UP or DOWN direction.

Export – creates DXF or DWG files of flat patterns of selected sheet metal parts.

The way the Find sheet metal parts and Export commands work is defined in the File Settings, DXF/DWG settings and Layers tabs.