Importing a DWG or DXF File into Home Designer
Pro | Architectural
QUESTION
I have a 2D DWG file that I'd like I'd like to import into Home Designer. How can I do this?
ANSWER
Use the Import Drawing Assistant to import CAD or terrain/elevation information directly from a DWG or DXF file.
It's important to note that, apart from terrain/elevation information, CAD that is part of a DWG or DXF file will be imported as two-dimensional components, such as lines, text, arcs, and polylines, and cannot be converted to 3D. You can, however, use the various Home Designer tools to trace over imported CAD components if you would like to create a 3D structure based on the imported information. Please see the Related Articles section below to learn more.
To import a DWG or DXF file
- With the plan file you'd like to import your DWG or DXF file into, navigate to File> Import> Import Drawing (DWG, DXF)
.
- Find the file on your system, select it, and choose Open.
In Home Designer 2026 and newer versions, you can select multiple DWG files to import more than one at a time.
In Home Designer 2025 and prior versions, in the Import Drawing Assistant dialog that displays, click Next or Continue to go to the Select File portion of the dialog, then use the Browse button to browse to the DWG or DXF file's location on the computer, select it, then click the Open button.
- In the Import Drawing dialog, check the box for Show Import Assistant and click OK.
If you're using Home Designer 2025 or a prior version, skip to Step 5.
- On the Welcome screen that displays, click Next.
- On the Import File portion:
- If you want to convert lines with shared end points to Polylines and/or Boxes, check the appropriate boxes. Polylines are not affected by these settings, nor are lines that do not share end points.
- Choose how to handle CAD blocks. The Import all CAD Blocks option will import all CAD blocks associated with the file whether they are in use or not, while the Only import CAD blocks if they are referenced in the drawing option will reduce the volume of transferred data.
- Check Import Hatch entities if you want to import areas of hatching as solid-filled polylines.
- Click Next to continue.
- If you want to convert lines with shared end points to Polylines and/or Boxes, check the appropriate boxes. Polylines are not affected by these settings, nor are lines that do not share end points.
- On the Select Layers portion:
- Check all of the layers that you want to import on the left.
- Use the Convert Selected Layer(s) to drop-down menu to convert the data on any layer into a Terrain Perimeter or Elevation Data.
Note: If an imported layer is converted to Elevation Data, any points and lines on that layer are converted to Elevation Points and Lines, and any elevation data associated with them is preserved.
- If any imported line has vertices with the same Z values, an Elevation Line is created.
- If the vertices have differing Z values, an Elevation Point is created for each vertex.
- Imported points are converted to Elevation Points.
- Other imported entities (solids, faces, etc.) are imported normally
To avoid unexpected results when importing a DWG or DXF file, only convert layers with elevation information to Elevation Data.
If a Terrain Perimeter does not exist in the plan, or if a layer in the DWG or DXF file is not converted to a Terrain Perimeter, a Terrain Perimeter is created around the extends of the Elevation Data when it's imported.
- Click Next to continue.
- Check all of the layers that you want to import on the left.
- On the Drawing Unit screen, choose the unit of measurement that was used to create the DWG/DXF file, choose how dimensions should be imported, then ensure that the Move drawing to the origin box is checked.
- Click Next, then click Finish to import the file into your plan.
