AutoCad Scaling and

Illustrator
If you are switching back and forth from AutoCad and Illustrator it is best to scale your
AutoCad drawing to the required scale (i.e. 1/16”) before importing it into another
program, such as Illustrator. This tutorial will show you how to do this.

1. Open up your AutoCad file, (the scale should be

1’ = 1’). Type Scale in the Command Console.
2. It will ask you to Select Objects, select your 1
whole drawing and hit enter. Then Specify Base
Point (choose any part of the drawing it does not
matter)
3. Then Specify Scale Factor or [Copy/Reference]
will appear, type in the scale factor according to
what you need it to be (according to the drawing
and scale factors below) and hit Enter
Example : If you want your drawing to be at
1/16” type in 1/192 and hit enter.

Drawing Scale Scale Factor

1/16”=1’-0” 1/192
2
3/32”=1’-0” 1/128
1/8”=1’-0” 1/96
3/16”=1’-0” 1/64
1/4”=1’-0” 1/48
3/8”=1’-0” 1/32
1/2”=1’-0” 1/24
3/4”=1’-0” 1/16

3
4. Now do File > Save As, for the Files of Type select AutoCad 2004 DXF (.dxf)

5. Open up Illustrator and set up your page size to how you would like. Then go to File >
Place and select AutoCad Interchange File (*.DXF) for the files of type, select the file
you just created from AutoCAD and hit Place. The DWG/DXF Dialog box will appear,
make sure to select Original Size

6. Now you are ready to manipulate your drawing in Illustrator.