Exporting Your Design
Every machine wants a different file, and most lost machine time in this class traces back to an export problem rather than a design problem. This page is the lookup table.
Which format goes where
| Sending it to | Format | What it carries |
|---|---|---|
| Bambu Studio (3D printers) | 3MF, or STL | A 3D surface only — no editable history |
| Carbide Create (CNC) | DXF, or SVG | Flat 2D outlines only |
| Silhouette Studio (vinyl/cardstock) | DXF, or SVG | Flat 2D outlines only |
| Epilog laser (via the makerspace PC) | DXF, or SVG | Flat 2D outlines only |
| A teammate who will keep modeling | The Fusion design, or .f3d | Sketches, parameters, timeline — everything |
| A teammate who just needs to check it | STEP (.step) | Real solid geometry, editable but no history |
Prefer 3MF over STL for printing. 3MF stores units, so a part can't arrive ten times too small, and it carries color and per-object settings. STL is unitless — that's exactly why scale mistakes happen with it.
Never hand off an STL as your CAD file. An STL is a shell of triangles. It cannot be turned back into your sketches, and "just remodel it" costs a class period.
Exporting from Fusion
For 3D printing (3MF or STL)
Right-click the body or component in the Browser and choose Save As Mesh, then pick 3MF. Autodesk documents this, plus the higher-control 3D Print command, in Mesh export and 3D print a design.
If a curved surface prints visibly faceted, the export refinement was too low — raise it in the export dialog rather than blaming the printer.
For the CNC, the laser, or the vinyl cutter (DXF)
Right-click the sketch in the Browser and choose Export DXF. Autodesk's step-by-step is Export sketch as DXF.
For the laser, a sheet metal flat pattern works too: activate the flat pattern and use Export DXF. Autodesk covers it in Export flat pattern as DXF. Bend lines come along on their own layers — keep them. They get their own settings on the laser so they score instead of cut; see Running the Laser Cutter.
If what you want to cut is the outline of a 3D body rather than an existing sketch, make a new sketch on the flat face of that body — Fusion projects the face's edges into the sketch automatically — then export that sketch. Autodesk covers this route in How to export a 3D model to DXF.
From Illustrator (SVG or DXF)
If you designed in Illustrator rather than Fusion, export SVG or DXF directly. Before you do, set every cut line to 0.1 pt or thinner — see Running the Laser Cutter.
For a teammate
Use File > Export and choose .f3d (they can keep modeling) or .step
(they can measure and cut, but not edit your history). Or just share the cloud
project — see Fusion in This Class.
Export mistakes that cost machine time
- Exporting the body instead of the sketch for a 2D cut. You get a 3D mesh the cutting software can't use. Export the sketch.
- Wrong units in the DXF. Set the unit type deliberately in the export dialog; don't accept the default without looking. Check one known dimension after you open the file in Carbide Create or Silhouette Studio.
- Open contours. A cutting path needs closed outlines. If a line doesn't quite meet its neighbor, the software may treat the shape as an open curve and cut something unexpected. A fully constrained sketch is your best defense — an unconstrained sketch is where stray gaps hide, and Fusion Sketch Tools covers how to find the geometry that isn't pinned down yet.
- Construction lines and sketch points coming along for the ride. The DXF export dialog has checkboxes for these. Leave them off unless you want them cut.
- Exporting before the design is done. The export is a snapshot, not a link. Change the model and you must re-export — and re-name, so you don't cut v1 by mistake.
Naming exports
Put a version in the filename and never overwrite a file you've already cut:
shelf-front-v3.dxf. When a cut goes wrong, the first question is always "which
version is on the machine," and a folder of files all called shelf.dxf can't
answer it.