Wiki · Autograph / SVG / Vector workflow

Autograph SVG vector import and extrusion checklist

Published 2026-07-22 · Wiki · SVG / Vector / Workflow

A practical checklist for moving logos, icons, diagrams, and other vector artwork from Illustrator, Figma, Affinity, or Inkscape into Autograph without unexpected scale, missing shapes, broken holes, changed strokes, or unreliable 3D extrusion.

Why this page exists

Autograph can import and animate SVG artwork and can receive SVG data through the clipboard from several vector-design applications. Maxon documents that pasted SVG is converted into a composition containing a Shapes Generator. This makes SVG a useful bridge between design and motion, but it does not guarantee that every SVG feature, coordinate system, paint operation, or nested transform will produce the intended editable result.

For production work, treat the SVG as a geometry handoff. Preserve the editable source, prepare a deliberately simplified interchange version, and validate the converted Autograph composition before animation or extrusion begins.

Prepare the source artwork

Keep an untouched master file in the originating design application and export or copy from a separate interchange version.
Set the document bounds or artboard tightly and intentionally. Remove distant hidden objects, stray points, guides, and unused clipping content that may enlarge the imported bounds.
Convert essential live text to outlines when exact typography matters and the receiving system may not have the same font, version, variable-font axes, or shaping behavior.
Expand appearance-dependent strokes, brushes, dashes, and effects when the design must preserve their visible geometry. Keep an unexpanded source for later editing.
Resolve compound paths and holes deliberately. SVG paths can contain multiple subpaths, so a logo counter or cut-out depends on path structure, closure, and fill behavior rather than merely overlapping white shapes.
Remove or rasterize unsupported filters, blend effects, masks, or paint servers when they are not required as editable vector geometry.
Use simple, stable layer and object names when the source application preserves them. Do not depend on automatically generated names as a production contract.

Choose file import or clipboard transfer

Saved SVG: use when the asset needs versioning, review, repeatable re-import, or exchange between artists and machines.
Clipboard SVG: use for fast iteration from Illustrator, Affinity, or Figma when the exact copied selection is understood.
In Illustrator, copying a vector selection places SVG code on the clipboard for pasting into Autograph. Avoid repeatedly copying large selections before switching applications; Maxon warns that repeated copies can flood the clipboard and briefly freeze Autograph.
In Affinity applications, enable the preference that copies items as SVG before relying on clipboard transfer.
In Figma, use the explicit Copy as SVG command rather than a generic copy operation.
Maxon notes that Inkscape 1.4 does not provide the same direct clipboard workflow; save an SVG file and open or convert that file in Autograph instead.

First import validation in Autograph

Import or paste the asset into an empty verification project before placing it in the delivery composition.
Compare the result against a reference raster exported from the design application at the same aspect ratio.
Check total bounds, origin, scale, orientation, and the relationship between the artboard and visible geometry.
Inspect closed shapes, counters, holes, self-intersections, overlapping contours, and thin features at high zoom.
Check fills, gradients, opacity, strokes, joins, caps, and any clipped regions that remain in the interchange file.
Confirm whether separate design objects remain separately controllable or have been combined in a way that changes the intended animation plan.
Test the composition on a transparent background and on black, white, and saturated backgrounds to reveal missing fills, unintended transparency, or fringe pixels.

Coordinate systems, scale, and transforms

SVG geometry is evaluated in a current user coordinate system and may include nested transforms. Two files that look identical can therefore contain very different internal scales and transform stacks.
Normalize scale before rigging. Avoid compensating for a thousand-fold import mismatch only at the final layer unless the reason is documented.
Check whether the visible shape is offset from its composition origin. This affects rotation, cloning, alignment, motion paths, and later extrusion.
If an asset contains nested groups with transforms, make a flattened interchange version when individual editability is less important than predictable geometry.
Test at the smallest and largest intended delivery sizes. Vector geometry is resolution-independent, but stroke width, bevel size, antialiasing, and subpixel placement still affect the rendered result.

Animation preparation

Decide which parts must animate independently before import. Split those elements in the source rather than performing emergency separation after approval.
Keep path topology stable when a design will morph between shapes. Path interpolation generally requires compatible command and point structures; visually similar outlines are not necessarily morph-compatible.
Use consistent winding, closure, and point order for shape pairs intended to interpolate.
For write-on or trim-style animation, create intentional open paths instead of attempting to derive a clean stroke path from a complex filled outline.
Test one complete animation cycle and a representative render before duplicating, cloning, or building a large procedural setup from the imported asset.

3D extrusion checklist

Extrude only after the 2D silhouette, holes, scale, and origin are correct.
Use closed, non-degenerate contours. Open paths, duplicate segments, zero-length segments, and self-intersections can produce missing faces or unstable triangulation.
Check front faces, back faces, side walls, bevels, normals, and material assignment under a moving light rather than from one flattering camera angle.
Inspect counters and narrow gaps. A bevel or large extrusion can close small negative spaces that were acceptable in flat artwork.
Keep extrusion depth and bevel values proportional to normalized artwork scale so the same preset behaves consistently across assets.
Render a turntable or rotate the object through several angles to reveal reversed surfaces, z-fighting, cracks, and unexpected internal faces.

Common failure patterns

Logo imports at the wrong size: the artboard, viewBox, document units, or nested transforms do not match the visible geometry.
Holes are filled: the compound-path structure, path direction, closure, or fill behavior changed during export or conversion.
Strokes look different: live stroke attributes, dashes, brushes, joins, or scaling behavior were interpreted differently; expand critical strokes in the interchange copy.
Some objects disappear: the artwork relied on masks, clipping, filters, unsupported paint features, or hidden parent state.
Rotation feels wrong: the visible geometry is offset from the imported composition or object origin.
Morphing twists or collapses: the source and destination paths have incompatible topology, point order, or direction.
Extrusion contains cracks or missing faces: contours are open, duplicated, self-intersecting, extremely small, or otherwise unsuitable for reliable surface generation.

Minimum acceptance test

Archive the editable design master and a versioned interchange SVG.
Export a reference PNG from the source application.
Import the SVG into an empty Autograph project and compare silhouette, holes, fills, strokes, bounds, and orientation with the reference.
Test transparency and several backgrounds.
Animate the intended independent parts and verify pivots and scale.
If 3D is required, test a shallow extrusion, bevel, material, moving light, and multi-angle render.
Save the validated Autograph project together with the exact SVG, reference image, source-application version, and any preparation notes.

Practical rule

Use SVG to transfer deliberate geometry, not every feature of the design document. A simple, versioned interchange file plus a raster reference is more reliable than assuming that a visually correct source file will remain structurally identical after conversion.

Useful next pages

Sources checked

Maxon Autograph Help: Copy/Paste from Illustrator, Affinity, Figma, etc. — checked 2026-07-22. Used for the clipboard-to-SVG workflow, Shapes Generator conversion, application-specific steps, and the Inkscape limitation documented by Maxon.
Maxon Autograph product page — checked 2026-07-22. Used to confirm SVG import and animation, the shape engine, and Autograph's 2D/3D motion-design context.
W3C Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2 — checked 2026-07-22. Used for coordinate systems, transforms, paths, compound subpaths, fills, strokes, clipping, masking, and SVG geometry terminology.
W3C SVG 2: Paths — checked 2026-07-22. Used for path commands, path closure, compound paths, user coordinates, and path-structure considerations.
DIGITAL PRODUCTION: Maxon Autograph 2026 is here — published 2026-04-16; checked 2026-07-22. Used as independent confirmation that Autograph combines vector graphics and extruded vector shapes inside its integrated 2D/3D workflow.