Melisa Kaner
Import existing Altium Designer projects directly into Fusion. Learn how Altium Project Import helps PCB teams preserve design intent, reduce migration effort, and connect electronics, mechanical design, and manufacturing workflows.
Elevate your design and manufacturing processes with Autodesk Fusion
For many electronics teams, evaluating a new design platform isn’t typically a technical challenge, it’s a migration challenge. Even when a new tool looks promising, most organizations have years of PCB designs, schematics, component libraries, and production data tied to existing projects, making migration a significant undertaking.
That’s why Autodesk’s new Altium Project Import capability for Fusion is significant. Instead of asking engineering teams to start over, it provides a way to bring existing Altium Designer projects directly into Fusion and continue development using work that’s already been done.
For teams exploring Fusion, that changes the conversation from “How much work will migration require?” to “How would our existing projects fit within a connected product development platform?”
Evaluate Fusion with real projects
The best way to evaluate a new electronics platform is with the products you’re already developing.
With Altium Project Import, teams can bring existing designs into Fusion and evaluate them using familiar projects rather than recreating designs from scratch. This provides a practical way to explore Fusion while minimizing disruption to active development programs.
What Altium Project Import brings into Fusion
Fusion can now translate Altium Designer projects directly into the electronics workspace, importing key project information that helps preserve design intent and streamline migration workflows, including:
- Schematics
- PCB layout data
- Components
- Nets
- Footprints
- Layer information
- Design structure
By bringing this information into Fusion, teams can preserve much of the original design intent while reducing the manual recreation work traditionally associated with migration projects.
Why this matters for product development teams
Most companies aren’t building standalone circuit boards. They’re building products that typically combine electronics, mechanical components, enclosures, fasteners, assemblies, manufacturing processes, and more.
In many organizations, these activities occur in separate systems managed by different teams.
A PCB designer works in one application.
A mechanical engineer works in another.
Manufacturing planning happens elsewhere.
Every design change creates another handoff.
As products become more complex, those handoffs become increasingly difficult to manage. By bringing Altium projects into Fusion, teams can begin working in a more connected environment where electronics, mechanical design, and manufacturing workflows can coexist within a single platform.
What happens after the PCB is finished?
A PCB may be the heart of a product, but it is rarely the entire product. Fusion extends beyond electronics design by combining PCB workflows with mechanical CAD, simulation, manufacturing, and data management capabilities. This allows teams to move from electronics design to physical product development without constantly moving information between disconnected systems.
By bringing existing Altium projects into Fusion , teams can evaluate these connected workflows using designs they already know, making it easier to understand how electronics, mechanical development, and manufacturing come together throughout the product lifecycle.
The goal isn’t simply to import an Altium project. It’s to explore how electronics, mechanical design, and manufacturing can come together in a connected product development environment.
Get started with a 30-day free trial of Fusion and evaluate the experience using the projects your team already knows best.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Fusion electronics can translate Altium Designer projects directly into Fusion, including schematics, PCB layout, entire components libraries, nets, footprints, layers, and project structures.
Fusion’s Altium Project Import capability can import schematics, PCB layout data, components, nets, footprints, layer information, and design structure, helping teams continue development using existing project data.
No. Altium Project Import is designed to reduce manual recreation work by allowing teams to bring existing designs directly into Fusion.
Many electronics teams evaluate Fusion because it combines electronics design, mechanical CAD, simulation, manufacturing workflows, collaboration, and data management in a connected platform.
Yes. Once PCB data is brought into Fusion, teams can use Fusion’s mechanical design tools to create enclosures, assemblies, mounting systems, and other product components around the electronic design.
That depends on the organization and workflow. Some teams may choose to consolidate more of their product development process in Fusion, while others may initially evaluate Fusion as a way to connect electronics, mechanical design, and manufacturing workflows.
Should I try Fusion if I already have years of Altium projects?
Yes. Altium Project Import significantly reduces the effort required to evaluate Fusion because teams can test the platform using existing production designs rather than starting from scratch.
Yes. A Fusion trial allows teams to evaluate how existing Altium projects fit into Fusion Electronics and explore how a connected electronics-to-manufacturing workflow could support their development process.