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tiny_steiny_
tiny_steiny_
Participant
March 26, 2026
Answered

Dieline size discrepency between Inventor, Illustrator and Indesign

  • March 26, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 63 views

Hi, all. I am hoping you can help me fix this dieline size discrepency.

 

The .dxf dielines that I use are created in Inventor by an Engineer (not myself). When I open that .dxf dieline in Adobe Illustrator, it measures 300 mm width x 600 mm height and has a corner radius of 3mm. The dieline has a stroke of .709pt. The stroke is aligned to the center. But, when I copy and paste that same dieline and/or place it into my Indesign file, the dimensions change. The dimensions in InDesign are larger—the dieline measures 300.25 mm width x 600.25 mm height with a corner radius of 4.233 mm. If I align the stroke to the inside, the dimensions change back to 300 mm x 600 mm (which is correct), but the corner radius stays the same, 4.233 mm. I need the corners to be 3 mm.

 

How do I fix this? I am hoping to create a workflow that is uncomplicated, and doesn’t require many steps. I have thousands of graphics that have this issue. The dimensions of my Indesign file should match the .dxf dieline.

 

I’ve attached screenshots that show the dimensions and corner radius in both Illustrator and Indesign. One screenshot shows two dielines that are overlayed—I wanted to see if the corner radius actually was changing when bringing it from Illustrator to Indesign. The green dieline is one that I created myself in InDesign (300 mm x 600 mm, 3 mm corner radius). The red dieline is from the .dxf file with the 4.233 mm radius (it’s 3 mm in Illustrator, though). You can see the size difference most clearly in that screenshot.

 

Thank you.

    Correct answer Brad @ Roaring Mouse

    When you place an Illustrator file, the measurements you see are the dimensions of the bounding box. i.e. your 300mmx600mm dieline PLUS the width of the stroke. Your stroke is .25mm (.709pt) so 1/2 of that is on the left, and the other half is on the right, for a total of .25 mm. In Illustrator, strokes are centered on the object.

    You accommodate this by placing the object centred on your document page or where you want it to be. If your document is sized at 300mmx600mm, and you center the dileine at 150mm and 300mm, all is perfect. the dileine is still centered on the edge of the document as it should be.

    As for the corner radius, this setting is only applicable to objects drawn in InDesign. You see 4.233 mm because there’s a default measurement in there of 12pt whether the corner is square or not. it will not affect the shape of your dieline.

    2 replies

    Peter Spier
    Community Expert
    Peter SpierCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 26, 2026

    I’m stumped by the difference in the corner radius figure, but I think the overall dimension difference is basically the difference between how Illustrator and InDesign show the measurements for stroked paths (though there may be some rounding error showing in the listed dimension in InDesign as well). Illustrator lists the dimension of the path without regard to the stroke weight, e.g. it doesn’t change if you adjust the weight or stroke alignment, but InDesign list the overall dimension of the object’s bounding box, so if you adjust the stroke weight or alignment without changing the drawn size you will see the dimensions listed change. Knowing this, it would be a mistake to change the stroke alignment to adjust the size.

    As for the radius, the difference is far more than the stroke width would account for which is puzzling to say the least. It might help to see a screen shot with the control handles for the corner showing to determine if you have true radius corners or InDesign’s asymmetrical pseudo radius which has only a single control handle.

    Also, how are you getting the die line path from  Illustrator to InDesign? Copy/Paste or Place?

      tiny_steiny_
      tiny_steiny_Author
      Participant
      March 26, 2026

      Thank you, Peter. I’ve copied and pasted the dieline from Illustrator. I’ve placed it into my InDesign documents previously—both have the same issue. 

      Here’s a screenshot from InDesign with the corner options.

      Peter Spier
      Community Expert
      Peter SpierCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 26, 2026

      I think you misunderstood my screenshot request…

      If you use the Direct Select tool to drag around a single node where the curve springs from the straight side of your path it should show you the control handle for both sides of that curve. A pasted path with a true radius should have two identical handles except for the direction (they should both point towards the corner of the bounding box). If you don’t see this, most likely the path is being pasted as a PDF object (and you can change that behavior in the Clipboard Handling section of the prefs).

      I think ​@Brad @ Roaring Mouse has explained why the corner radius number is different. You should also notice that in your screen shot the corner shape is shown as square -- further reinforcing that what you are seeing is not the information of the pasted path itself.

       

       

      Brad @ Roaring Mouse
      Community Expert
      Brad @ Roaring MouseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      March 26, 2026

      When you place an Illustrator file, the measurements you see are the dimensions of the bounding box. i.e. your 300mmx600mm dieline PLUS the width of the stroke. Your stroke is .25mm (.709pt) so 1/2 of that is on the left, and the other half is on the right, for a total of .25 mm. In Illustrator, strokes are centered on the object.

      You accommodate this by placing the object centred on your document page or where you want it to be. If your document is sized at 300mmx600mm, and you center the dileine at 150mm and 300mm, all is perfect. the dileine is still centered on the edge of the document as it should be.

      As for the corner radius, this setting is only applicable to objects drawn in InDesign. You see 4.233 mm because there’s a default measurement in there of 12pt whether the corner is square or not. it will not affect the shape of your dieline.

        Peter Spier
        Community Expert
        Peter SpierCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        March 26, 2026

        Brad types faster than me, and he seems to know more about the radius.

        tiny_steiny_
        tiny_steiny_Author
        Participant
        March 26, 2026

        Thank you both! I really appreciate the help in trying to understand this. I’ve been stumped about how to proceed without messing up any of the dimensions.

         

        I’m still a little confused though—mostly by this comment, “You accommodate this by placing the object centred on your document page or where you want it to be. If your document is sized at 300mmx600mm, and you center the dileine at 150mm and 300mm, all is perfect. the dileine is still centered on the edge of the document as it should be.”

         

        I’ve been horizontally and vertically aligning the center of the dieline to the InDesign document. When I do that, the dieline hangs over the edge of the artboard (stroke is centered on the dieline, measuring 300.25 mm x 600.25 mm).

         

        I feel like I am missing, or misunderstanding something… Can you clarify what my workflow/process should be? Is it okay to continue copy and pasting the dieline directly from Illustrator into my InDesign document knowing that the software programs read the dimensions differently? I won’t change the stroke alignment.

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