pdf to cad

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ptonsparky said:
I get pdf floor plans and usually paste them to my cad program, then trace over them to create my own drawings for the project. Is there a simpler way? Works but time consuming.
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How do you get the scale correct?

I always draw full size and scale to plot.
 
tkb said:
How do you get the scale correct?

I always draw full size and scale to plot.
Click to expand...

Right or wrong, I know the dimensions of the building, so I drag the PDF out to meet the size of say my basic shape of 130' x 120'. Then draw in the rooms on a layer to give a basic floor plan. I hide or display the PDF as needed to layout devices etc. My cad program is several years old and I am sure there are better ones. It was by no means expensive at the time.
 
I use Cute PDF writer to go the other direction when I want to save a cad drawing as a PDF. You can use it to save part of the drawing (a fixture schedule or a one line) to send to a supplier. Works great. Off topic a bit but still useful.
 
ptonsparky said:
I get pdf floor plans and usually paste them to my cad program, then trace over them to create my own drawings for the project. Is there a simpler way? Works but time consuming.
Click to expand...
Yes. Ask the originator to send you a cad file. :slaphead:

That said, I'm aware of all the caveats to the originator obliging.


Limited to working with a pdf, there are many pdf-to-cad programs out there. I haven't used any, so cannot make any recommendation. I go the indirect route. I open or "print" the pdf in or "to" a program I have called Canvas, then export as dxf... but Canvas would cost you more than a pdf-to-cad program and you will likely not gain anything over a pdf-to-cad program (unless you need or want a vector and image based creator and editor for other stuff).

As mentioned, the "quality" of the pdf is a major factor in the result. If the drawing was rasterized (converted to a pixelated image), you gain nothing. If the drawing is vector based, line widths may be converted to filled, parallel vectors. For example, a simple straight line may come through as a filled rectangle. Also, dimension and leader elements are no longer associated. Text may come through as single letters, words, a mix of the two, or if you are lucky, full lines of text... but seldom as multiline text. Hatches will likely be broken down to the comprising elements. There are just a few of the downsides. Results can vary immensely.
 
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ptonsparky said:
I get pdf floor plans and usually paste them to my cad program, then trace over them to create my own drawings for the project. Is there a simpler way? Works but time consuming.
Click to expand...

i throw a hissy fit till they give me a cad file.

then i go away and don't bother them for a while.
it's simple, and beats tracing.

you can use the scale command to set a known dimensioned wall... i tried it a month ago, and found
that the autocad file was metric, which shouldn't make a difference, but it didn't go well,
and the food prep room was 70% of the size of minneapolis.

i've been having issues with italian made stuff lately.
and the italians who make it.
 
I use this one. It's shareware basically. Unless you batch convert a lot of drawings you can get away with the crippled version and not pay. If you get 20 or 30 drawings in a single PDF, it will convert each sheet into it's own drawing. You can select which version of AutoCAD (for example) you want the DWG file in. Usually on the drawing there is at least one dimension. in AutoCAD (I use LT ver 2011) open the coverted drawing in model space, "Save As" a new file name, start the "Scale" command, select the base point, select all the drawing elements, select "R" for reference, click on one of the dimension hashes, draw a perpendicular line to the opposite dimension hash, type in the value of the dimension (eg. 20') and viola! everything is scaled to full scale in model space.

It works best on drawings that were "published" out of a CAD program so layer information and vector properties are preserved. If you have a PDF that was generated by scanning, say, the signed and sealed set, you may have some tweaking to do, since there is usually a slight mismatch in the X/Y ratio during the scan process.

You may find that arcs and circles are actually a collection of short line segments. LOTS of them. I wound up with over 80,000 entities on one conversion. This can acutally slow down your live pan and zoom. If you don't have do do much with the base drawing, consider converting groups of these elements, or even the entire drawing into a block. Speeds things up a whole lot.
 
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