Forum dedicated to drawing translation issues.
#70077 by bhcordova
Wed Oct 26, 2016 10:17 am
My dad was our draftsman for 50+ years. We have many plans that are only on paper. I need to make some changes to a few of them and would like to import either a PDF of the plans or image files of the plans into DataCAD 18. How can I do that?
#70078 by David Porter
Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:43 pm
There is a program I have reported on before and that I had purchased called "Print2CAD." It was created by an engineer from Georgia. I have used it a few times and it works surprisingly well. The "but" that is coming is that it will only convert PDFs to lines and text if it is an original PDF and not a PDF made from a scan. If a paper drawing has been scanned and then saved as a PDF, there is no program that I know of that will convert that PDF into any type of CAD file. The files I have tried converting into lines and text with Print2CAD have been files, such as DCAD or AwfulCAD, that were created directly from those programs into PDF files.

What I have previously done to show changes to scanned drawings is to save the drawing to a jpg or png file with high resolution and then insert a bitmap into DCAD. If you want to wipe out a part of the inserted drawing, do that in a photo editor before inserting it into DCAD. Then, do your changes and new drawing work directly over top of the inserted image.
#70080 by MtnArch
Wed Oct 26, 2016 1:11 pm
I use AutoDWG PDF to DWG (http://www.autodwg.com/pdf-to-dwg-converter/), though it has the same limitations that David notes above - it works amazingly well if the PDF was generated from the cad program, but if it's a scan it becomes less worthwhile.

I downloaded Print2Cad and tried it against a scanned PDF I recently ran through AutoDWG and was happier with the translation that AutoDWG did, but Print2Cad appeared to have more settings that might improve things if you have the time to dial it in.
#72099 by Ted B
Tue Aug 15, 2017 1:04 am
MtnArch, does it work for any .PDF generated by a CAD-type source??

I'm wondering if it would convert my .PDFs created by Sketchup Layout. I do a LOT of my construction documentation using Sketchup models and Layout paper-space to generate .PDF final drawings sheets. My typical project is partially created in Datacad and plotted to .PDF -- and partially in Sketchup Layout and printed to .PDF -- and manually integrated into one master .PDF submittal file using PDFill Tools.

But there are times I'd love to be able to drop a printed .PDF view directing into Datacad.

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