Been frustrated wanting to include a separate Word or Open Office document,project memo, typed specification or spreadsheet right in the Datacad drawing file? While this may seem simple, it's vexed me for years...then I stumbled across a simple solution.
For years I've been .pdf'ing the construction document sheet/titleblock and the "text" as two separate .pdf-files and manually running them through the printer twice to superimpose one on the other. Getting the paper-orientation correctly right-side-up or upside-down for each printer-pass is always tricky and confusing. While I understood the process for printing or archiving, it was always confusing when a client or AHJ wanted a drawing emailed to them.
Over the weekend, I spent a frustrating hour coordinating printing a multipage specification for a set of construction documents for AHJ-submittal while compiling the whole set in "Pdfill PDF Tools" into one .pdf-file. Since I had already inserted my scanned 'signature and rubber-stamp architect's seal' onto each page's titleblock as an "insert - bitmap" .jpeg, ...I had an epiphany.
Pdfill PDF Tools as a menu-choice " 10. Convert PDF to Images".
Since I already had the text of the specification "printed-out" page-by-page as .pdf-files, I converted each page-file into an 8-bit .jpeg at 300-resolution, and then "insert - bitmap" each onto the appropriate title-block'd drawing's boundaries corner-to-corner in the original Datacad v.13 Cad-file. I could then print-out the completed page directly via the printer...or saved it as a .pdf-file for compiling or printing later.
It's not a live document like Ptext or Mtext...but it's totally-controllable in appearance to the original...and it's not that difficult to re-insert a revised "plot-out" if needed in revision. I haven't tried it yet for spreadsheets or flow-charts, but it should work the same way including inserting factory .pdf cut-sheets and catalog inserts. Using .tiff as a choice worked just as well at the same settings, I haven't tried .png., .bmp, .gif or .wmf yet.
For years I've been .pdf'ing the construction document sheet/titleblock and the "text" as two separate .pdf-files and manually running them through the printer twice to superimpose one on the other. Getting the paper-orientation correctly right-side-up or upside-down for each printer-pass is always tricky and confusing. While I understood the process for printing or archiving, it was always confusing when a client or AHJ wanted a drawing emailed to them.
Over the weekend, I spent a frustrating hour coordinating printing a multipage specification for a set of construction documents for AHJ-submittal while compiling the whole set in "Pdfill PDF Tools" into one .pdf-file. Since I had already inserted my scanned 'signature and rubber-stamp architect's seal' onto each page's titleblock as an "insert - bitmap" .jpeg, ...I had an epiphany.
Pdfill PDF Tools as a menu-choice " 10. Convert PDF to Images".
Since I already had the text of the specification "printed-out" page-by-page as .pdf-files, I converted each page-file into an 8-bit .jpeg at 300-resolution, and then "insert - bitmap" each onto the appropriate title-block'd drawing's boundaries corner-to-corner in the original Datacad v.13 Cad-file. I could then print-out the completed page directly via the printer...or saved it as a .pdf-file for compiling or printing later.
It's not a live document like Ptext or Mtext...but it's totally-controllable in appearance to the original...and it's not that difficult to re-insert a revised "plot-out" if needed in revision. I haven't tried it yet for spreadsheets or flow-charts, but it should work the same way including inserting factory .pdf cut-sheets and catalog inserts. Using .tiff as a choice worked just as well at the same settings, I haven't tried .png., .bmp, .gif or .wmf yet.