Found a hidden feature or want to share a time-saving shortcut? Let us all know...
#61782 by Ted B
Mon Oct 07, 2013 3:46 am
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.
#61788 by REX PEET
Mon Oct 07, 2013 6:29 pm
Another thing to consider here, is the the Bullzip Pdf print utility, prints to many graphic format; png, tiff, jpg etc, with a control on resolution. You can print a pdf file or any file, to a graphics format with Bullzip and insert the resultant file directly into Datacad.
#61800 by Ted B
Tue Oct 08, 2013 12:58 pm
I was thinking ..while driving to a meeting with a client, always a dangerous thing the "thinking"...that I shoud be able to do the reverse and use the same conversion to insert inidivual Datacad-generated details as .jpeg images in my OpenOffice text documents; like project memos to the subcontractors or the Bldg. Depts. to clarify a construction detail.

CAD-file detail "plot" output as .pdf; 4x6 or 5x8 index card about the right-size,
convert to .jpeg and insert into letter;
then printout the final typed document as a .pdf (emailed, or printed and mailed) again for distribution.
#61801 by Roger D
Tue Oct 08, 2013 1:39 pm
I've been saving as a .emf file instead of .pdf from the plot preview to use in addendums and reports for years.
#61898 by wwwylie
Wed Oct 16, 2013 1:23 pm
Ted B wrote:It's not a live document like Ptext or Mtext...but it's totally-controllable in appearance to the original...
I don't quite understand why you need a separate page for each page of the title block? This seems like it should be able to be made into a live document that is editable in the office program of your choice. Could you post an example or send me on via email so I could better understand?

Adobe Acrobat has a feature called a stamp that can basically be setup as a typical imported bitmap or other pdf file. I use it extensively to sign submittal documents before printing when an ink signature is not required. The best part is that Adobe now has a subscription service that allows you to have the full featured Acrobat for about $20 per month rather than a giant hit cost of over $250 just to purchase, and it comes with updates automatically. Microsoft is now offering the same with its Office 365.
#61968 by Ted B
Mon Oct 21, 2013 3:09 am
The way I set up my CAD-file, each page in the construction documentation has it's own border and titleblock in the .aec-file...like a field of tiles. Super-imposed drawings like demolition, construction, MPE and structural on the same base-plan share the base-plan and titleblock with the drawing-specific number super-imposed on the appropriate layers, viewable as "views". For residential and light commercial projects it's workable having the entire job in one Datacad-file. And each floor-plan/level has it's own border, titleblock within the tile-field grid. The larger the "scale, the smaller the tile/border and titleblock. If the file get too-big or "slow", then I'll break-up the file contects to two or three files...but it's easier to manage when all in one .aec-file.

I've tried the xref-method for titleblocks, and using symbols for tileblocks and sheet-borders in CAD. I started-out doing everything in pencil on vellum...then the ink technical-pen and Mylar pin-registration method with the vacuum-bed printers...then Autocad and pen-plotters, and finally Datacad. After almost 20-years of Datacad, in a sole-practitioner office-practice, it works for me...

The specification itself is a live-document in OpenOffice Writer...typically just a lightly-edited version of my standard residential outline specification the bulk of which is just spelling-out our code-compliance to the IRC or IBC building codes for generic materials-used; concrete, masonry, fasteners, wood and plywood/OSB. Typically it takes about three 11x17 landscape pages of three columns of text.

My old method was to first print a 3-page .pdf for record-purposes of that issuance, then print it on paper, then feed those same three pages back through the printer a 2nd-time while overprinting the CAD construction document's corresponding three-sheets A-2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 project title block, sheet-number and revisions-notes. Basically two separate pdfs superimposed on one sheet a paper. The problem is nowadays contractors and AHJs want the job electronically in digital-format, and explaining the superimposition-process is complicated and annoying.

By converting each of the three-pages of the specification record-pdf-file as a .jpeg, I can insert it as 'bitmap' directly onto the appropriate construction document-page BEFORE a print-out that construction document page in .pdf-format. Now it's part of the CAD-file as a big image filling most of the page, just like a .jpeg detail or a catalog-image. It's not "live" anymore, but it is viewable on the correct sheet in the .pdf construction documents for distribution without any complicated explanations or manipulations at their-end.

The other reason I've been relying more on .pdf-distribution and e-mailed drawings is that while my old rented-office space was right across the street from a Staples for photocopies and mailing, for the last 2-years I've been working from home. And it's now a 30-mile round-trip to Staples for photocopies in-bulk...and 12-miles round-trip to the nearest post office to mail or overnight paper documents.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests

About DataCAD Forum

The DataCAD Forum is a FREE online community we provide to enhance your experience with DataCAD.

We hope you'll visit often to get answers, share ideas, and interact with other DataCAD users around the world.

DataCAD

Software for Architects Since 1984