Topic: PDF to DWG

[VerticalMojo]

Is it possible to create an Autocad drawing from a pdf?

[M-dub]

Last time I checked, it was possible, but it wasn't pretty.
Everything got broken up into tiny line segments.  The letter "S" for instance would have been mabye... 18 or 20 small lines.

[rkmcswain]

Keeping in mind that a PDF is basically just a plot file...
Here are some suggestions:
http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com/2006/03/convert-pdf-to-dwg.html

We use PDFImport from dotsoft.com

[craigr]

Last time I checked, it was possible, but it wasn't pretty.
Everything got broken up into tiny line segments.  The letter "S" for instance would have been mabye... 18 or 20 small lines.

This has been my experience as well. - That being said, I have tried used the coversion when I had absolutly no other option. Another thing I have used is the Corel Trace program. It works a little better - (sometimes).

I usually try both and end up using the one that comes out the best.

craigr

[vinnyg]

If you want to spend a couple of hundred, you might get a free trial of "PDF2CAD" first. Only good for pdf files that were made from original acad drawings to begin with and not scanned drawings.

just my 2cents

[craigr]

If you want to spend a couple of hundred, you might get a free trial of "PDF2CAD" first. Only good for pdf files that were made from original acad drawings to begin with and not scanned drawings.

just my 2cents

That is why we decided to go with Corel Trace - it doesn't rely on the .pdf being created from a dwg. When we get non-.dwg files for Floorplans, more times than not, they are created by scanning - (sometimes it looks like the fire escape plan). 

craigr

[Alan Cullen]

My 2 bobs worth....PDF does not convert to DWG...maybe if the pdf was created with Adobe you have a better chance....but I doubt it. That is what a pdf is......security.

[craigr]

My 2 bobs worth....PDF does not convert to DWG...maybe if the pdf was created with Adobe you have a better chance....but I doubt it. That is what a pdf is......security.

Unless you set the password in Adobe, it isn't really much security - (even then, there are pw crackers on the Net.)

With Corel, if a .pdf was created from a dwg you can save it back to a .dwg with pretty good results. I HAVE to believe there are several other programs out there that do the same.

craigr

[rkmcswain]

... I HAVE to believe there are several other programs out there that do the same.

Yes, there are many as I noted above. Of course you lose things like dimstyles, tablestyles, textstyles, and in most cases layers and even colors. Most notable, you lose drawing accuracy.