PDF to DWG

Is it possible to convert a PDF to a DWG format??

Yes, it can be done. You may be less than thrilled with the results. You don't plan on doing any editing of the converted drawing do you? If so, you're gonna need a bigger bottle of aspirin.

Yea, I do plan on having to revise the PDF once converted to DWG. A few offsets is what it calls for...I think. The project engineer didnt go into depth.

How can I convert a PDF to a DWG?

Is it possible to convert a PDF to a DWG format??

This subject has been discussed many many times, you can probably find the other threads with a search. I second Remark's comments. It can be done, but you won't like it. Short story, if you just need it as a picture, insert it as an underlay. If you want to edit it, you'll spend less time redrawing it than cleaning up the conversion.

Word. Thanks boys

Are you familiar with AutoDesk's Raster Design? This is one way to do it. The PDF will have to be saved as an image file first though.

If it is a vector PDF a converter might work OK. If it is a scan forget about it, usually eaasier to trace or start from scratch.

Just do a Google "DWG to PDF" you will get plenty. I use GSVIEW.

Alright, thanks.

I've tried several different ones over the years. If you take a pdf file that was created by Adobe or Autocad or something other than scanning a paper file, it kinda sorta works. If you scan a paper drawing, even at the highest resollution and quality available today, by the time you are done fixing everything, you'll wish you'd taken the day off to have a root canal instead.

+1 on all the comments. For any type of technical drawing going from PDF to linework is simply not an automatic thing ... no matter what program you use: Cheapest would be using GSView with GhostScript & PStoEdit. Most expensive would be using Adobe Illustrator (or some such). Even Corel Draw would be able to open the PDF and save as to DXF/DWG.

If the PDF is something like a scan, I would recommend forgetting about trying to convert it. You can find some Raster to Vector converters in a google search, but in my experience they're less than useless for anything more than cartoon-ifying a photo.

In both scenarios (especially the raster to vector) accuracy WILL BE OUT THE WINDOW! You will never get it to the exact same dimensions as before, it will always be fractions off (at the very least). The only way to even attempt at getting some accuracy would be to draw it all from scratch.

I have used Adobe Illustrator to open the PDF file. This works best if the PDF is a single page and Vector art (The pro version of Adobe can separate pages). Then do an Export to DWG. The drawing comes out pretty good except for scale, if you dimension a known point you will notice that the number is way off. This is fixed by scaling, and if the PDF had different viewports with different scales then you will have to fix each one. I like to set the dimension style to decimal and go 5 or 6 places with tolerance. Then measure a known distance and divide the actual dimension by the "wrong" dimension I get to come up with a scale factor. Highlight and scale that entire portion of the drawing by that scale factor and check dimension again. I have got it accurate to 1/64" doing this.

If the PDF was not originally done as vector art I don't bother trying.

Adobe Illustrator does the job, but as was mentioned earlier, you are converting from a raster image to a vector and if the image is complex the lines break apart and it turns into a hassle. It's easy to get things to scale though and works for reproduction, but having a useful file that you can edit and makes adjustments to proves to be cumbersome. Here's a funny comic regarding the subject ->

http://architexts.us/2010/09/27/pdf-to-dwg/

I agree with Vero and the rest. Adobe Illustrator -> Export as DWG. Results may vary since you're basically converting from raster to vector, but as long as you're not doing much editing and/or the pdf isn't too complex, may it up helping. Getting it to scale won't be a problem because you know your doors are 3'...

So a $600 program for less than par results that you still have to separate into layers, colors, etc., with no Block References, octagonal circles, segmented entities for text that you have to re-input, and heaven forbid if there's a linetype involved....

Don't think so.

Well Styk... It all depends on what you need the conversion for. I wouldn't invest in expensive software just to do pdf to dwg conversions, I just happen to already have that software for other uses.

An example of my using this method is: My shop gets 20 pdf pages of elements to be produced. However we are only doing a few items on each page; or only a certain component of more complex items. Our client insists on seeing all the components we are producing broken out from these pages with a few additional details and notations of or own...on our title page... So that they can sign off on it.

It would take me no less than a week to redraw all these items and go back and forth with them trying to get missing dimensions. Using my method as described above I get all this done in about 4-5 hours. The drawings are good enough to go on the shop floor for production. And btw, I just saved more than $600 in labor on just this one project.

An additional note here is that "no"...asking the client to just send me the original dwg files is not an option. For one they claim propriety rights (bs of course)...but mainly they claim they want to see it redone to make sure we grasp the full concept of all the components that involve us (more bs of course).

You must be dealing with really simple objects then.

I use www.pdftodxf.com it converts the drawing to dxf format, provided it's not a scan. Normally comes back within 10 minutes. The results are good enough, it's then just a matter of adjusting line widths to and scaling the drawing and job done.

Yep I've tried those online converters myself. Not much better than the GhostScript-GSView-PS2Edit option, only a LOT slower (especially on large and complex PDFs - which it usually simply fails on). The $600 AI program is only "slightly" better than the free GhostScript version - and only because it's easier to use (they both produce the same quality from the same PDF).

This whole thing is about how the PDF is made. If it's made into an image, then as I've mentioned before: "Forget about it" You're looking for a raster-to-vector converter (even AI won't suffice). And ALL of them I've ever tried since the mid 90's up to last year are absolutely useless - you're better off converting the PDF into a JPG (that's already what's inside the PDF anyway) and attaching that into your DWG then tracing over it.

If it's made as a vector PDF (like when you plot to PDF from ACad), then it's possible to get an approximation of the original - though as Styk's pointed out:

• Everything's on one layer
  
• Line Weights are disregarded (or worse created as multiple lines and/or polylines with width)
  
• Scaling is always going to be wrong (if lucky then it's a scale from PaperSpace to ModelSpace equivalent - usually the PDF is slightly off on that too so you tend to be unlucky in nearly every case)
  
• Sometimes the PDF's width/height proportions are off, so a simple scale also doesn't produce decent results (you need to convert to a block and adjust its X/Y factors to fix this)
  
• ALL dashed lines become pieces of solid lines, this is simply stupid to try and "fix" - rather just draw the line again (much quicker than attempting to "join" them).
  
• The accuracy of linework is definitely not going to work well. The PDF already lost some accuracy when it was made (i.e. when it only concerned itself with 300DPI as calculated for physical plotting). So it was scaled down and then the accuracy was reduced to what the printer could handle. Now you want to get it back from there? At best you won't get EXTRA inaccuracies.
  

As far as I'm concerned, if someone only gives you a PDF/DWF - then they don't want you to copy their work as your own. If you cannot obtain the original DWG from them, it's probably illegal to convert their PDF into a workable line drawing. Rather just attach the PDF directly into the DWG - much less hassle and you get the same result, not to mention you're only using the PDF and not modifying it (so no legality issues).

If it's a situation of your backups only has the PDF in them, then use this as a reason to fix your backup systems for the future. A backup should at the very least contain the original DWG.

Is it possible to convert a PDF to a DWG format??

Who owns the Intellectual Property on this PDF?

Maybe you can simply request a dwg file from the owner of the IP.

Seems like we went full circle with this post from scanning to redraw the whole thing. The only real and first solution the should be tried is JD's ask for the damn dwg file.