Davidd Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Hello I am hoping someone can assist me with what is probably a very basic question. I have a simple image that i would like laser cut into plastic (the image is a leaf with rounded edges but one continuous line). Currently this image is hand drawn on a piece of paper and smaller than the actual size I want it cut out at. I went into the cutting place and the person advised me i needed the image in a dxf file. Is it simply a case of photocopying my image, converting it to pdf and then using a product (eg an online PDF to DXF Converter) to obtain a dxf file??? Any assistance would be apprecciated as I am unfamiliar with this sort of work and these types of files. Thankyou David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuccaro Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Possible there are online converters, but you could download a program like this one and convert the pdf to dxf while in trial mode (meaning free). The main problem is: usually these programs doesn't produce very good outputs, you will have to finish the work by hand. On the other hand: for simple jobs you don't need a converter. Just import the image in AutoCAD, trace it over and scale it up. I understand you have no CAD experience so maybe you should ask someone to do it for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevsmith Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Hi, Our company carry's out this type of work every now and then. We usually scan the object/image as a PDF and then import it to Autocad as an underlay then trace the image. Generally I wouldn't convert the pdf to a dxf using a converter. it can break it up to much and can be a pain to clean up. If you scan the image as a pdf and private mail me, I will convert it to dxf for you. You need to hurray though, my plane leaves on monday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Any AutoCAD using a digitizer could electronically trace the image into AutoCAD then you could 1) resize it and 2) create a DXF file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankman Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Another free trial converter, www.pdf2cad.com. Converts, very quickly, *.pdf's to *.dxf files. Not too clean, you would still need to do some cleanup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevsmith Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 My offer to do it for you still stands. (for free ) Send me a copy of the image I'll make the dxf for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 If conversion software is unavailable (or you fail to take Stevie's offer!?)... You could also simply convert/print (depending on which version of Adobe you have), the PDF to .tiff, and insert that into AutoCAD. The resulting .tiff will also provide a transparent background. Trace and save. We use this process often when attempting to get old as-built information into our civil drawings (after lining up the ROW corners, of course!). Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevsmith Posted September 5, 2010 Share Posted September 5, 2010 Offer has now expired, I'm away to top up my tan in sunny tenerife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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