j3ff1rw1n Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I've been looking around the forums here for a decent thread on this subject, but couldn't seem to find one. I'm looking for opinions on PDF to DXF conversion software. I've tried out AideCad (http://www.aidecad.com), but I would like to see more options. I would like to stay below the $200.00 mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 No matter what you spend I think you'll be dis-satisfied with the results. The PDF file format was created for sharing documents between different word processing programs and not for general CAD use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j3ff1rw1n Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 I understand that PDF documents are not meant to be converted back to CAD, but as a construction estimator, I need the option to do so. I'm not looking for perfection. I just need something reliable. AideCad works fine but before I purchase it, I wanted to see other options. Google is tossing up to much spam to filter through, and I figured that I could get some experienced users opinions here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pablo Ferral Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 You could try importing the PDF's into Design review (FREE) - this will allow you to take off running dimensions and areas. Assuming that the PDF's are of sufficient quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j3ff1rw1n Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 As of right now AutoCAD 2011 (and earlier versions) support PDF imports quite well. The PDF is scalable and easy to work with, but I need to be able to manipulate the line work. I need to separate the line work in layers or remove some of it. What I would really like is to find a basic PDF to DXF converter that GNU licensed or or close to free. Most of the software I've found is overly complex for what I want and over $100.00 in cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavediver Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Any chance you've got someone using Adobe Illustrator in house? We frequently change vector-based PDF files to layouts for CAD by exporting them from Illustrator as a DXF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j3ff1rw1n Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Excellent suggestion. I didn't realize that Illustrator could export to dxf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 A freebie would be PSTOEDIT, http://www.pstoedit.net/pstoedit/ not the best but maybe worth a look as it is free/opensource Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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