Save as PDF?

[syzygy]

i wish.

 

i have ACLT 2004 and 2010, and neither has the option to save as .pdf, for the sake of those many souls without AutoCAD. i've gone so far as to try a free, online convertor, which does what it says but keeps the colors of layers instead of portraying them as black on white. i assume i could beat the system by changing every single visible layer to monochrome before converting the file, but not only would that be tedious, the program only allows 10 free trials.

 

so, i've taken to plotting drawings A-size (so that they fit in our scanner) and importing them thusly. the problem with that is the itty bitty resolution compared to D-size.

 

comments? solutions? a raised glass?

[ReMark]

You are right. There is no option to "save as" a pdf file. But you can plot a dwg to pdf (in 2010 but not in 2004) then email that file to someone who does not have AutoCAD.

 

In 2004 the best you could do is "export as" a wmf or bmp file. Most everyone should be able to open one or both of those file types.

[ccowgill]

why not in 2010, use the dwgtopdf.pc3 file with a plot style table (ctb or stb) to accomplish this? Not fully understand what it is you are looking to accomplish. I say 2010 because I do not believe the dwgtopdf.pc3 file existed in 2004. Otherwise, there are many fine programs out there for free that allow you to print to pdf. We use Cutepdf writer for all of our other windows based printing to pdf.

[SuperCAD]

Create a DWF file first. Open the DWF file in Design Review. Click the printer icon and select Adobe PDF as the printer. Click OK or Print, then save the PDF file. You now have a multi-sheet PDF file with a reduced file size.

[ReMark]

Another option is Bluebeam PDF Revu - CAD Edition.

 

http://www.bluebeam.com/web07/us/products/revu/cad/index.asp?src=97

[harycad]

why not in 2010, use the dwgtopdf.pc3 file with a plot style table (ctb or stb) to accomplish this? Not fully understand what it is you are looking to accomplish. I say 2010 because I do not believe the dwgtopdf.pc3 file existed in 2004. Otherwise, there are many fine programs out there for free that allow you to print to pdf. We use Cutepdf writer for all of our other windows based printing to pdf.

I work with free CutePDF for few years and I do not have any problem with them. The output have same quality with paper drawings. So people do not have CAD software can plot anywhere. Before I use Adobe Distiller a part of Adobe Reader Pro, it is good but not free.

Edited December 10, 2010 by harycad
add info

[Geoffers]

Have you tried free version of pdf995? I have found it better than built-in pdf function in architecture 2009 - see a related topic about 4 weeks ago re text in pdf problems...

[Cat]

I use Bluebeam. It's not free, but imho it's worth purchasing. You can batch plot dwgs into a single pdf or individual pdfs. You can stamp the pdfs with for example "Preliminary" with the date the pdf was created and you can markup the pdfs to communicate any changes that need to be made. It's a great tool to communicate with customers or off site engineers.

[ccowgill]

Have you tried free version of pdf995? I have found it better than built-in pdf function in architecture 2009 - see a related topic about 4 weeks ago re text in pdf problems...

problem with pdf995 is all the stupid adds and popups.

[Geoffers]

problem with pdf995 is all the stupid adds and popups.

it works - so I can accept those little messages - well, one in the version I have:D

[syzygy]

You are right. There is no option to "save as" a pdf file. But you can plot a dwg to pdf (in 2010 but not in 2004)

 

when i first read "plot to pdf," i was thinking it would make a hard copy that would magically create a .pdf on the computer. then when i looked at the actual option, it said "print," and that supported my theory. someone needs to reword these options. and that's where i noticed "publish."

 

the only reason ^that made me wary was because the plotter isn't installed on my laptop (where i have 2010). now that that obviously doesn't matter, i think the "publish to pdf" thing-a-ma-bobber should suffice. i haven't tried it yet because i'm a combination of lazy/busy and i have to change the page size from letter to ANSI D.

 

thank you Re, again.

[Jack_O'neill]

There have been several good options presented, here is another.

 

DWG Trueview is a free download from Autodesk and will create PDF's and DWF files for you as well. It will also covert DWG files to older or newer versions of Autocad and doesn't require a monster computer to run. It has a few tools that would be handy out in the field too. Take a look, I think you'd like it.

[syzygy]

i recall trying that and failing to be able to create files readable in 2004...

 

but i have done it! i have created my .pdf's! the only problem is my lack of organization. i have two partitions on my drive, and i must have restarted my computer 12 times to get it done. i use internet on linux, and CAD on windows, and then i realized i can't even view .pdf's on windows, so i had to check them on linux....

[Jack_O'neill]

Configured as you see below, 2010 will produce a very good quality black and white PDF. You will need to set paper size and plot area to suit your circumstances, but I suggest you create the PDF at the actual paper size you would use if you were going to send it to a plotter directly from Autocad. Once the file is created, the great thing about PDF's is that they will print to any printer someone happens to have. If you make a large file and shrink it by printing it on smaller paper with the "shrink to fit" option, it will be much more readable than if you create a small page size then try to blow it up to a bigger page. Using the monochrome plot style will help also improve readability when creating these files. This method works for me, your experience may vary.

[irneb]

when i first read "plot to pdf," i was thinking it would make a hard copy that would magically create a .pdf on the computer. then when i looked at the actual option, it said "print," and that supported my theory. someone needs to reword these options. and that's where i noticed "publish."

 

the only reason ^that made me wary was because the plotter isn't installed on my laptop (where i have 2010). now that that obviously doesn't matter, i think the "publish to pdf" thing-a-ma-bobber should suffice. i haven't tried it yet because i'm a combination of lazy/busy and i have to change the page size from letter to ANSI D.

 

thank you Re, again.

This usually comes from the misconception that PDF is a type of editable file. There are ways to edit it, but they're extremely hampered by the fact that PDF (which stems from Post Script) is intended as a file to be viewed (mainly) and printed on any PC. It's more like an electronic piece of paper than data. Actually, nearly all programs which can "save to PDF" are in effect "printing" to PDF. A PDF (being a derivative of Post Script - which in turn is actually a language to send to a printer) needs a page size - at least when doing 2D PDFs.

 

In ACad the publish is used to define a slightly more "complex" thing than a simple plot: it's supposed to allow multiple DWGs and / or tabs to be sent to the same printer driver. What the driver does with the final data is not up to ACad at all. Some drivers would pass it on to a printer to be made into a hard copy, some would convert it to some other data structure to be used in another program, and some (like all these PDF creation utils) would save it to a file. You do get some programs with "built-in" exporting to PDF abilities, but they're usually things like DTP (Scribus, Page Maker, etc.) / Image manipulation (PhotoShop / Gimp / etc.) / Vector drawing packages (Corel Draw, Illustrator, Inkscape, etc.). Only very recently has Word and OOo.Write become able to generate PDF's from scratch - giving the ability to add more "features" to a PDF than a simple electronic page (referring to things like data entry and contents links). ACad still has quite far to go to get to such a comprehensive PDF "exporter". The newest DWG2PDF at least has the capability to save layers into the PDF (so the viewer can turn them on/off), but it's still just printing to a file through a PDF driver.

[andyl]

I have successfully done this with Normica view pro from http://www.normica.com trial is free. It's really easy and you can actually convert almost any file type.