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'Smart' PDF ?

15 REPLIES 15
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Message 1 of 16
Tee.Dee
2860 Views, 15 Replies

'Smart' PDF ?

Does anybody know if Autodesk plans to make Autocad Electrical able to produce smart PDF's where you able to follow wire links, jump between parent/child components etc. similar to using the surf command?

 

Solidworks and Cadworx both have this function so why not Autocad Elec?

 

This function alone could make it worth moving over to one of these competitors.

15 REPLIES 15
Message 2 of 16
pendean
in reply to: Tee.Dee

Anyone that knows is not telling: but if you really and truly need that functionaility perhaps leaving the 'reservation' is in your future.
Message 3 of 16
Tee.Dee
in reply to: pendean

Dont get me wrong I like AutoCad Elec a lot but a feature like this would be a pretty big selling point to potential clients.

 

It does not seem like AutoCad Elec gets any major development, the only new features seem to be on the plain autocad side.

Message 4 of 16
PatMurnen_Adsk
in reply to: Tee.Dee

I cannot comment on what functionality might be added to AutoCAD Electrical in future releases. There are many reasons for this, including legal reasons. You might consider participating in AutoCAD Electrical beta in the future (if you don't already). This way you get a preview of what is being worked on and a chance to provide feedback.The more feedback the better and we appreciate AutoCAD Electrical users taking part in beta.

 

As far as a smart PDF, I have attached a PDF file of one of the AutoCAD Electrical demo projects. It contains links from parent to child (use cross-reference text on the parent to go to a specific child), child to parent, parent to panel footprint, footprint to parent, and links between signal arrows. Is this similar to what you had in mind?  I can log any feedback you provide on this type of functionality.

 

Regards,

Pat Murnen



Pat Murnen
Principal Content Developer
Product Development – AutoCAD Product Line Group

Autodesk, Inc.

Message 5 of 16
Tee.Dee
in reply to: PatMurnen_Adsk

Thanks Pat,

 

Yes that is the sort of thing I am talking about, how is a PDF like that produced?

 

Also, can you please provide details on how to participate in beta testing?


Thanks.

 

 

Message 6 of 16

Hello,

 

Please refer to this post for joining the ACE2015 Beta.

 

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-Electrical-General/AutoCAD-Electrical-Longbow-Beta-Released/td...

 

Thanks,
Robin Shou
Quality Assurance
Autodesk AutoCAD Electrical

Message 7 of 16

if this isnt a big clue to it being in the next relesae !!!!!!!

Message 8 of 16
pendean
in reply to: ccad2509

My thoughts exactly 🙂
Message 9 of 16

Hi Pat!  The surfing is good but it needs to zoom up to the actual related element, not just open the drawing page where the related symbol is located.  But yes indeed, this would be a nice addition to a future release.



Doug McAlexander


Design Engineer/Consultant/Instructor/Mentor specializing in AutoCAD Electrical training and implementation support

Phone and Web-based Support Plans Available

Phone: (770) 841-8009

www.linkedin.com/in/doug-mcalexander-1a77623




Please Accept as Solution if I helped you. Likes are also much appreciated.
Message 10 of 16
PatrickRobinson
in reply to: Tee.Dee

This is a really cool addition to AE,

 

One thing that i would like to see this "cool addition" do is actually zoom in to the parent/ child instead of just navigating to the page.


War Eagle

Patrick Robinson
Message 11 of 16

Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I was away from the office which works out well anyway since I am now allowed to talk about the features in AutoCAD Electrical 2015. Yes, we have added the "smart" PDF feature (yay!). It is very similar to the sample I uploaded but it does zoom in on the object. Actually, when you output to the PDF you define a zoom value (see the image of the dialog attached). I think the sample I had didn't have much of a zoom defined. I have attached a sample with a zoom defined when I output to the PDF.

 

If you want to see more about the new features in AutoCAD Electrical 2015 see the Help topic, http://help.autodesk.com/view/ACAD_E/2015/ENU/?guid=GUID-E7CCE591-F83C-4158-B9A9-EC1EC5B968FA

 

Regards,

Pat Murnen



Pat Murnen
Principal Content Developer
Product Development – AutoCAD Product Line Group

Autodesk, Inc.

Message 12 of 16

I like the smart pdf. Its definitely something Autodesk needs to implement.

Message 13 of 16
dougmcalexander
in reply to: Tee.Dee

It is in version 2015.


Doug McAlexander


Design Engineer/Consultant/Instructor/Mentor specializing in AutoCAD Electrical training and implementation support

Phone and Web-based Support Plans Available

Phone: (770) 841-8009

www.linkedin.com/in/doug-mcalexander-1a77623




Please Accept as Solution if I helped you. Likes are also much appreciated.
Message 14 of 16
haiqing
in reply to: PatMurnen_Adsk

Hi all,

 

For zooming effect in the "smart PDF", the behaviour is depending on the viewer of the PDF. If the viewer support "zooming" behaviour, it should work. 

 

For example, the zooming should always work on Adobe PDF Reader (i.e. zoom to the component linked to source). However, in other PDF viewers such as Win 8 PDF viewer, PDF viewer in mobile applications or build-in PDF viewer in browser, sometimes, it only moves to the destination page and not "zoom" to the actual component. 

 



Haiqing Wang
AutoCAD Electrical Team
Message 15 of 16
kc8akw
in reply to: haiqing

Two items, here. Zooming did work on my system. It would be nice to, also, be able to choose which child, or representation the user navigates to - if that is possible. Much like the "surfer dude" in the Electrical package. A good reference for this are the receptacles on the first page. As I click on each element, I cycle through the list, but never return to the first page.

Great feature, otherwise.
Message 16 of 16
PatMurnen_Adsk
in reply to: kc8akw

I think you are right, that viewing the PDF on a mobile device does depend on the PDF viewer. If you are upgrading to AutoCAD Electrical 2015 (or are a subscription customer using 2013 or 2014) and use an iPad you should look at the AutoCAD Electrical mobile app which has a great surf feature. See the blog article http://autodesk.typepad.com/systemsdesign/2014/03/autocad-electrical-now-available-in-ios-app-store-... for a little more information on the mobile app.

 

Regarding selecting a specific child to jump to in the PDF, you can do this by selecting the specific cross-reference text at the parent. This is demonstrated in the New Features video (around the 00:50 mark) found at http://help.autodesk.com/view/ACAD_E/2015/ENU/?guid=GUID-8DA8AE80-1DF2-4FDD-AEAA-E6DF34535085 

 

So you have quite a bit of control over what you jump to depending on what you pick on. But, the PDF is limited to one link per hotspot but a component can have multiple hotspots depending on the component type. You can see a list of hotspots in the Help topic http://help.autodesk.com/view/ACAD_E/2015/ENU/?guid=GUID-3C7C25AD-43BE-4C09-A577-37EB2BF51D39

 

Regards,

Pat Murnen

 



Pat Murnen
Principal Content Developer
Product Development – AutoCAD Product Line Group

Autodesk, Inc.

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