DWG to PDF with Attributes?

[ahipple]

Hello,

I am looking for a way to convert our dwg project file to a PDF.  While this seems normal, I also want to bring over attributes into the PDF.  For example, if I export to a DWF from a DWG I still have access to the attributes.  However, using several of the common methods to get to a PDF don't seem to bring this inforamtion over.  I am basically looking to provide our clients an easier file format (PDF) rather than expecting them to load the DWF viewer to review files.

Thoughts?

Thank you,

[antoniovinci]

For free, there's no way to create a PDF with OD embedded, sir.

Thru the opensource Qgis, instead, you can publish your project "on the cloud", with attributes, in a couple of minutes.

Doin' so, your customers may enjoy your work within a simple Web browser...

[ahipple]

Thank you, free was not the reason for the post..... I will checkout Qgis.  I was struggling just finding an application to handle the request.   I will post again once I test this out.  

[dgorsman]

Could you elaborate on what you call "attributes"?  This has a specific connotation for some which may not be what you are intending.

[ahipple]

Yes, keep in mind I am the IT person. Not the designer so I will do my best. From what I have seen when the designers draw a pipe, a basin....etc. That object has attributes that can be customized. For example, let's say a pipe is drawn on the dwg and that pipe is 4 inch, and Comcast's fiber is what is in the pipe. We would label that with the size, and type of media in the pipe. Those attributes carry over in the DWF, but the point of this post is to find a way to get that information that we have already added to the dwg into the PDF without redoing the effort. Does that help?

Andy Hipple
Sr. Network & System Administrator

[dgorsman]

Thanks - yes, it does help.  Not you, though, I'm sorry to say.  "Attribute" in AutoCAD parlance is a piece of text associated with a block.  When the font is TTF and the width factor is 1.0 the text in the drawing (not just attributes, but any text) can be captured in the PDF as text, making it searchable and whatever else you may do with text.  For what you are describing "properties" might be the better term, where these are data assigned to the object without actually being text in the drawing.

[antoniovinci]

dgorsman wrote:

"Attribute" in AutoCAD parlance is a piece of text associated with a block

---

That's it, sir, but in this forum we don't talk about 'vanilla' Autocad.

In Gis slang, an attribute is a textual Object Data, period.

I guess the attachment's what Ahipple is after:

• to show the OD by mouse click, in Adobe Reader check EDIT => ANALYSIS => OBJECT DATA TOOL
• to show the cursor Lat/Long coordinates , in Adobe Reader check EDIT => ANALYSIS => GEOSPATIAL LOCATION TOOL 

[dgorsman]

Cheers.

Although for "not AutoCAD", our Civil3D users sure do go through a lot of blocks with attributes.  🙂

[nwray]

Hi Antonio,

Thanks from posting this link from the other topic (PDF's In Your Workflows).  I read through everything here, but I was wondering what you used to create the PDF that you attached in your last post here.  I have not been able to find any option to attach object data when creating a PDF, but your sample file is exactly what I would like to be able to do.  Was it created from QGIS?

Thanks,

Norm

[antoniovinci]

Qgis exports GeoPDF only containing lat/long coordinates, without OD.

The attachment was created by an old Acrobat release, now dismissed.

Curiously, if you open up with Adobe Reader 9.4 (not newer), it will show both LL84 degrees and UTM meters.