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Message 1 of 4
Anthony
1187 Views, 3 Replies

PDF underlay problems

I am wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems when attaching a PDF underlay to a drawing ? I have attached a PDF to a drawing however this is slowing things down to the point where the drawing is almost unusable. I have experienced similar problems in the past when using PDF underlay with drawings which causes the drawing to crunch to a halt, the problem being there is no way to 'strip' down the problematic PDF as you would a CAD drawing. Are there any tips or tricks which can be used to rectify this as I am not aware of any quick fixes.

 

 

Anthony Goodwin ~ Cad Manager/Senior Designer
Autodesk Inventor Professional 2013 SP2 64-Bit Edition
Windows 7 HP Z400, Intel Xeon W3550 3.07GHz
12.0GB RAM, ATI FirePro V4800 (FireGL)
3 REPLIES 3
Message 2 of 4
AllenJessup
in reply to: Anthony

I don't do it often but can't say I've had any particular problems. I'd think it would be similar to Xrefs. A lot would depend on how large and complicated the PDF is. Is it a multipage PDF?

 

One thing that might help would be turning the PDF image in to a PNG or JPG image if it's raster based. Depending on the detail needed you might even capture a screenshot of the PDF and attach that.

 

Let us know what software you're using (AutoCAD of a vertical), how big the pdf is and what type it is and your computer specs. These all might be useful in finding an answer.

 

Allen Jessup



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 3 of 4
pendean
in reply to: Anthony

System details?
PDF underlays do slow AutoCAD down, no workaround except as noted above. Try turning off PDFOSNAP as well unless you really need it.
Message 4 of 4
TerryDotson
in reply to: Anthony

It mostly depends on the content of the PDF, which can often be a bloated mess.  Not all PDF creators are equal.  For example, while one driver may write out text as a lean text element, another may  (especially if its width factor is changed) write out each letter as a large collection of filled triangles.  Take for example this innocent looking letter "S", which contained 471 objects!

 

http://www.dotsoft.com/files/pdf-letter.png

 

AutoCAD doesn't know it's a letter S and has to treat it with as much importance as any other part of your file.  This users file (PDF Size 1.2mb) contained nearly 325,000 objects that obviously was bogging down AutoCAD. 

 

Having a good import utility (like PdfImport) can make a world of difference by being able to bring them in and clean them up!

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