External Reference - pdf really slow

[Anonymous]

Hello All

I am using a pdf file as an xref however while panning/zooming and some other basic commands, the response is really slow.

I have already tried using a jpg file but I loose the ability to grab the end point of a line. I am able to grab the end point of a line while using the pdf.

Is there a way I can speed this up.

I have 4 GB of ram and nothing else open, so I cannot see this being the problem

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Kevin

[pendean]

It is slow: beyond the 4Gig RAM, what else you got? Better hardware and 64bit OS can help a little more.

[Anonymous]

sorry, i guess that would be helpful.

I am running

Windows xp pro sp3

amd phenom 9500 quad core

2.2 GHz

3.25 GB ram.

Autocad Architecture 2010 32 bit

Ge Force 8200 512 MB

The original pdf plans were about 300 KB, after I had xref all three pdf files, the response was extremely slow. I am preparing a wall layout over a third party arch floor plan. no autocad files are available. So I have to trace the walls

Another problem I am having is that when I am saving the autocad file w/the pdf attached to a pdf file, the pdf output file becomes 10MB. by creating a pdf file from an autocad file that has pdf xrefed into is the only way I know how to get this down. Is there a way to decrease the file size.

Stumped

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Kevin

[leothebuilder]

I feel your pain.

It is worse if you use scanned PDF's.

Is is really worth ?

No.....I gave up.

Maybe in 2012 or 2014 (notice I left out 2013?)

[pendean]

Like I noted, it is slow: it is less painful with better hardware and 634bit OS and more RAM, but that's a lot fo money to spend for a noticeable but not mind blowing speed increase. As noted above, maybe in the next version there will be a cure, but I think it is fair to say that you will remain handicapped in WinXP 32bit and never more than 3Gig of usable RAM.

Any image you insert in AutoCAD, even a PDF xref, becomes uncompressed when plotted (regardless of whether you are aiming for a PDF or printer/plotter): nature of the program to date.

[Anonymous]

I was just wondering if anyone has any good ideas or solutions to speed up the autocad up when using a pdf as an underlay.

Kevin

[Keith.Brown]

PDF's as underlays are just plain slow no matter what the spec of your machine is.  I am running dual quad core Xeon x5450 processors with 16g of ram and a Quadro FX 3700 video card and pdf underlays still cause my machine to come to a crawl with Autocad MEP 2010.  They are ok to use as a reference but not in a production environment.

[rosskirby]

As stated by a couple of other posters, pdfs in CAD are just plain slow, no matter what system you're using.  If it's a scanned pdf, you could try rescanning it at a lower resolution (75-150 dpi).  Otherwise, if all you're doing is tracing it, you will be better off with .jpg or tiff.  No, you won't be able to snap to them, but you won't really be losing that much time/productivity by adjusting the walls later, especially compared with the frustration and time lost by using a pdf underlay.

[Anonymous]

I've noticed this slowness in ACAD since 2009. It hasn't improved at all in 2010, 2011, or 2012. It's something to do with the way PDFs are displayed in CAD. You'd figure it'd be slow just with vector PDFs since there's info to be snapped to...

The best way I've found to workaround this problem is to SAVE AS the raster PDFs to JPG or TIFF format, then do an image reference instead. Much faster and pretty much the same idea. Just an extra step to save as.

If you've got a vector PDF, you can use Adobe Illustrator to export to a DWG...

Hope that helps 😞

BTW, This problem exists no matter what kind of workstation you're using. I really don't see how a 64bit OS or more RAM would alleviate this problem 

My Workstation:

Intel Core i7 920

12GB DDR3 (triple channel)

SSD primary HD

Windows 7 64bit Professional

ACAD 2012

[Anonymous]

Yeah I have tried that option but sometimes when you need to trace the plan, you loose the ability to actually snap to an end point for say. You would figure that autodesk would work on this to either fix the problem or try to at least improve the performace of using a pdf as an underlay

[Anonymous]

That only applies to vector PDFs, right? Otherwise, converting to CAD with Illustrator is really a better way to go about it, IF you have illustrator, that is 🙂

Assuming we're dealing with raster PDFs, whether it's a PDF or JPG shouldn't matter. The reason I dug this thread from its grave is that I'm currently working on a floor plan TI project and all I have is an asbuilt scan 😞

[LeanderTorres]

Convert the pdf to dwg!

 convertpdfoautocad works like a charm

Edited by
Discussion_Admin

[Anonymous]

These programs are pretty much useless for converting "hand-drawn" details/sections/plans into useful DWG's.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

In addition to what I mentioned above, if you have photoshop (or whatever), and can open your PDF/s and check the "image" parameters, you can likely reduce the resolution.   I've scanned in documents at 600dpi, that choke my computer (Win7 64bit, i7 chipset quad core, 16g ram, SSN drive, nvidia K4000 graphics card - it's a beast), but reducing the PDF down to 150 dpi, or even 96 dpi, you can still get quite good quality, and your computer will be much happier dealing with multiple PDF's in a drawing.   It not only makes the drawing smaller (physically), but it reduces the file size.

It does take some trial and error to determine the sweet spot for dpi for your PDF's, but doing so will make your life much happier.   That said, my biz partner does a lot of hand-drawings, that I scan, and incorporate into our Autocad Architecture 2013 files.   I normally have a drawing just for images, such as PDF's, and reference this image dwg, into my main construction document dwg.   Still, when I have 20 PDF's, ranging from 1mb - 10mb, I do get that zoom-stagger, where my computer seems to say "WTF! are you trying to make me do??".

I put all PDF's on one layer name (in the image drawing), so when in a model space tab that is for floor plans, I'll freeze the PDF/s xref layer, and the zooming works like butter.  It only bogs down when I'm in Model space, and all my layers are ON.  

I've yet to figure out a work around, for how Autocad deals with PDFs....Jpegs, PNG's, tiffs, bmp's dont look that great due to the compression issues, and if you want them to look good, the file sizes explode - only pdf's seem to avoid image degradation.   I've concluded that with PDF's, you have to take the time to find the right balance between PDF file size, and PDF file resolution (dpi) - and how it works with your computer/plotter.   

Good luck people!

[Anonymous]

Then what do you suggest

[Anonymous]

I had reasonably good luck with making my PDF's at 150dpi, and keeping the physical size in the realm of a typical 'letter' size, about 8.5"X11" or so.   Seems that if you make the pdf image size bigger than this, it becomes more cumbersome when inserted into autocad.  If I scan in a typical 'letter' size sketch I've scribbled, or a cut sheet from a catalog, I usually make it so every 'letter' size image is about 6-8" wide, and manually set the resolution to 150 dpi.  My scanner can accomodate two 8.5"x11" sheets of paper, and when I do this I get appx an 11x17 scan.   Those of you in the know, will certainly agree that this size image at 300+ dpi will bring autocad to a crawl, so when I do these big scans, I'll knock the width of my 11x17 down to aroun 10", and reduce the dpi to 150, but never less than 96 dpi (which seems to be the lowest you can go before legibility goes to crap).    

I've also had fantastic luck by saving images as PNG files.   For whatever reason, autocad seems much happier with PNG's, and they seem to retain all the image quality you expect in a PDF, but you have to insert them as 'images' instead of 'pdf'.   I use the same sizing strategy with PNG's as I do with PDFs. and find myself using PNG's more and more instead of PDF's.

[Anonymous]

Ok great I'll give that a try thanks. I guess you cant snap to a PNG though right?

[Anonymous]

No, but not being able to snap to a PNG is what accounts for the increase in performance since autocad doesn't have to manage all the snap points in a pdf - BUT, you can toggle the 'enable snaps' to turn on/off the snap capability of PDF's inserted/xref'd into your drawing - still, I've not noticed much of a difference in performance with the snaps on/off, but it is noticeable.  I still use PDF's if I get plans and need to generate an autocad drawing using PDF's to 'trace' over - having the PDF snaps is a huge benefit.

[Anonymous]

Depending on if the pdf was made with CAD originally or not you can convert the pdf back to a dwg. You will lose all layer and linetype settings though (all lines will come through on the same layer)

However in my opinion changing a few layers is far easier than tracing the pdf.

http://anydwg.com/pdf-to-dwg.html

[Anonymous]

Some jpg and pdf are bigger than others. more pixels, like your TV, try reducing the image quality of the jpg or pdf

with adobe photo or some other software.