Solved: AutoCAD 2018 - What is causing this PDF behavior when inserted?

ghunt4MWG6 · ‎10-10-2022

Going through the ribbon I am using Insert --> PDF Import. Have done this many times with other PDF's and never any issues.

I was sent this PDF in an email, for whatever reason when I import it via PDF import it shows up as the attached images show. It shows two separate objects, the top one is all garbled, if I delete it I am left with the other image shown which is almost like it's only getting some of the PDF objects? I dunno, really weird...is this an issue with the PDF file itself?

edit: Sorry, this is in Autocad 2018.

[ The subject line of this post has been edited to include the product name by @handjonathan ]

pendean · ‎10-10-2022

Did you restart your PC then try it again?

Sharing your PDF here would go a long way to help you too: post it here.

ghunt4MWG6 · ‎10-10-2022

I have not tried restarting yet but I will do that.

Unfortunately I cannot attach the PDF as it contains company information that I am not allowed to share.

edit: I restarted and it's still doing the same thing. I asked the guy who sent me the PDF to copy it over on the server rather than sending through email, so I'll have to see if that changes anything.

TheCADnoob · ‎10-10-2022

without the files its hard to tell whats really going on.

This looks very much like a non vector PDF (hole punches in the left side usually indicate such things) and I tend to not use the PDF import for non vector pdfs. I like to trace and convert those or xref them in.

Most likely there are layers in this PDF. It looks like the raster aspect comes in ok, but the items it thinks are vectors are (likely not vectors) getting corrupted. Even scanned PDFs can have layers (or other things like OCRed text) which may be what's causing the confusion in CAD. I would try doing a few things like un checking the vector geometry option and see what comes in. and vice versa to identify the culprit.

You can also try flattening the pdf and see if you get better results. You can also open the PDF in what ever viewer you have and print to PDF again to see if it dumbs down the PDF to just be raster content.

CADnoob

Kent1Cooper · ‎10-10-2022

Should you perhaps be using PDFATTACH instead of PDFIMPORT? I don't use them very much, but I expect the clarity of the PDF would greatly affect the success of PDFIMPORT in generating drawing objects from it. Your image looks like it's a scan from a paper copy [complete with 3-ring binder holes punched], which doesn't sound like a good prospect for PDFIMPORT, as compared to [for example] a PDF generated from an AutoCAD drawing.

Kent Cooper, AIA

pendean · ‎10-10-2022

@ghunt4MWG6 wrote:

Unfortunately I cannot attach the PDF as it contains company information that I am not allowed to share.

ok.

This looks like a hand sketch, so the correct command you want to use in 2018 is PDFATTACH since there is absolutely nothing for the program to convert in your raster-sourced PDF-from-a-scan file

And your 2018 need to be fully updated: in your ABOUT command ensure 2018.1.2 is listed as the version. If not, update it https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Update...

ghunt4MWG6 · ‎10-10-2022

OK, attaching it to the drawing as an XREF does work. Not sure what data is in the PDF that is causing PDFIMPORT to have such issues.

Yes it is a scan of a paper copy, we use these for references in our drawings a lot. Previously I have not had any issues attaching these to the drawings via PDFIMPORT but who knows.