PDF TO DWG CONVERTER TO SCALE

[Anonymous]

Hi All

So basically, short story I was working on a project on autocad 2016 and my laptop got stolen. Luckily, I had saved theses drawings to PDF to show my boss the progress, so I was wondering if anyone could help me with any advice on, how I could get these PDFs back into DWG format, and of course to scale. I spent so much of time on this and I can't afford to loose time again to redraw this up.

Thank everyone in advance.  

[Slawomir_]

Hi charlinejulia,

as far as I know from AutoCAD 2017 there is option to import PDF as geometry using PDFIMPORT command.

Have a look at other thread covering this topic.

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

What a bummer!  DO you not back up your files to a thumbdrive or to the cloud?  If all you have left is the vector-based PDFs, then yes, AutoCAD 2017 with updates applied should be able to import your PDF's.  There will be some accuracy loss but it is a good starting point.

Please let me know if you require assistance or additional resources.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> I was working on a project on autocad 2016 and my laptop got stolen. 

>> I spent so much of time

May I ask where you do have your backup?

Every time I read that project data gets lost and a lot of time was spent I can't stop from sending again and again the remembering that backup's are a must, not an option (hoping that some readers now get a simple USB harddisk and run a simple copy of the project data and place this drive to a position different to the place of the source data).

>> If all you have left is the vector-based PDFs, then yes, AutoCAD 2017 with updates applied

>> should be able to import your PDF's.  There will be some accuracy loss but it is a good starting point

Even that has destroyed all your structure, PDF's does not contain any structure, all is equal to AutoCAD has used _EXPLODE for every object, no blocks, no dimensions, no 3D-objects, nothing exists in a PDF you had in the DWG.

If you need again full structured drawings I would suggest to import the PDF into as new drawing, then create a new drawing and use _XREF to reference this previous drawing and now start to draw from scratch. Use the XRef just for orientation, but do not use the objects from the PDF directly.

- alfred -

[Anonymous]

Hello Slawomir

Thank you for your advice, I tried that but in does not import as 'scaled' to the right dimensions. 

Thank you

[Anonymous]

Hi John

Thank you for your comment, you can say that again ! Unfortunately not. ;-( all I have is PDF'S....

When I import using auto 2017, the PDF does not convert to DWG in the correct scale 😞

Is there maybe a setting that I did not do right?

Thank you

[Anonymous]

Hi Alfred

Thank you for your comment! Actually I did not back up at that moment, which was an error from my side. I always back up onto my hard drive...

Thank you for your advice.

[Slawomir_ · Accepted solution]

Bad luck. Unfortunately I don't have better solution for this...

PS Imported PDF geometry can be scaled at a given known factor only if PDF was exported to defined scale. If not it can be scaled using scale - reference.

Good luck on recovering data.

[Anonymous]

Totally 😞 Thank you for trying.

The PDF was to scale 1:50...

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I believe that you should be able to import your PDF and then scale everything without too much difficulty. If you can, please attach a sample file so that I can prepare a quick video of the process.

[jggerth]

so you should be able to scale it up by 50.

Bear in mind though, the PDF is NOT precision vector software --  originally it was developed as a portable document format so letter size pages would look and print the same regardless of OS or printer.  Expecting something that was intended to run at 150/ 300 dpi to create a drawing exactly  as the original dwg is not realistic.  'close enough' may be good enough, or may not.

[Anonymous]

Hello John

Thank you for your reply, that would be so awesome. Your a life saver. Please find attached PDF file...

[Anonymous]

Thank you JGerth for your advice. 

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

When I use the ImportPdf I select import as Block (makes easier to scale later). and I also note the size. When it is imported I can scale by 25.4 to get the correct size.

But, if the scale still doesn't look correct, try using the Scale by reference option. See how to do this in the attached video.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hi There

Please help me with this file I am very new to CAD and I am struggling.I need it from PDF to DWG for Use in Revit

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

I see that you are visiting as a new member. Welcome to the Autodesk Community! 

I started a NEW AutoCAD drawing file and then used PDFIMPORT to bring the PDF in as Vector linework.

Next, I used scale (reference) to verify that is was scaled properly.

To bring it into Revit, use the Insert menu. You can elect to Link CAD or Import CAD to bring it into your project. I attached a project where the file was inserted.

I didn't do any clean up (such as removing the titleblock) prior to importing it.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.