Printing DWFX to PDF in BIM360

[twellins]

Hi there,

We are currently publishing DWFx to BIM360 however we are finding 3rd parties requiring our drawings are "printing" as a PDF and are experiencing some serious pixelation in the conversion.  Can anybody help?

[renata.demuro]

Hi @twellins , 

Thank you for your post! 

I opened the PDFs you provided on my computer in Adobe and see the see the pixelation there. This tells me the issue is with the file, not the BIM 360 Viewer. 

I will go ahead and transfer this post to the AutoCAD forum so that they may assist in the issue that printing to PDF is resulting in a blurry/pixelated PDF. 

Have a great day! 

[pendean]

@renata.demuro what does printing from DWFx to PDF have to do with AutoCAD and the AutoCAD forum?
It would be better if this was moved to whatever program the OP used to do that AutoCAD-Never-Required process IMHO.

[pendean]

What program or process are you using to create the PDF from the DWFx file exactly?
Post your actual DWFx file as well please, the source file, for comparison.

[twellins]

Hi there,

We've used the PRINT TO PDF option via bim360 print and BluebeamPDF drivers both with the same result.  I've attached an example.

PDFing straight from Revit, no problem with the same file.

We are using DWFx files in leiu of revit sheets in BIM360 because we are finding it vastly superior for our site teams working from devices on site.  Works and looks the same as Revit sheets however it loads much quicker.  The only function we lose is the "place me" option on the sheets.

We also print 3D Dwfx of levels as a federated model, again this is much quicker than the Revit sheets.

[pendean]

You ought to be posting in the BIM360 forum, reply back if you want this entire thread moved there, easier than you starting over.

Looking at your PDFs' properties listing (presumably from BIM360 as I did not recognize the PDF driver as being Bluebeam of anything else), they appear to have been "dumbed-down", the text is printed as "graphics" with a low res setting for output. I see from your DWFx file that is not how you created it. I suspect a setting in the driver(s) you used was missed.

Bluebeam Support is over here if you want to start a discussion there https://support.bluebeam.com/

TIA

[renata.demuro]

HI @twellins, 

Apologies! I misunderstood your original post. I thought you were printing to PDF from AutoCAD, not from the BIM 360 Viewer. 

Thank you for providing a copy of the DWFX file. I was able to replicate the issue of a pixelated PDF when printing from BIM 360. I've let our product team know so they may investigate. 

In the meantime, I recommend downloading Design Review and printing the files to PDF from there. I was able to export a clear PDF that way (attached). 

I hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any questions. 

[twellins]

Thank you 🙂  

The problem for us is we are completely digital in house.  It's our third party guys wanting to download the information.  Agreed, we have told our 3rd parties to download design review, however, if we could close the double handling that would be excellent.  I'm sure we are not the only people experiencing this problem.

[renata.demuro]

@twellins , 

Have you been able to print to PDF from BIM 360 successfully in the past with other DWFX files? What about other file types? Or did the issue first occur on this specific batch of files? 

[twellins]

Happens on all DWFx files using the in-built Revit DWF exporter.  When dragged into BIM360, perfect no dramas.  Only when printing from BIM360 to PDF we get the issue.

[twellins]

To clarify this statement,

We export from Revit to dwfx using the revit DWF exporter, then drag the files into BIM360 manually.  It works digitally, just when printing from BIM360 we have the issue.  If we download the source file and print from design review for example, no Issue.

If I print from Revit straight to PDF, no issue.

[renata.demuro]

Hi @twellins, 

I reached out to the Development Team and let them know that PDFs generated from a DWFx file in the BIM Viewer, result in a blurry/pixelated PDF. They responded: That is as-designed. It’s not really plotting to print but just taking a high-resolution image of the sheet being viewed.

In order to have clear PDFs, I recommend print to PDF from either Revit or Design Review. If you would like to see better PDF exporting from the BIM Viewer, please post this feature request in our BIM 360 Idea Forum. 

If this answers your question, please click the "Accept Solution" button so others may benefit from your post. If not, I'm here and happy to answer any questions. Thanks!