Can you turn a pdf into a dwg file?

[dennisg]

Can you turn a pdf into a dwg file? I was just wondering.

Thanks,

Dennis

[Dean Saadallah]

Topic is beaten to death almost daily on this server, next time try a search
at the top level at http://discussion.autodesk.com as most likely you are
never ever the first one with an issue.

PDF to DWG:

First, you should ask the PDF file creator: maybe they don't want you to
have a DWG of it, or they do have one but it is not posted. It's always nice
to ask permission first.


PDF -> Adobe Illustrator -> DWG/DXF -> AutoCAD
PDF -> GhostScript + GSView + PStoEdit -> DXF -> AutoCAD
PDF -> Adobe Acrobat (free or full version) -> Copy/Paste -> AutoCAD

Open Adobe Illustrator version 10 (if you have it, if not, might
want to consider buying it), open the PDF, then Export to DXF format.
In AutoCAD, open the DXF file and save to DWG.

Get the freebie tools GhostScript + GSView + PStoEdit from the
Internet (any search engine will help you find them all), install
them all in the order noted above, download the quirky help files
that go with them, then open the PDF file in GSVIEW, then you use
the Edit>Convert to vector format... and pick the DXF option.
In AutoCAD, open the DXF file and save to DWG. The result is not
'pretty' though.

Adobe Acrobat Reader, open the PDF file, use the Graphics
Select Tool (in current version, click on arrow next to
Select Text, called Smapshot), select the graphic(s) you want
to bring in, right-click and select Copy (no need if your choice
is Snapshot, it's automatic), then in AutoCAD right click and
select Paste: now you have an OLE image of the graphic to use
in AutoCAD.
If you use the Text Select Tool in Acrobat, use PASTESPEC in
AutoCAD to bring it in as an MTEXT block: current text style
settings apply. This assumes the text in your PDF is text, and
was not saved as graphics.

In Adobe Acrobat Reader version 6 and higher, explore using the
SNAPSHOT tool to copy content to the clipboard, then paste into
AutoCAD.

NOTE: nothing will not covert a scan which has been converted
into pdf format however, so if the drawings you wish to convert
were scanned and then put into pdf format, you will have no luck.

--
Dean Saadallah
Add-on products for LT
http://www.pendean.com/lt
--

[ohd]

"dennisg" <dennisg@munger-eng.com> wrote in message
news:41780da8$1_3@newsprd01...

Can you turn a pdf into a dwg file? I was just wondering.

Thanks,

Dennis

Yes, by using Adobe Illustrator, then Export to DWG.

It requires that the PDF file was made (printed) from a vector file and not
just a scan.

However,
you will loose layers, linetypes, associative dimensioning, text, circles
etc...
It all comes out as a million "loose" line fragments..

--
Ola H