progeCAD support, tips and troubleshooting forum. progeCAD works very similar to some versions of AutoCAD. Moderated.

Moderators: caddit, Moderators

#2269 by Robby
Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:22 am
Hello,

I'm just trying Progecad 2016 Professionel. I 'm very satisfaid of it. I was wondering that some pdf are good converted to dwg and some totaly not. I got a dwg of it but couldn't adapt this. it was a pdf with handwriting on.
Has someone a solution?

Kind regards,

Rob Sleurs

#2270 by caddit
Mon Aug 24, 2015 12:32 pm
Dear Robby,


First, obviously, thank you for trying our software and for reaching out to CADDIT.


In a way, this has been asked before :) Let's explain..


"Portable Document Format" conversion will always be tricky, because the kind of hybrid container format that PDF uses fundamentally differs from data structures used in CAD. Lines and circles are VECTOR entitles, but images and handwriting are RASTER objects. So, while CAD necessarily uses vector math-based formats, PDF is basically a COS based typesetting language which evolved from the old Postscript digital printing format.

progeCAD includes a PDF to CAD converter which does reasonably well with converting vector entities (like geometry) from Adobe's Vector graphics API. Since progeCAD's PDF import is not integrated with its picture graphics support, raster data such as an embedded image or handwriting needs to be treated separately. This basically summarizes the "why" part.

The "how" solution involves other tools, some of which are also included with progeCAD. For example you can use a free tool like Adobe reader and Paint to copy-paste any images or handwriting from the PDF into a graphics editor and save the file as a JPEG etc. Then use the RASTER-TO-VECTOR tool which also comes with progeCAD.

Here is a video of how that works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VQkzAZn8YI

As stated, raster to vector conversion is always going to be tricky. Please let us know how you go with it..
#2271 by Robby
Mon Aug 31, 2015 6:47 am
Hello,

It works fine but the quality is not so good, it are brokenlines, a mess
Can it be avoided?
I have to convert mostly architectural drawings, so the walls and hashes need to be clear as possible.

#2272 by caddit
Mon Aug 31, 2015 9:11 am
Hi Robby,


Using these raster tools takes some time to get used to. There are different settings and algorithms to choose from, and striking the right combination for the right type of image might require a bit of background domain knowledge, instinct and frankly, luck.


Can you please send us an example file to:
Image


Perhaps it would help if we worked through one together? Keep in mind that we will be posting screen shots, so try not to send anything confidential.