Insert PDF for tracing

[dzatto]

I thought I read somewhere that you could insert a PDF (floor plan sketch for example) into Revit and use it to trace in your walls. Is this possible? I can't find anything on it now.

[mallaire86]

You have to save your PDF as a JPG, insert it, then select it and rescale it off a known dimension similar to what you have to do with a PDF in OST or QTO. I would pin it down in the workspace then so you don't accidentally resize it.

[dzatto]

Can you snap to it after it is inserted?

[eric.piotrowicz]

You can't snap to images. We had several of our users wanting to do this a few months ago. IMO its more work to trace over an image than it is to read the drawings and build the model. Additionally stuff done in AutoCAD seems to have problems with users overriding dimensions instead of drawing correctly, hand drawings are even worse. This will cause lots of headaches along the way and there is no way to tell if the end result is anywere near accurate.
In short, yes you can trace images but I don't recommend it.

[dzatto]

You can't snap to images. We had several of our users wanting to do this a few months ago. IMO its more work to trace over an image than it is to read the drawings and build the model. Additionally stuff done in AutoCAD seems to have problems with users overriding dimensions instead of drawing correctly, hand drawings are even worse. This will cause lots of headaches along the way and there is no way to tell if the end result is anywere near accurate.
In short, yes you can trace images but I don't recommend it.
I see your point.
One of my clients gives me preliminary drawings to scale done by hand. No dimensions. I have to scale out every wall. It would be a lot easier if I could just trace them and make the appropriate changes as I'm going. Oh well. Looks like I have a date with a scale and a pencil tonight. :lol:

[vennix.239720]

Quick how to to insert pdf's into revit
open the pdf in illustrator
export as dwg
scale in autocad
link into revit model

Cheers
Geert

[jsnyder.68308]

Print the PDF to a DWF and link that in?
The Illustrator route will give you vectors that you can scale/redraw in AutoCAD, theoretically. But Illustrator costs lots of money. You could also convert the PDF to a JPG or TIFF via a scan, then insert the image into AutoCAD, scale it properly, then trace over it. Then link/import the AutoCAD file.

[truevis]

There is some shareware around that converts vector-based PDFs to DXF. I tried one of those apps and it worked well.

[Tom Phillips]

open the pdf in illustrator
export as dwg



We happen to have Illustrator, but I'm not the one who uses it. What are the steps in Illustrator to get to a export as dwg?

[jyoungner]

In Illustrator CS4 it is quite easy. Go to export and there is a DWG option.

[gbrowne]

Note: This only works if the drawing was a cad drawing to start with, won't be to scale, will have some horrible hatching artefacts and the text is a non starter..

As the previous poster said, you can do it, but it shouldn't be trusted very much, accuracy wise.. ;-)

[diesellam]

PDF2DWG
http://www.autodwg.com/