Autocad PDF output 1

[Kimmo]

Hi you all and greetings from a newbie on the list.

I'm facing a problem with Autocad. I'm working as an administrative person in a big company that will soon utilize more Autocad because of the pressure from the clients and subcontractors.

Now I was given a task to get separate Autocad dwg-files to a single pdf file so, that the individual dwg's form the pages of the "pdf-book". I hope this explanation does even little bit of sense...

Could anyone help me by telling, if there is any ready-made software to handle this. The requirement is that the task must also be done from Autocad LT that allows no programming or automation.

Thanks !

 

[gskiver]

Hi Kimmo,

Adobe Illustrator V10 will import dwg files and export them as pdf's...

Good Luck...

GSkiver

 

[Kimmo]

Forgot to mention one more thing. The software should be freeware. There's gonna be hundreds of users inside the company and paying all the license fees is not an option.

Thanks !

 

[rKeyTek]

To Kimmo:
Try to download "Win2PDF" from

http://www.win2pdf.com

(Its free)
This should install as a printer and then you can do a batch plot from AutoCAD LT.
.
I'm not sure if AutoCAD LT allows batch plotting but the full version AutoCAD ...does.
.
The batch plotting SETUP in AutoCAD is a little time consuming but well worth it.
.
Plotting to the WIN2PDF printer should convert your DWG files to PDF files. The only catch is the paper size will be limtied to 11-by-17 or 8.5-by-11.
.
Another free PDF printer is

http://www.pdf995.com

.
Hope this helps

 

[MikeMilburn]

Check out E-Doc Printer,

http://www.iteksoft.com/

, it's not a freebie it's what I use to create .pdf's from my drawings (using TurboCAD) and it works great. It has the ability to add watermarks, password protect and a few other options. For $30.00 it's a good deal, no doubt it'll be cheaper for multiple licenses.
Another program is Jaws PDF Editor,

http://www.jawspdf.com/pdf_editor/index.html

, it allows you to combine .pdf files into one file. The same company also makes a .pdf program that's good but I prefer E-Doc as it will autogenerate names if the file exists.
Those are the two I tried but there are more out there if you do a search.
IMHO I don't think you're going to find many good freebie programs, I can't think offhand the name of the free one I tried, Ghostgum, Ghostman or some such name but it was a pain to set up.
If you want to see the results of a file created with E-Doc drop me a line and I'll send you a sample. And before anyone says I work for the outfit, no I don't I just like their software ....Mike

 

[CADQUEEN]

View companion works great for us and it does batch conversion.

http://www.cadalog.com

Search View companion and download.
Good luck!

 

[DanDel]

Thanks, rKeyTek, the pdf995 works very well. I gave you a star.

 

[rKeyTek]

Thanks Guy!

 

[Kimmo]

At least the pdf995 seems to be a suitable solution to the problem. Thanks for everyone !

 

[SignalMan]

MikeMilburn, does E-Doc do 24 x 36 size?

 

[MikeMilburn]

Yep, it has a custom size entry box, you can enter any size you want. If you want crop me a line and I'll send you a screenshot of the configuration page milburmi@yahoo.com ..Mike

 

[bwarner]

Try "Push button PDF" by Bluebeam Software Inc. It works great. It is a one step process from within autoCAD. You simply push a button and you get a PDF of the drawing. The quality of the PDF is much better than the results of some other software that I have used. It costs $250 for a single license, but it is worth it.

I will send you a sample PDF if you email me at bwarner73@msn.com

 

[Cistoldi33]

Hello,
I see this is older, but check out

http://www.cadzation.com.

It is very simple to use, and make great pdf's from AutoCAD, and they have a free trail.

Best of luck,