Convert Drawings to PDFs?

[REDesigner09]

Hi,

I'm using NX 6 & I wish to convert the drawing to a '.pdf' format. I know there is an option within NX, but when converted, some of the text is re-formatted in some way & doesn't look good.

I tried using other '.pdf' convertors, such as PDF Creator & the conversion looks good. However, it's only capturing 1 sheet & not the multiple others that are in the drawing.

How can I convert the drawing to get a "clean" '.pdf' drawing that will include all sheets or is their another suggested '.pdf' software that can do this?


Thanks

 

[jerry1423]

Do you know if you are using "PDF-Exchange" ?

 

[Jaydenn]

When you output your PDF using "FILE>EXPORT>PDF" there is a setting for text...
"output text" you can choose either text or polylines.

Try playing with that setting.

Jay

NX 6.0.5.3

 

[mmauldin]

Primo PDF will do all sheets if you highlight them print dialouge box.

 

[REDesigner09]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the feedback. It appears that the setting the output to Polylines gives desired results or does not re-format the text.

Thanks again...

 

[JohnRBaker]

Up until NX 8.0 (but only if your NX Drawings were created using TrueType fonts) this will always be an issue since there is no exact conversion if you're trying to create PDF files with 'text' strings which behave as text objects (they can be edited, searched, etc.).

When exporting an NX Drawing as a PDF file you have two options as to how to handle the 'conversion' of text notes and annotation. The default is to export it as 'Text' which will try and select an appropriate TrueType font which will then be used when the PDF file is generated, but it will not be an exact match visually. There is another option, 'Polylines', which will give you a much closer visual reproduction, but in that case the 'text' elements in the PDF file will NOT be recognized as actual text objects but rather as a series of line segments. This means that the 'text' can NOT be searched or edited.

So for NX 6.0 (as well as any version prior to NX 8.0) those are you only real options. And trying some 3rd party conversion will not help you any since again, the best that they will do is convert the NX text as polylines at best, which while it will 'look right', if will not be real text. So it's you choice (which you already have using the built-in Export -> PDF function).

Now starting with NX 8.0, if you use TrueType fonts when creating your NX Drawings, then using the 'Text' option when exporting to PDF no conversion will be needed and you will see exactly what you saw on your Drawing.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[DaSalo]

What changed? How is NX8 handling TureType fonts differently than previous versions?

NX 7.5.4, NX 8.0.1.5
Tecnomatix Quality 8.0.1.3
PC-DMIS 2011 MR1

 

[uwam2ie]

@daSalo
yes it is a highlight in Nx8...

 

[JohnRBaker]

Prior to NX 8.0, Drafting used UG/NX Fonts, which were single stroked non-filled fonts, which needed to either be 'converted' to something close using TrueType in the PDF document or left as polylines which did retain the original appearance, but were not real text. For NX 7.5 we did a couple of 'tricks' to make this behavior a little less problematic but it was not fully addressed until NX 8.0.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[JohnRBaker]

OK I need to make one small correction and then offer a solution for the original problem outlined in this thread.

Starting with NX 7.5 when exporting a PDF file using the 'Text' option will now get a result which will BOTH look exactly like it did in NX and will allow you to do Text searches (i.e. 'Find') on the resulting PDF document. However, even though the 'Text' on the PDF document can be searched (which is the extent of the text functionality using something like Adobe's free 'reader' which I assume is what many, if not most, of our customers are using), if you have full-blown Adobe Acrobat, the text can no be accessed as 'text' object for anything other then reading and searching. You will not be able to edit or 'Copy & Paste' the text as text objects.

And this also go for NX 8.0 and newer versions as well, even though NX will not support TrueType fonts and while the exported PDF files will look identical to the NX files, again the 'Text' will only usable for reading and searching, but nothing else (this is the correction from what I stated in a previous post earlier in this thread.

OK, so now what can you do if you're still running NX 6.0.

If you're running NX 6.0.4.3 or NX 6.0.5.3 there is an option that can be set so that you will have the same behavior as the enhanced Export PDF in NX 7.5, that is if you set the Text option to 'Text' you will get BOTH output which looks identical to what your NX drawing looked like AND you will be able to read and search the text on the PDF file in products like Adobe Reader.

So if you would like to get this NX 7.5 PDF Export behavior, set the following environment variable:

UGII_CGM_EXPORT_HIDDEN_TEXT=1

That's all you need to do. Note however that once you install NX 7.5, this variable will be ignored since starting in NX 7.5 this will now be the default behavior.

Anyway, I hope this gives you what you're looking for.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[rg006]

I just wanted to share some experience with 3rd party PCD converters, just FYI. If you plot a drawing to something like an hpp/hpgl etc. and then try to print that using a program such as PDFCreator, you will get a PDF file that does not have vectors (defining the lines). If you are just making drawings for your shop to print, then this is not an issue, but if you are trying to get a true scale drawing for some reason you will have problems. Trying to print a pdf created this way to scale will not work. Just be warned. There may be a work around, but I have not found one yet.

 

[looslib]

That's why every company I have worked for has a note like this on the face of the drawing: "DO NOT SCALE DRAWING".


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli