Software for finding area from a pdf provided cross section

[dcidci]

Does anyone know of a program to find area when provided with cross sections in pdf.

Does adobe pdf provide anything that can perform that function.

 

[cvg]

planimeter or if you are cadd savvy, just paste the image into autocad, scale it to full size and trace the area

 

[brandoncdg]

Or print to scale and use a scale for a rough number. The CAD and scale idea is better.

CDG, Los Angeles Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading

http://cdg-ca.com

 

[dgillette]

cvg - You said "planimeter"! You must be over 50, because I don't think many under 50 know what that is. You ought to see their eyes bug out when I pull mine out of the cabinet and say "Here, use this."

DRG

 

[cvg]

well, my 50th B-day was last summer. I remember when we went from mechanical planimeters to digital planimeters - what an improvement that was. I also remember the smell of ammonia on fresh bluelines - better than a cup of coffee to get you started in the morning.

 

[TDAA]

I have used a planimeter, and I am only 36

And yes, there was something to be said for the smell of fresh prints, but much more to be said with plan scanners/copiers. I first got that smell when I took drafting in high school., but the place I started at after college got rid of theirs shortly after our lab merged in with the rest of the office.

 

[brandoncdg]

I am 30 and used a planimeter a lot 4 years ago when doing multi million C.Y. earthworks by hand. Thank you Mihaly for showing me why it's so important to be able to do that as a designer. He wasn't exactly old school, but I know it's not that normal out here for others to teach the younger guys like he did.

So what was dcidci's solution?

CDG, Los Angeles Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading

http://cdg-ca.com

 

[TDAA]

Oh, and yes, Adobe Acrobat (full version) does have a measure tool. It is under Tools>Measuring, and you can pick from length, perimeter, and area.

 

[TDAA]

Also, meant to mention that you can put a scale in it, say: 1in=20ft, but it will be the same horizontal and vertical.

 

[brandoncdg]

IDAA: That's very good to hear. I have to test that out, as that can be pretty useful.

CDG, Los Angeles Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading

http://cdg-ca.com

 

[TerryScan]

Another thing than could be useful would be Dotsoft's products. I have Toolpac and find it contains routines for the majority of problems I can think of. Included in Toolpac is a PDF import routine. Dotsoft also sells a standalone PDF import.

http://www.dotsoft.com/

I am not affiliated with Dotsoft other than being a customer.

Terry S.

 

[dcidci]

Appreciate all the responses, got hold of adobe pro and it works great.

Can adobe figure out volumes given a site map with existing and new contours? How about dotsoft.

 

[brandoncdg]

Volumes? Out of curiosity do you know how to get a volume using your method by hand? From all methods I know by hand I doubt Adobe has that stuff built in.

CDG, Los Angeles Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading

http://cdg-ca.com

 

[TDAA]

No, Adobe cannot do that. Heck, I knew it had measurements, but was surprised to see it do areas, especially with a scale.

Remember, Adobe is based on programs for graphics, not engineering, and PDF's were intended just to provide a way to easily allow people to see documents that they may not have had the original program for (Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, etc.)

 

[dgillette]

If you can get areas within contours using Adobe (or my ancient mechanical planimeter with its worm gears and Vernier dial), you can find the volume by doing average end area on thin horizontal slices between the contour elevations.

DRG

 

[brandoncdg]

dgillette: That's why I was asking if the OP knows how to do this stuff by hand. Some of the calcs, may be obvious to some and not obvious to others.

CDG, Los Angeles Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading

http://cdg-ca.com

 

[ishvaaag]

There is a software pdftodwg that purportedly can do such thing, i.e. take meaningful pdf data and pass it to autocad, what would ease very much the task.

http://www.autodwg.com/pdf-to-dwg-converter/es/pdf2dwg.htm

There maybe more, google it.

 

[brandoncdg]

Every PDF to DWG converter I have seen makes a squiggly line DWG file that is not useable for more than just looks.

CDG, Los Angeles Civil Engineering specializing in Hillside Grading

http://cdg-ca.com

 

[ishvaaag]

Hmm ... vectorizers are with us since the early 90's that I have had some ... and used very little. Some later variants promised the ability of letting you (software) helped rectify a great part of the conversion, but truly have not seen at work myself, that in the modest undertakings I had with the vectorizers were better retouched by (autocad) hand. In any case, I think the exactitude will have much to do with the size and used resolution of the vectorization, and straightening. At big sizes following limits in the original should be better, but depending of the application the vectorizations can be good enough; there is a lot of activity in image processing (see for such kind of software how much GIS related is being done even free as SourceForge projects) , and through photogrammetry for GIS, so there must be out there great software able to produce accurate info for very variegated purposes.

 

[sodengineer]

Here is another old school solution.
If you can create a set of coordinates for each point (use any aribtrary scale, just be sure you can create a coordinate for each vertex.) Then, by use of the irregular cross section area algorithim, you can compute double the volume, then just divide by 2.

see

http://www.tpub.com/inteng/10e.htm

for the procedure.