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SW/Word 5

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sbmathias

sbmathias

Industrial
Jan 29, 2004
50
US
We produce "Instruction Books" for our product, which are MS Word documents. We've tried to export SW assembly drawings, but with poor results. We've gone through AutoCAD, and on screen, they look fine, but print out too light to be of any use. We've tried jpg, eps, and pdf, all with less-than-stellar results. I've tried copying a view from a SW drawing file, but this doesn't seem to work (I get "could not copy some objects" error, and nothing shows up in Word).

Does anyone have any successful experience doing anything like this?
 
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Out Techincal Publications group makes all of our manuals in Word (should be PageMaker or Qurak Express, but that's a difference argument). We export required illustrations from SW as DXFs, then those are tweaked in AutoCAD, then brought into Word. I don't know their exact procedures, but I'll ask.

[green]"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."[/green]
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?
 
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I have had success through word by the following:
insert>object>create from file
and going to the Solidworks drawing. It will only insert the sheet that was active when the file was saved. So if you have multiple sheets, you will need to go back to the SW document and switch sheets and re-save.

Once the SW drawing inserts, yo will be able to resize as needed. The only drawback I encountered was inserting a drawing that had an Excel bom embedded within. The bom didn't import.
 
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We have used JPG's for past couple years until 2005 came out. Now for some reason they are not very clear. Now we print them then scan into Word.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP2.0 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
 
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The route I go for clarity is save as .tif. Then I convert that to a jpeg. Then I use that file for anything I need to do.

KM
 
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Thanks to all who have replied so quickly. Shaggy's reply worked quite well: kind of a dark background on the screen, but it prints wonderfully. Scott's screen shot idea wasn't very successful: after cropping and stretching, both text and lines are bitmappy and ugly; almost illegible. I'm sorry to hear about ctopher's procedure - it sounds like a big step backwards.

I'll be interested to see if MadMango comes up with anything better from his Pubs group.
 
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I have been looking for anything that will take nice pics from SW and paste into Word. I have tried screen shots from variuous programs, but all the same. If anyone knows of a great program to do this, I am very interested. thanks

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP2.0 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
FAQ371-376
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-1091
FAQ559-716
 
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This may be only slightly appropriate - but when you take a screen capture, it only uses the resolution at which you are viewing. Stretching images will almost always result in illegible text, even with high-end graphics programs like Photoshop. A marginal trick could be to change your screen resolution to its highest setting, then screen capture - should be a better image.

Another option would be stretching the image data itself and then adding your own text after-the-fact (You could even use MSPaint). A fair amount of post-processing is required but results can be had.
 
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Tick's secret formula...[noevil]

You will need GhostScript (shareware < or some other program that can make the file conversions (Hijaak?).
[ol][li]Print your SW screen or drawing to a PDF[/li]
[li]Open PDF in GhostScript[/li]
[li]Convert PDF to PNG with GhostScript[/li]
[li]Use PNG image in your Word document[/li][/ol]

I like the PNG format because it preserves vector formatting (your thin lines won't blur out). PNG images are memory-light enough that they don't bog down your document.

[bat]I could be the world's greatest underachiever, if I could just learn to apply myself.[bat]
-SolidWorks API VB programming help
 
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I don't understand how you got "bitmappy and ugly; almost illegible" because all the screen shots I make work out beautifully in word or in any package. I guess it deteremines on what resolution you use. If you use a small res like 800x600 and try to expand it to fit the page, then yes you would see that. but I use a 1600x1200 res and my screen shots come out great.

See my example of both ways:


Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP [pc2]
3DVision Technologies
faq731-376
faq559-716 - SW Fora Users
 
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Scott, I have the same res as you and all my screenshots are a little blurry. It's not just my pc, it is all dept. We tried different res, but all the same.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP2.0 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
FAQ371-376
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-1091
FAQ559-716
 
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Scott:

My screen is set at 1024 x 768. Not terribly high res, admittedly. I think what kills this method for me is the fact that I crop (quite a bit) and then stretch the image in Word. Stretching bitmaps of any type is prone to poor quality results, even using Photoshop or some other powerful image editor.

I may experiment some more with screen resolutions, but so far Shaggy's "insert from file" seems to be a pretty good approach. However, I do appreciate everyone's contribution. What doesn't work for me might be just what another visitor is looking for.
 
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My last point:

I took a screen shot and then cropped it using Paint shop pro. I also save the file as a jpeg. I copied the image file from PSP and pasted it in Word. Then I done the insert\Picture\From file.

If you look at my example there is no difference between the 2.

If you stretch and image in word your right it will lose it's resoultion and like crap.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP [pc2]
3DVision Technologies
faq731-376
faq559-716 - SW Fora Users
 
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I talked to Tech Pubs here, they convert all images (SW, AutoCAD, JPEGs, etc) to WMF format then Inster>Picture>From File...

[green]"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."[/green]
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?
 
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The JPG to WMF works GREAT in a Word doc. I will use it in the future!
 
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Right click on it, rename. Change jpg to wmf.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP2.0 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
FAQ371-376
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-1091
FAQ559-716
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
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