Geoffc Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 I have 2007, which finally prints to pdf, but the rest of my office is stuck between 2000 and 2006. Is there a free, simple plot to pdf plug-in that any of you have found? There's a bunch of complex paid software like bluebeam, acroplot, etc, but I'm just looking for a quick lightweight solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank1331 Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 There used to be a program called pdf995 (or something like that) that you could use to print to pdf's. I'm not sure if its still around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackb602 Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 Try http://www.dwggateway.com/ It's a free plugin that creates PDFs and allows me to open newer Autocad files with my copy of Autocad 2002. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffc Posted September 7, 2006 Author Share Posted September 7, 2006 thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eamon Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 I've got an autocad-to-pdf question: when I print to pdf, the text is changed to filled polygons - does that happen to everyone? Does it depend on the pdf printer? Is there any way to keep autocad text as text? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mskin Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 sure its not "fill" being selected in plot settings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jman0 Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 So far i've tried a couple things: Bluebeam is nice, great to convert to PDF with a single push of a button. However for whatever reason Bluebeam Revu isn't printing PDF's very well with any of our plotters. The size of the file balloons when spooled and the line quality is poor. AcroPlot is nice but it doesn't offer the simplicity of a single push of a button. I just tried DWGGateway and it's got potential however my PDF comes out in colour and the styles we use here are not working, all the lines have lost their thickness. Any others i should check out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mskin Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 Hace you tried cutepdf? i use that all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erickdt Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 I use Adobe Acrobat Pro which has the Acrobat Distiller which sort of a virtual printer that should show up in your printer list if you have Acrobat Pro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IC Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 cutepdf is excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jman0 Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Sorry i forgot to mention that we (the company i work at) are using Acrobat Distiller already. Just we are looking for a more streamlined process. Also the quality of the conversion leaves something to be desired with Distiller. It seems to have hatch patterns going over their boundry lines. Anyway i just tried CutePDF, while it doesn't offer a single button conversion (at least the freebie version), it's doing a better quality conversion than Distiller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffc Posted September 11, 2006 Author Share Posted September 11, 2006 after starting this thread, and googling a bunch, I tried and realized that Cutepdf worked within autocad, including plotting with lineweights. I had no idea prior, thinking that cutepdf was only for standard window apps/printing. And, after doing some tests, I was pleased to find that it actually produces pdf's half the file size as acad2007, which works well for emailing clients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigroo Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 I use Adobe Acrobat Pro which has the Acrobat Distiller which sort of a virtual printer that should show up in your printer list if you have Acrobat Pro. That's what I use but it's abit more expensive than the free ones on offer here. I did use a free pdf program a while back called pdf factory (http://www.pdffactory.com/products/pdffactory/index.html) but that added a small tag line but still worth a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jman0 Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 after starting this thread, and googling a bunch, I tried and realized that Cutepdf worked within autocad, including plotting with lineweights. I had no idea prior, thinking that cutepdf was only for standard window apps/printing. And, after doing some tests, I was pleased to find that it actually produces pdf's half the file size as acad2007, which works well for emailing clients. That sounds great. Worked within autocad you say? Is that CutePDF pro or something cause i find the freebie just installs a CutePDF printer and you just print to file with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffc Posted September 13, 2006 Author Share Posted September 13, 2006 After I plotted within autocad, it told me I had to download a converter to print and write to the actual pdf file. Is that what you're asking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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