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AutoCAD to PhotoShop


STRAT
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Hi guys

 

This post is basically following up on the post i posted in the Autocad forum about PDF Writers. -

http://www.cgarchitect.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=17;t=000006

 

It's a short tut for getting your Autocad drawings into Photoshop.

I take no credit for this as i'm only simplifying the CADTutor tutorial i mentioned in that post, but this works an absolute treat and hopefully someone out there will find it usefull.

 

1) First make sure you have the appropriate plot driver installed. In Acad, from the top menu goto TOOLS > WIZARDS > ADD PLOTTER

 

2) click NEXT, make sure MY COMPUTER is checked, then NEXT, then highlight ADOBE and POSTSCRIPT LEVEL 1 (maybe allready highlighted) and NEXT > NEXT > NEXT > NEXT and finally FINISH.

 

3) load up your drawing, make sure your in model space (tilemode 1) then goto PLOT. Under the PLOT DEVICE tab scroll down through the plot drivers and near the bottom select POSTSCRIPT LEVEL 1.PC3

 

4) Still under the PLOT DEVICE tab, check the PLOT TO FILE (THIS PLOT ONLY) box and then enter the name and location of your .EPS file in the boxes below.

 

5) Then change to the PLOT SETTINGS tab, PAPER SIZE (to your liking, A3 for this example), PRINTABLE AREA : MM, select PLOT SCALE : SCALED TO FIT, then your usual choices of PLOT AREA and DRAWING ORIENTATION. Finally click OK. you can then quit Autocad.

 

6) Open up Photoshop and just goto FILE > OPEN, then goto the location of the .EPS file you just created and open that. An options box will then appear for your file. For A3 size 200 DPI is ok use, A2 about 300 and A1 about 400, although the bigger the file size the bigger and longer the processing time. Change MODE to RGB COLOR, then click OK.

 

7) To make it more usable, from the top menu goto LAYER > NEW > LAYER FROM BACKROUND (making sure white is your backround layer). Then just goto IMAGE > ADJUST > DESATURATE, and you're ready to rock and roll!

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Guest Gen. Disorder

the method i have long used is a bit more complicated than these, but i have found no other that allows for as much flexability.

 

i actually leave teh drawing vector for as long as possible. i 'dxfout' of cad & then bring that file into corel draw. (illustrator will do the same thing, but im a corel man. so there!) once there, i have all my objects on there original layers. i can scale, change, update (sort of), control line wieghts, notes, & do most anything i could do in autocad. i can also begin the presentaiton document production process (in the case of floor plans i often never leave corel draw). or i can then export out as any kind of raster file i want at any size. programs like corel & illustrator are so much better at creating raster files, i try not to let cad ever do it if i can help it. for a large 50,000 SqFt floor plan, i can generaly convert & prep a .dwg into a .cdr in about an hour.

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Gen and David A - you're both right, there a loads of better and more effective ways of doing it, but the point of the post was to go directly from acad to photoshop. (for instance, i dont own illustrator, pdf writer, or corel draw) :)

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