PDF plotting suggestions

Any good PDF plotting utilities/drivers/programs/etc. for AutoCAD? Can you
tell me the name, some key features and an estimated cost per user/site
license/etc.

One that has batch PDF plotting would be great.

We have tried PDF reDIRECT ....which we dislike.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

 

We need to send our clients drawings in PDF format. Sometimes we need to
send a block of drawings.

So, we are looking for a utility/driver/etc. that you select in AutoCAD
plotting dialog to print(save) to a PDF ...and even patch PDF from inside
and/or outside of AutoCAD.

HTH

 

The most versatile app for working with PDF files, of course, is Adobe
Acrobat, which sells for about $220 on the street.

Other options range from free (you'll find a number of PDF generators with a
Google search), to a few dollars, and come with various levels of utility
and ease of use (more expensive doesn't always mean better, especially among
these off-brand offerings). You'll find dozens of comments and
recommendations by simply searching this NG.
___

 

Acroplot is still my favorite.

Haley-Dusa Group
Steve Mann

 

Are you trying to produce PDF Files? Or spool them to a printer/plotter?

Gman

 

Jeff,

Do a search on the net for cutepdf.

It is free and will allow you to print to custom size sheets easily and
accurately.

Dave Alexander
Keen Engineering Co. Ltd.
www.keen.ca

 

try this
www.plotstream.com
Try the 30 day demo that is available.
Gman

 

Fascinating, isn't it? Nobody mentions Bluebeam Pushbutton PDF. It's like
everybody knows that the price of Bluebeam is prohibitive. I think Autodesk
needs to quit pushing expensive solutions and to get real. Architects and
engineers are competing with their peers to come up with cost savings that
their clients and CEO's can appreciate.

 

PDF995 works very well and can be found here:
http://www.pdf995.com/

 

We use a program called View Companion, is is low cost and does a great job
in coverting hpgl to pdf format. It also does batch converting. There are
two versions, Sandard and Pro. I believe both are under $80.00. You can
download a 30 day trail.

 

Acrobat 5 is fine, provided that you do not need to print plots larger than 45" x 45" or a combination of transparent bitmaps and wipeouts, when all the wipeouts come out black. Acrobat 6 is fine too provided that you never plot from model space and can master the complexities of the 'standard' plot.

 

Why would that be? We plot from both MS and PS without problems of any kind.
___

master the complexities of the 'standard' plot.

 

As John suggests try out our AcroPlot or AcroPlot Pro at www.cadzation.com.
The Pro version not only does AutoCAD but it lets you batch Word, Excel,
AutoCAD, image files, DWF, and most plt files into a single PDF. There is s
free evaluation version and just please let us know what you think of it. I
had originally created the program to make my job easier since I realized
years ago that it was much easier to send a single PDF of the entire project
rather than all the dwg files for review. Then I decided to market it and
haven't stopped trying to make it better since.

One of the main advantages is that if you properly use True Type Text in
your drawings it will be converted as True Type Text in the PDF. To
properly use it you have to make sure that the width factor is 1.0, the
Oblique angle is 0.0, and you don't use the fit text option. Most of the
other options even when you use True Type Text properly converts the text to
graphics in the PDF and hence the file size can be 10 to 20 times larger.
Cadalyst did independant testing of ours, Adobe's, and Bluebeam's from the
AutoCAD 2004 Wilhome sample drawing and there's were 1.7 MB and ours was 124
KB or 13 times smaller. This is one of the reasons why the DWF files are
smaller because they can treat all text (even shx) as text in the DWF
format. But if you ask Adobe to add support for shx fonts in the PDF format
they are probably going to laugh their heads off since basically only
Autodesk and a few other CAD companies use shx text.

Another thing is that we can extract out your titleblock attributtes to use
as the bookmarks in the PDF file. Not only does this give you an easier to
navigate PDF but the other benefit is that the bookmarks are not compressed
in the PDF so you can use Windows explorer to search for them. So if we
extract out the drawing number into the bookmark you could then search for
all PDF files on the drive that have a certain drawing number. Or we have
customers using both number and revision so they can search for both.

There are huge benefits to using either PDF or DWF. We have customers using
our software to batch process entire jobs and then sending that to the
plotter instead of using a batch plot utility. Plus when you send it to the
client you also have a record of exactly what you sent them and in the
future you don't have to worry about XRefs being moved or font files missing
10 years from now.

Plus we are working towards having our clients never have to plot to a
normal printer which should greatly simplify the IT guys job since he won't
have to support multiple printers and plotters through AutoCAD. I cringe
everytime I get a customers drawing that had a page setup for a full size
plotter and another one for an 11x17 check plot. I've seen some with 4 or
5 different layouts just for printing the exact same info on different
printers or plotters.


--
Rodney McManamy
President
CADzation
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518 South Route 31 Suite 200
McHenry, IL 60050
www.cadzation.com
Providing Industrial Strength
PDF & DWF Solutions to the
Global CAD Marketplace.