Every now and then we find ourselves in a pinch for data. I don’t know how many times I have had nothing but a PDF to go on..
Well, it appears that a PDF is lot more useful than I first thought. Particular If it’s a vector PDF, you can usually tell if it is by zooming in and out on the PDF and you will see all the linework generate separately.
I won’t lie, I haven’t found a free tool to do this yet. But over at DOTSOFT Tools an application called PDF2DWG http://www.dotsoft.com/pdf2dwg.htm for 95 US sheets does get the job done very nicely.
I’ve actually bought the entire toolpac package that comes with PDF2DWG ($245), good value if you ask me. You can find the tool in the ribbon after installing, along with a host of other useful ones.
Select a PDF, even a multipage one
Lots of options here as well. Detect line weights, removing little raster images (particularly use for PDFS generated by GIS programs) and even the ability to convert image-based pdfs to linework (can’t verify how well this works though)
Hit process and voila! Massive time saver, that can pull you out of a “not enough data” situation very quickly.
Looks like a great utility! If you have access to them you can use Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW and Inkscape to open a PDF and export to DWG/DXF.
Adobe Illustrator is the most accurate and will export solid hatches. To avoid nested blocks and unwanted linework use Select > Object > Clipping Masks and then hit Delete to remove them. Note: You can rename a *.pdf extension to *.ai to make it a native Adobe Illustrator file.
CorelDRAW will not export solid hatches/fill but does recognize PDF layers; sometime it will even detect layers from the original file even though they are not present in the PDF. Some changes are likely to occur to your text. Ensure you use Import Test As > Text and when exporting use Export Test As > Text.
Inkscape is limited and most suited to B&W linework. Not that great but might help out when you have no other option. Inkscape is open source and therefore free.