×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4

Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4

Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4

(OP)
Has anyone came up with a simple way to make PDF files from CGM or from 2D NX Drafting. We are going to NX4 and have been informed that NX4 doesn't support it. We need to be able to convert the drawings so the company we're doing the jobs for engineers' can easy read.Thanks

RE: Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4


import the CGM into a new part. If you can't import it into a drawing, you may have to just import it into a model and set a view for it.

download a PDF writer, and just print it to the PDF writer. We just had a big job where we had to convert a bunch of these. It can be tedious.

I believe we use PDF factory here

good luck
-Steve

RE: Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4

Note that in NX 5, we are adding a direct Export to PDF function to NX which will include options to export Drawing Sheets or the current display, and in the case of Drawings, if there are multiple sheets, you can ask that each sheet be exported onto it's on page of a multi-page PDF document.  There will also be an option to add a user-defined 'watermark' to the face of each PDF page.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Product Line
UGS Corp
Cypress, CA
http://www.ugs.com

RE: Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4

Glad I'll be able to use NX5.0 when NX13.0 (kidding) is out.

I am stuck on the versions GM uses.

Justin Ackley
Designer
jackley@gmail.com

RE: Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4

You may need to contact GTAC for the exact method, but there is a way to get PDFs out of NX for no charge.  You need to set up your Print Admin to output to PostScript (.ps files).  You will have to set this up as a completely separate printer, I believe.  GTAC can assist with this...just tell them you want to know how to output to PostScript.  They may ask for info on your printer/plotter, so be ready for those types of questions.

Once you have your Print Admin side working correctly, you will need to install Ghostscript (the actual .ps to PDF conversion software) and Ghostview (a viewer of PDF, PostScript and other print-related file formats).  Both of these softwares are free of charge...just do a Google search to find the homepage.

The workflow will probably be something like this:  Plot to .ps in NX, wait for NX Print to output a .ps file.  After the .ps file is created, you can open the .ps file with Ghostview and convert to PDF.  If you have Acrobat writer, you can save your NX .ps files to the same folder each time and have Adobe Distiller set up to watch that folder and automatically convert to PDF.

Hope this makes sense.  You might also try searching this forum, as I'm positive other users have asked this same question before.

Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.
www.enkei.com

Some people are like slinkies....they don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

RE: Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4

(OP)
Thanks guys.If anyone else has dealt with this please add your experiance.

RE: Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4

Like Tim, we work with gostview, but we take it a bit further:

Make folowing a bat file, e.g. to_PDF.bat somewhere on a known location and include:

"C:\Program Files\Ghostgum\gsview\gsview32.exe" %1%

In UG add a new printer in the printer administration and choose +Hp HP Postcript Multi Bin Generic as printer model.

Activate the button "render file and execute the program".
Underneath "Full executable path and executables" fill in C:\NX3plot\to_PDF.bat or wathever name and path you've choosen.

This gives you a printer that will plot to ps and automatically open ghostview. The conversion itself still has to be done manually in Ghostview. But I prefer this as it gives me more controle over what I want to do.

Mik Doms
Foundry Engineer
Allard-Europe
Flanders

RE: Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4

To my opinion UG NX is expensive enough as it is right now, without the extra cost of a PDF conversion program.

I heard rumours that it will be -or is - integrated in NX5. If it's true it's not to early.

Mik

RE: Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4

Yes, NX 5 will support (without extra cost) the Exporting of Drawings as a PDF document, including full support for creating multi-page documents from multi-sheet drawings.  You can also include an optional user-defined watermark on the face of the document, if so desired.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Product Line
UGS Corp
Cypress, CA
http://www.ugs.com
http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

RE: Converting a CGM file to PDF in NX4

hi
i use this:
http://www.exp-systems.com/
you need to define a plotter in the nxplotadmin.exe to use this pdf printer.

----
kukelyk

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources