Scanning A0 drawings

Are the drawings as 'loose' sheets? or as files... I suspect the former. You have to scan them at very high resolution and the file sizes will be large. You then need to engage a software program that converts the rastor to vector. I don't know how photoshop is, but I have a program from several years back called, "pdf2cad" by Visual Integrity that does a decent job of converting *.pdf to *.dwf and there may be others that are better and a lot newer. My version is V10, but there may be later versions.

Just checked... there is a version 12... for $200.

https://visual-integrity.com/product/pdf2cad-v12/

If the file is a *.pdf created by a cad file, even the layers are preserved. It often treats redacted letters and removes the redacting...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Do you feel any better?

-Dik

Hi Dik,
Thanks for your reply. Will check it. They are all hard copies of A0 drawings to be conberted to Autocad drawings.

Best thing is a good scan. I'm not sure if it does anything but *.pdf; that's the only thing I've used it for. There are service houses that do this. File sizes will be huge. I've just looked into it, and will upgrade to V12... for $60. I don't often use the program, but I've found it excellent... often for converting equipment data that is in *.pdf printed from the supplier's CAD program. It gives a true *.dwg file. I've had it for 10 years and haven't used it for a couple... but have used it 100s of times, maybe 1000s. One of the better programs and more useful programs I've used.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Do you feel any better?

-Dik

Hi dik,
Once again thanks a lot for your excellent insights. Will check thsm.

I don't know if it was a glitch or a feature of the cad files. After converting I ended up with a 'black' screen... I had to do a <CTRL><A> and change the colours to white. It worked really slick. If the scan is poor it converts what can't be converted to vector to a graphics file.

Depending on the *.pdf file and how it was created, but some text files that are redacted also become visible.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Do you feel any better?

-Dik

Hi Dk,
Thanks again.I don't think it's possible to convert a scanned image into an editable dwg file. It works only for the computer generated files. It is mentioned in the site of converter which you posted.

Anyway let's hope for the best. Thank you.

I just tried a random online converter that did a fair job on not-direct-from-CAD pdf. It was rough but it got it into DWG. Dashed lines were individual entities, circles arcs and fillets were splines, many things were not joined together as they should have been, but it was a DWG. If you find a good one, let us know!

Hi IFR,
Thanks a lot. Will give it a try. I tried converting a rastor pdf scanned copy in scan2cad but only in vain.i will give it a try. Thanks a lot. Appreciate your efforts!