If you want to convert a PDF file to CAD, you need to be aware that there are two types of PDF file, raster and vector.
Internally, the two types of PDF file are quite different. Converting them to a CAD file format such as DXF requires different processes.
If your PDF file was created by scanning a drawing, it will be a raster PDF file. A raster PDF file is essentially a raster image – usually TIFF or JPEG – held within a PDF wrapper. Because it is a raster image, it needs to be converted to CAD using a raster to vector converter such as our Scan2CAD product.
If your PDF file was created by saving PDF from a CAD program, it will most likely be a vector PDF file. Unlike raster PDF files, vector PDF files already contain vectors, although not in a format that most CAD programs can understand. To convert a vector PDF file to CAD you need a vector PDF to CAD converter such as PDF2CAD from Visual Integrity.
How to tell if your PDF file is raster or vector
Here are three ways to tell if your PDF file is raster or vector:
- Load your PDF file into our Scan2CAD raster to vector converter or the Scan2CAD Trial version.
If Scan2CAD loads it in and the drawing is displayed, it is raster.
If Scan2CAD displays the message “Scan2CAD found no raster images”, it is vector.
Note that there are also PDF files that are vector but that contain raster images within them. In this case, Scan2CAD will load the raster images.
- Load your PDF file into Adobe Reader, then click on it.
If nothing happens, the PDF file is vector.
If the drawing is highlighted in blue when clicked on, it is raster.
Note that this does not work in all versions of Adobe Reader. - Load your PDF file into Adobe Reader, then zoom into it.
If lines and arcs continue to appear smooth as you zoom further and further in, the PDF file is vector.
If lines and arcs begin to look “stepped” as you zoom further and further in, it is raster.
For more information on PDF files, see our Scanners4CAD article
SCAN-TO-PDF: Benefits and Considerations.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello. I find myself quite often needing to convert a pdf to Acad. If I had a raster pdf, how “smooth” will it translate into Acad?
Hello Nancy,
When you convert a raster PDF to vectors, the jagged raster image will be replaced by vectors – lines, arcs, circles, splines and text – that are as smooth as if you had drawn them in AutoCAD.
However, let’s say there’s a circle on your raster image that is not very well represented. For example, it may have been poorly drawn or scanned, so that parts of the circumference are missing. Or, it may have been scanned at too low a resolution and is represented on the raster image as a diamond shape instead of as a circle. Or, it may have text written across it, interfering with the shape of the circumference.
When you convert this raster circle to vectors, the raster to vector converter will most likely not see it as a circle. Instead of getting a single, smooth circle vector, you are likely to get a tangle of small arc and line vectors that you will need to tidy up in AutoCAD.
In this sense, the file you get in AutoCAD may not be smooth at all.
The smoothness of the file you get depends on:
If you have raster PDF files, you can test how smoothly your particular files will convert using our seven day fully working Scan2CAD trial, which is downloadable from here. Alternatively, please feel free to email me a typical raster PDF file and I will do a sample conversion of it and email you back the converted file along with a list of the exact steps I used to do the conversion.