Re: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks
Yes, it does work that way. And the PDF's ability to rotate the image and do neat CAD things is lots of fun. However, the size of the PDF becomes gigantic. Several of them in a file can overwhelm an average PC's memory. And it's way overkill for simply printing to hard copy... But it is neat technology. Cheers, Art On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 3:27 PM, Matt Sullivan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In Googling to verify the SolidWorks format which will import into Acrobat 8 3D or the Acro 8 3D Toolkit, I found the following link. I thought it might explain better than I can: http://www.solidsmack.com/013-the-lowdown-on-acrobat-3d/2007-05-23/ Bottom line: If you bring a SolidWorks file into Acro 3D Toolkit as U3D, you can surface map, articulate, disassemble, then capture whatever format you want (including the articulating 3D object) into FM 8. HTH... -Matt Sullivan GRAFIX Training, Inc. An Adobe Authorized Training Center www.grafixtraining.com 888 882-2819 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Art Campbell Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 10:09 AM To: Carole Johnson Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks Referenced graphic file would be pretty standard. OLE isn't reliable, and copying the graphic in makes the files too large. Art On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 1:02 PM, Carole Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: How do you import them into FrameMaker? Do you link or what! -- Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 ___ -- Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks
Agreed! Importing articulating 3d for print is beyond overkill. However, you do have the ability to produce the appropriate bitmap of the appropriate rotation and view without going back to the modeling program exporting from there. -Matt Sullivan GRAFIX Training, Inc. An Adobe Authorized Training Center www.grafixtraining.com 888 882-2819 -Original Message- From: Art Campbell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 7:55 AM To: Matt Sullivan; Frame Users Subject: Re: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks Yes, it does work that way. And the PDF's ability to rotate the image and do neat CAD things is lots of fun. However, the size of the PDF becomes gigantic. Several of them in a file can overwhelm an average PC's memory. And it's way overkill for simply printing to hard copy... But it is neat technology. Cheers, Art On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 3:27 PM, Matt Sullivan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In Googling to verify the SolidWorks format which will import into Acrobat 8 3D or the Acro 8 3D Toolkit, I found the following link. I thought it might explain better than I can: http://www.solidsmack.com/013-the-lowdown-on-acrobat-3d/2007-05-23/ Bottom line: If you bring a SolidWorks file into Acro 3D Toolkit as U3D, you can surface map, articulate, disassemble, then capture whatever format you want (including the articulating 3D object) into FM 8. HTH... -Matt Sullivan GRAFIX Training, Inc. An Adobe Authorized Training Center www.grafixtraining.com 888 882-2819 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Art Campbell Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 10:09 AM To: Carole Johnson Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks Referenced graphic file would be pretty standard. OLE isn't reliable, and copying the graphic in makes the files too large. Art On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 1:02 PM, Carole Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: How do you import them into FrameMaker? Do you link or what! -- Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 ___ -- Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks
Hello Art, Can you clarify reliable? Prone to corruption, crashing, etc? After years of using FrameMaker's internal drawing tool, we're going to adopt an external diagramming tool. To keep the usability the same, we were going to use OLE. I've seen the file size grow quite a bit (172k .fm7 file + 200k Visio file turns into a 4.4 MB .fm7 file using OLE), but it's still the most user friendly. If someone needs to update a drawing, they double-click and do it right there. For those that link in PDF conversions, what kind of filename conventions are being used? Figure 6 isn't always going to be Figure 6, and due to some refactoring that sub-section could be moved to another file in the book. I guess the question is: If OLE has showstopping faults, what's the next best thing for usability? Thanks! Boone -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Art Campbell Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 12:09 PM To: Carole Johnson Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks Referenced graphic file would be pretty standard. OLE isn't reliable, and copying the graphic in makes the files too large. Art ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks
How do you import them into FrameMaker? Do you link or what! Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent by: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/11/2008 03:47 PM To Linda G. Gallagher [EMAIL PROTECTED] cc framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject Re: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks I just ended a year-long gig that included this, and the workflow we developed was: 1. Get the free Solidworks viewer application. (There's a free explorer tool that's also useful.) 2. From the Viewer, print the Solidworks file to an Acrobat printer instance to create a PDF using the appropriate job options (high quality print, press quality) . 3. When the PDF opens in Acrobat, optimize the file, but go easy on the compression and downsampling. This is the key task to reduce the file size bloat. I don't think it would work as well on a PDF produced directly from 4. Import into FM. I don't have any idea if Acrobat 6 is up to the task. We used 7 pro, and migrated to 8 pro and then 8 3D. So that would be the component I'd upgrade. Art On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 6:21 PM, Linda G. Gallagher [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Framers, FM 7.0 Acrobat 6.0 Win XP I appreciated all the help a couple of weeks ago on text insets and scripting. Now I have new questions related to a new client that is using SolidWorks CAD to create graphics for me to use in FM. So far I've tried importing graphics saved from SolidWorks as .tif at 50 dpi (was the default) and 600 dpi. Neither looked good after I created a PDF from the FM file. I've asked him to save at 150 and 300 dpi, but don't have those yet. My client also sent me a PDF of the graphic. When I imported that into FM and created a PDF, the graphic looked great, but it took 8 minutes to create the .ps file of just the one page with the one graphic and the resulting .ps file was more than 55 MB. I envision having lots of graphics in this document, so I don't think the PDF format is going to work that well. Here are my specific questions. - Is it common when using PDF files for graphics for the writing to .ps process to take so long and for the resulting .ps file to be so huge? - Anyone have experience getting graphics from SolidWorks? I'm told the graphic formats it can produce are .tif, .PDF, .jpg, and .dwg. Thanks for any advice you can offer. ~ Linda G. Gallagher TechCom Plus, LLC lindag at techcomplus dot com www.techcomplus.com 303-450-9076 or 800-500-3144 User guides, online help, FrameMaker and WebWorks ePublisher templates ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/art.campbell%40gmail.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. -- Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/carole_johnson%40raytheon.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks
In Googling to verify the SolidWorks format which will import into Acrobat 8 3D or the Acro 8 3D Toolkit, I found the following link. I thought it might explain better than I can: http://www.solidsmack.com/013-the-lowdown-on-acrobat-3d/2007-05-23/ Bottom line: If you bring a SolidWorks file into Acro 3D Toolkit as U3D, you can surface map, articulate, disassemble, then capture whatever format you want (including the articulating 3D object) into FM 8. HTH... -Matt Sullivan GRAFIX Training, Inc. An Adobe Authorized Training Center www.grafixtraining.com 888 882-2819 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Art Campbell Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 10:09 AM To: Carole Johnson Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks Referenced graphic file would be pretty standard. OLE isn't reliable, and copying the graphic in makes the files too large. Art On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 1:02 PM, Carole Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: How do you import them into FrameMaker? Do you link or what! -- Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/matt%40grafixtraining.co m Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks
Referenced graphic file would be pretty standard. OLE isn't reliable, and copying the graphic in makes the files too large. Art On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 1:02 PM, Carole Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: How do you import them into FrameMaker? Do you link or what! -- Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks
Boone Severson had some questions for Art: Hello Art, Can you clarify reliable? Prone to corruption, crashing, etc? After years of using FrameMaker's internal drawing tool, we're going to adopt an external diagramming tool. To keep the usability the same, we were going to use OLE. I've used OLE successfully in docs that only contain one or two Visio drawings. I'd never use it in docs that contain many. I've seen the file size grow quite a bit (172k .fm7 file + 200k Visio file turns into a 4.4 MB .fm7 file using OLE), but it's still the most user friendly. If someone needs to update a drawing, they double-click and do it right there. So that saves you Alt-Tabbing to your file manager, drilling down a level to the book's graphics folder, and double-clicking the Visio source file -- maybe seven seconds? That little bit of convenience isn't worth the corruption/crash risk, massive file bloat, and slowing of the system, IMHO. For those that link in PDF conversions, what kind of filename conventions are being used? Figure 6 isn't always going to be Figure 6, and due to some refactoring that sub-section could be moved to another file in the book. Filename conventions? My PDFs have the same name as the Visio file from which they're created, but with a .pdf extension. You do have Visio files from which you create your linked OLE objects, don't you? (If not -- if the drawing only exists as an embedded, not linked, object in the FM file, you're _really_ living on the edge.) There are probably only slightly fewer graphics file naming conventions than tech writers. I'm sure some work better than others, but any one of them is better than not having your graphics source files at all. I guess the question is: If OLE has showstopping faults, what's the next best thing for usability? For Visio drawings, a PDF workflow works wonderfully for me. It's rock-solid, and the FM file size is unchanged. Visio itself is great. If you have it installed when you install Acrobat, the latter puts its PDFMaker plugin into Visio just like it does into Word or Excel. So creating a PDF is as easy as clicking a toolbar button. Visio files can contain multiple drawing pages, and PDFMaker will dutifully produce multi-page PDFs from them. When you import a multi-page PDF into FM (File Import File, By Reference), FM lets you pick a page (by scrolling or entering a page number) and even shows you a thumbnail. I have some Visio files that contain 20 or 30 call flow diagrams each. Their page size is 6 x 8.5, so they fit nicely in my FM page layout, one per page with a figure caption above. The initial import of the PDF pages went quite quickly, really, and updates are cake. The steps in updating a drawing are: (1) open the Visio file; (2) edit and save it; (3) make PDF. Since they're imported by reference, whenever the PDF changes, the FM file is updated automatically. For any workflow using files imported by reference, you need at least minimal file management skills and discipline -- everything's not in one file, so you have to keep track of the pieces and not break the links. But at its simplest, that just means creating a graphics subdirectory for each FM book directory and putting all the book's referenced graphics in it. Not exactly rocket science. :-) HTH! Richard -- Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks
I just ended a year-long gig that included this, and the workflow we developed was: 1. Get the free Solidworks viewer application. (There's a free explorer tool that's also useful.) 2. From the Viewer, print the Solidworks file to an Acrobat printer instance to create a PDF using the appropriate job options (high quality print, press quality) . 3. When the PDF opens in Acrobat, optimize the file, but go easy on the compression and downsampling. This is the key task to reduce the file size bloat. I don't think it would work as well on a PDF produced directly from 4. Import into FM. I don't have any idea if Acrobat 6 is up to the task. We used 7 pro, and migrated to 8 pro and then 8 3D. So that would be the component I'd upgrade. Art On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 6:21 PM, Linda G. Gallagher [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Framers, FM 7.0 Acrobat 6.0 Win XP I appreciated all the help a couple of weeks ago on text insets and scripting. Now I have new questions related to a new client that is using SolidWorks CAD to create graphics for me to use in FM. So far I've tried importing graphics saved from SolidWorks as .tif at 50 dpi (was the default) and 600 dpi. Neither looked good after I created a PDF from the FM file. I've asked him to save at 150 and 300 dpi, but don't have those yet. My client also sent me a PDF of the graphic. When I imported that into FM and created a PDF, the graphic looked great, but it took 8 minutes to create the .ps file of just the one page with the one graphic and the resulting .ps file was more than 55 MB. I envision having lots of graphics in this document, so I don't think the PDF format is going to work that well. Here are my specific questions. - Is it common when using PDF files for graphics for the writing to .ps process to take so long and for the resulting .ps file to be so huge? - Anyone have experience getting graphics from SolidWorks? I'm told the graphic formats it can produce are .tif, .PDF, .jpg, and .dwg. Thanks for any advice you can offer. ~ Linda G. Gallagher TechCom Plus, LLC lindag at techcomplus dot com www.techcomplus.com 303-450-9076 or 800-500-3144 User guides, online help, FrameMaker and WebWorks ePublisher templates ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/art.campbell%40gmail.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. -- Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks
These are not rendered, just the line drawings. Guess I should have said that. Sorry! I got another message offlist about changing my Distiller options. Duh!! I did that, and the .tif in the PDF output from FM now looks quite good. Thanks, Michael. The process that Art suggests might be an alternative, but sounds a bit onerous. I'll try it if I need to, but hope I won't. I do now have Acro 8 (and FM 8 as part of the Tech Comm Suite), but have not even had the chance to install it, let alone test things with the new versions. I may experiment with the new 3D functions of Acro, but haven't a clue at this point what all that can do with the SolidWorks graphics. ~ Linda G. Gallagher TechCom Plus, LLC lindag at techcomplus dot com www.techcomplus.com 303-450-9076 or 800-500-3144 User guides, online help, FrameMaker and WebWorks ePublisher templates _ From: Donald Rose [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 4:48 PM To: Linda G. Gallagher; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks Linda, I have imported many graphics from Solid Works. One of the problems with Solid Works drafters is that they love their rendered drawings. If you can use line art they can export from Solid Works non-rendered, hidden lines hidden, iso (or whatever consistent angle you want) pdf files which you can open and manipulate in Adobe Illustrator. Or, you can sit with them until they have exactly what you want and use the tif file at 300 dpi or more. Experiment. Don Rose Linda G. Gallagher [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Framers, FM 7.0 Acrobat 6.0 Win XP I appreciated all the help a couple of weeks ago on text insets and scripting. Now I have new questions related to a new client that is using SolidWorks CAD to create graphics for me to use in FM. So far I've tried importing graphics saved from SolidWorks as .tif at 50 dpi (was the default) and 600 dpi. Neither looked good after I created a PDF from the FM file. I've asked him to save at 150 and 300 dpi, but don't have those yet. My client also sent me a PDF of the graphic. When I imported that into FM and created a PDF, the graphic looked great, but it took 8 minutes to create the .ps file of just the one page with the one graphic and the resulting .ps file was more than 55 MB. I envision having lots of graphics in this document, so I don't think the PDF format is going to work that well. Here are my specific questions. - Is it common when using PDF files for graphics for the writing to .ps process to take so long and for the resulting .ps file to be so huge? - Anyone have experience getting graphics from SolidWorks? I'm told the graphic formats it can produce are .tif, .PDF, .jpg, and .dwg. Thanks for any advice you can offer. ~ Linda G. Gallagher TechCom Plus, LLC lindag at techcomplus dot com www.techcomplus.com 303-450-9076 or 800-500-3144 User guides, online help, FrameMaker and WebWorks ePublisher templates ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/roseyinsb%40yahoo.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. _ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51734/*http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/c ategory.php?category=shopping them fast with Yahoo! Search. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
