ARCHLine.XP has the capability to automatically import pdfs and turn the vector geometry into workable geometry that can be edited. This is useful for converting a pdf into drawings or 3D models. The process is fairly simple and straight-forward.

1. Drag & Drop the File

Drag and drop the PDF into your floor plan view model space and select the pages you want ti import from the pdf. Turn line weights off. Solid fills is also optional.

2. Place the file

Place in mm. Place anywhere on your drawing.

3. Remove any unwanted hatches/ solids

If there is a solid fill over the text or any unwanted geometry, we can simply remove it.

Right click edit > edit group. Then hover over the solid fills and remove by hitting delete. This is just to clean up the drawing for scaling purposes. In most cases, the text should be detected as text and there should be no black fills.

4. After editing, close the 2D group

Once you’ve fixed any unwanted fills, right click > close group.

5. Scale up the drawing

If you’ve imported any drawing, you can simply scale by a known dimension. Simply go edit > move > scale.

Make sure you can see an existing known dimension you can scale from.

Now you need to scale from the dimension. Click once on the start of the dimension > scale on draw. Select the first point of the dimension, then select the second point. After that, enter the dimension size in real life. 

6. Double Check your dimension

Double check if the dimension is correct using the measure tool. Go Dimension > Measure > Distance.

Simply select two points and you’ll see the length. If it matches, then you’ve followed this process correctly. If it doesn’t match, then there is something wrong with the original pdf. It is important to save pdfs in a correctly scaled format.

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