Detail drawings in Forum Messages?

[ron ll]

Got pix figured out, but is it possible to include a detail Autocad type drawing in a forum message? Maybe in PDF format? (They would be boat details, therefore this forum division :) )

[mizzenman]

I guess so, provided that a picture hosting site allow you to upload the file.

[ron ll]

Didn't work by using the "[IMG" enclosure for a .pdf file. Is there another way to embed the file name?

[Thorne]

Can't work with the IMG tags -- .pdf files are quite different. You can either pull the image file out of the .pdf if you created it (or have pdf editing software), or take a screenshot of same and post that image file.

[ron ll]

The problem with making it an image file is that too much detail is lost. Can't read text or dimensions if its a raster file. So there is no way to imbed a .pdf in the message?

[Uncle Duke]

I think you can upload a file - using that little "paper clip" icon, no? Problem would be that the max file size fora pdf is set up to 19.5k and I don't have anything small enough to test that.
Alternative: you could upload it to a web site and post a link to it so that people can download it...Google Docs would work for that...

[htom]

If the file is accessible via the internet, you can always just post a link to it, using the little globe and chain icon just next to the image icon.

[Dave R]

How big is the drawing? If you make a PDF of it, can you get a decent snapshot of it? You might need to split the drawing into sections so that the images can be read. If you want a hand getting the snapshot(s) from the PDF, drop me a PM and I'll give you my e-mail address.

[Thorne]

If the pdf file is so large that you can't make a acceptable/legible image file from it -- then it is too large to embed in a message.

It would paralyze the browser on all the remote users with slow internet access, causing them to have to force quit the browser to regain mouse control.

The only option would be to take screenshots of small sections of the drawing, then post the relevant images/sections.

[SMARTINSEN]

can you scan a paper copy of it and thereby you would be able to post it as a .jpg?

[J P]

How about exporting from AutoCAD as a bitmap?

[gert]

Save drawing or relavent portion as a PDF.
Open said PDF and save as JPG.
Upload to your image place.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3322951109_dfe34a88d3.jpg

[mmd]

Hold the phone, guys... I know the answer to this one.

Ron - Use your AutoCAD Assist/Options/Display/colors command to set the background color you want (black, white, or whatever). Then use the Layers Properties Manager to make your lines & text whatever colour you want them to be. What you see on the screen will be what you post on the Forum - it won't be like plotting in monochrome.

Then, Zoom/Window to frame what you want to post. What is in your drawing screen is what you will post.

When you have the colours and framing the way you want to see it posted, use the command SAVEIMG. It will bring up a window that lets you select what format you want to save the image as. I usually select TIFF, but Bitmap will do. (I find that TIFF files have cleaner line delineation.) Save the file to a temp directory.

Open the photo server of your choice - I use PhotoBucket. Upload the file you have made. If your photo server won't accept TIFF files, open the file in Microsoft Paint or any other image manipulation program and simply save the file as a JPG file, then upload that version.

You can now post the image to the WBF using the same method as with any other photo. That's how I did images like this:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/mmd_ns/LOLL3.jpg

and this:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/mmd_ns/SOLARCIRCUIT.jpg

[Thorne]

Gert - Macs can do that from the default viewer, but PC's would have to use a commercial application (as far as I know).

[J P]

Well, there ya go. Thanks mmd.
"SAVEIMG", I haven't used that one before.

[mmd]

I think that every command ever created for AutoCad is still buried in the code. There must be thousands of ' em. The tough part is remembering them without the menu bars...

[Dave R]

MMD has clearly shown a perfect solution from ACAD.

FWIW, it is simple enough to make a screenshot from a PDF right in Adobe Reader on a PC.

First, click on the Tools menu and choose Snapshot Tool
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2629/3813183562_30409ebcb9_o.jpg

Drag a selection box around what you want to take a snap shot of. The selection area is shown with a brown background, below. The snap shot will have been copied to the clipboard
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2624/3812368765_a8d826338e.jpg

Paste the clipboard data in your favorite image editor and save it.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2259/3813183946_9b07f41b4c.jpg

[ron ll]

Thanks all, it appears SAVEIMG is the best route altho it still has the minor problem of rasterizing text and dimensions making them a bit hard to read. However a little advance planning in Acad can solve that just by making a paperspace with larger text and dimensions if one knows it is going to be used for the forum.

The only reason I mentioned pdf's was because I thought it might be possible to embed it and it is definitely a clearer format coming out of Acad. Raster images work fine for color filled drawings such as Dave posted, but text and detail line drawings really suffer.

I'm preparing some details of Snoose's pilothouse drop windows both for some questions of mine and for others' information. They are a pretty clever design from, in Snoose's case, 65 years ago. The design has probably been around much longer than that.

http://www.ronlloyd.com/oddstuff/starbord.jpg