Exporting a file to pdf at 100% file size

[Giovonnae]

I have imported a dwg file into affinity and modified a couple of things. I would like to export this drawing to pdf format as a full size drawing, but pdf files that I generate are about 1/3 the size of my original drawing. Is there a way to export this file at 100%?

Side Corrected 1.afdesign Side Corrected 1.dwg Side Corrected 1.pdf

[Hangman]

Hi @Giovonnae and welcome to the forums,

6 hours ago, Giovonnae said:

I have imported a dwg file into affinity and modified a couple of things. I would like to export this drawing to pdf format as a full size drawing, but pdf files that I generate are about 1/3 the size of my original drawing. Is there a way to export this file at 100%?

When you say the exported PDF is about 1/3 the size of your original drawing, can you elaborate...

Your Source DWG file is 33.1" x 46.8" @ 300 dpi
Your Affinity Designer File is 33.1" x 46.8" @ 72 dpi
Your PDF File is 33.1" x 46.8" @ 72 dpi

So all three files have the same physical dimensions...

You can change your Affinity Designer file to 300 dpi if that is a requirement by going to the Document Setup Menu, changing the DPI to 300 and setting 'Objects will:' to Rescale. Then re-export your file to PDF and you will have a PDF File is 33.1" x 46.8" @ 300 dpi...

If you're referring to the white space around your drawing and you don't wish that to be included as part of the PDF file then select both Layers in the Layers panel and when exporting to PDF change Area from 'Whole Document' to 'Selection Area' or 'Selection Only'. This will export just the drawing without the additional white space resulting in a PDF which is 14.3" x 31.5" in size...

Let us know if either option is what you're looking for...

[Giovonnae]

Hi,

 I tried your suggestion of changing the dpi so that the output pdf file matched the input dwg file. The I opened the ACAD drawing and attached the affinity pdf file. You can see that the attached pdf is still smaller than the drawing. The pdf should be the same size as the drawing.

             Thanks for the help,

                      Giovonnae

[Hangman]

Hi @Giovonnae,

1 minute ago, Giovonnae said:

I tried your suggestion of changing the dpi so that the output pdf file matched the input dwg file. The I opened the ACAD drawing and attached the affinity pdf file. You can see that the attached pdf is still smaller than the drawing. The pdf should be the same size as the drawing.

Could you elaborate a little...

1. Is the drawing supposed to include or exclude the white space surrounding your drawing?
2. Did you try the option of selecting all the layers in the layers panel and then exporting with Area set to Selection Area or Selection Only
3. What dpi does ACAD use/expect, 72, 96 or 300 dpi?

[thomaso]

6 hours ago, Giovonnae said:

I opened the ACAD drawing and attached the affinity pdf file. You can see that the attached pdf is still smaller than the drawing.

What scale factor did you use when importing the PDF?

https://help.autodesk.com/view/ACD/2022/ENU/?query=PDF import scale

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-forum/how-to-scale-correctly-when-importing-a-pdf/m-p/9513778#M1020029

[Giovonnae]

  Here are my answers:

1. It doesn't matter to me if the space is there or not. (sometimes I need it, sometimes not)

2. I am attaching another screen shot  where I did a pdfattach in ACAD with the entire drawing and two with just the layers exported, one at 72dpi and the other at 300 dpi

Also I am attaching a screen shot from ACAD  with a pdf from Adobe ilustrator attachedf

[Giovonnae]

Yes, scaled all the files at 100%. The Adobe worked, the Affinity didn't

[Hangman]

Hi @Giovonnae,

Could you upload the PDF you exported from Adobe Illustrator so we can compare the two to see where the difference may lie?

As a quick test, if you do a pdfImport rather than a pdfAttach using the whole page what Page Size and Page Scale are displayed in the import dialog window?

I expect there is a scaling issue here so knowing how the page size is being interpreted by ACAD would be very helpful...

As mentioned above the PDF page is 33.1" x 46.8" and the Drawing on its own is 14.3" x 31.5", if you can clarify the dimensions you see when using pdfattach that may also give us some clues...

[Giovonnae]

Here is the Adobe pdf file.

I tried pdfimport with the same results.

side corrected 1 Adobe.pdf

[Giovonnae]

Also I'll send along the copy of the Affinity pdf file

Side Corrected 1.pdf

[Hangman]

By any chance, is the original drawing scaled using a 1:3 ratio...

Affinity Apps are interpreting the DWG file using a 1:3 ratio (see the Transform Panel, highlighted in green) and therefore it appears 33.33% smaller when exported to PDF, i.e., selecting the two layers when the DWG file is opened in Affinity apps correctly shows the dimensions as 42.8" x 94.3" but because of the 1:3 scaling applied, they are exported to PDF as 14.27" x 31.46" which is what you are seeing when importing the file into ACAD...

When initially exporting to DWG is there an option to disable scaling?

[Giovonnae]

1. I am not exporting the dwg file, I am simply saving it in AutoCad.  Is there a way to transform the layers to get the scaling 1:1?

[Hangman]

Are you working at 1:1 in Autocad or 1:3, i.e., is your Autocad drawing 42.8" x 94.3“ or 14.27" x 31.46"? There must be a reason why Designer is interpreting the DWG file with a 1:3 ratio…

12 hours ago, Giovonnae said:

Is there a way to transform the layers to get the scaling 1:1?

I don’t believe there is any automatic way to transform the layers or to disable the scaling on opening the DWG file so I think you would have physically scale the drawing accordingly but I’ll have a look and if there any options I’m missing…

[Giovonnae]

I have been working with AutoCad and Adobe Illustrator for almost a decade. I import ACAD dwg files into Illustrator, and export them to pdf files to ship to customers. I have never had a scaling issue with my files. I am giving Affinity Designer 2 try to see if I can replace Illustrator with it. I would love NOT to be beholden to Adobe, but your software must be able to do the tasks that I need done. Something as simple as importing and exporting files should be a pretty low bar don't you think? This is the first of three tasks that Designer must do for me to be able to use it.

[Hangman]

Affinity Designer is honouring the drawing scale of the imported ACAD DWG file, so I assume you're working at a scale of 1:3 in ACAD? I'm also assuming that Illustrator isn't honouring the drawing scale of the DWG file when opened...

To adjust for the scale factor the following should work...

1. Open the DWG file in Affinity Designer
2. Adjust the pattern positions accordingly
3. From the File menu select Document Setup
4. From the Dimensions tab in the Document Setup dialog change the document dimensions to 40" x 91" and the dpi to 100 dpi
5. From the Scale tab in the Document Setup dialog uncheck Use Drawing Scale
6. Click OK
7. Export the file to PDF and the file appears at the correct size

I noticed that despite Scale with object being Unchecked in the Stroke panel and Line Weights being set to Locked in the Scale Override dialog in the Transform panel the line weights are still scaled which I think might be a bug, so I've reset these accordingly...

The Screen Recording shows the process after Opening the DWG file in Designer and Having Repositioned the Patterns

 

[Giovonnae]

Thank you for this tip. I'll give it a try. I must say that I only use 1:1 scaling in all of my graphic work, so I'm not sure where the 1:3 ratio is coming from. I've attached a screen shot of the ACAD properties showing the scale at 1.

[Hangman]

What happens if you create a custom page size larger than the pattern dimensions, e.g., 45" x 100" and then Save it as a dwg file, does that overcome the scaling issue when the dwg is opened in Designer?

I've been playing around with the web version of ACAD which is more limited than the Desktop version. As far as I can tell you can't set custom page sizes in the web version which means the max page size you can set is A0, 841 mm x 1,189 mm (33.1" x 46.8").

If I set the page size at A0 and then draw a square of any size below A0 dimensions, Save the Model as a dwg and open it in Designer, the file opens at 1:1, e.g., a 20" x 20" or 36" x 36" square opens at the correct size scaled at 1:1.

As soon as my drawing exceeds the page size, e.g., if I draw a 40" x 40" square (which exceeds the width of A0) then saving to dwg and opening in Designer results in scaling being applied, in this instance 1:2.

I noted that your dwg file has an A0 document size when opened in Designer and I suspect that is why it opens with scaling applied, i.e., because the pattern dimensions exceed the page size but I think if you set a custom page size in ACAD that is larger than the pattern dimensions, it will open at the correct size, scaled at 1:1.

Let us know if that works.

[Giovonnae]

Hi,

    I measured my my dwg file in ACAD and created a custom file in Designer that was slightly bigger than the dwg file

When I imported the dwg file it came in at 1:3 (see attached file) I used the scale function to scale it up 300% and then exported it to ACAD

Where it was attached at the proper size.

It seems that Designer is doing a extra scaling somewhere in the importing of the drawing file.

    Thanks for your help.

                     Giovonnae

[Hangman]

Hi @Giovonnae,

I think it is ACAD doing the scaling when saving based on the page size set in ACAD, even when saving the Model and Designer is simply correctly interpreting that scaling…

You can set a custom page size in ACAD rather than using A0… If you set a custom page size of say 45” x 100” and then save the Model to dwg I think Designer will open it at the correct size, scaled at 1:1.