Expert: Bob - 11/13/2009

Question
As a project manager who must do occasional swift layout changes on sites and having used occasionally autocad 2003 before I am almost a newcomer in 2009. I copied some drawings from PDF to DWG and I am able to do changes but I need to measure objects and distances which I seem unable to do
I select draw point measure but get message 'can not measure this object'
Do I need to scale the drawing in any way or is it not possible because I convert it from pdf
Appreciated

Answer
Hi--

May I ask why you have pdfs?  The originator should send you AutoCAD drawings, so you can work with them properly. (maybe they worry about legal issues, since you could change the dwg and blame them) I see online that there are converter softwares offered, but (sorry) I have never used them, and cant testify to their accuracy. DWFs would seem more logical, if they won't send the drawings.

Thus, this is not strictly an AutoCAD question, since you received the pdfs-- but I will do the best I can to answer.

1-- pdfs are normally created to scale, but AutoCAD drawings are full size. Have you allowed for that?  Of course, if you know the scale, you can scale up the drawiing
2-- I NEVER use MEASURE. I use DISTANCE or I create a dimension and erase it, so I can't help much with that old command. Do my ways help?
3-- If you had told me exactly what you are trying to measure, I might have a workaround to suggest.

I hope this helps -- sorry if it does not. I could do more research for you if you gave me more information.

BOB