Flow for getting an AutoCAD SVG from Rackula

[dtwitkowski]

While creating a set of AutoCAD drawings for a data center project, I needed to illustrate a 19-inch rack. I found Rackula (awesome, great work) and created a diagram. My plan was to export PDF and import PDF to AutoCAD, but this came in as a raster and I couldn't work with it. I figured out a flow:

1. Export as SVG, with a Transparent Background. I used "Front Only" and "No Legend" for my purposes.
2. Import the SVG into Inkscape.
3. Export to PDF from Inkscape with a Background Color Alpha = 0 (transparent)
4. In AutoCAD, PDFIMPORT, as follows:

You'll get a rectangle under the rack items, but this can be deleted. You'll likely want to SCALE this to 19". I added a couple of dimlines in AutoCAD, then ran a reference scale to size everything.

Happy AutoCADing!

[ggfevans]

hey @dtwitkowski thanks for posing this question & a solution. I hadn't considered the possibility of such a context, though now that you mention it my high school memories of playing with AutoCAD are coming back.

I think it would be fairly easy to provide either a specific AutoCAD export function aligned with what it expects, or just clean up the SVG export. This also has me thinking it would be interesting to explore the idea of an AutoCAD add-on that would essentially create native AutoCAD items... anyways, one thing at a time. I appreciate your effort!

[dtwitkowski]

Thanks @ggfevans for the kind response. DWG is still very much a format in professional CAD. I'm happy to test anything you come up with. Thanks for your work.

[ggfevans]

much appreciated. this is actually something I've been wanting to do for awhile. I initially had a sort of slapdash vector rasterization because that seemed 'easiest', but it's actually been a pain. This is good motivation to actually keep it raster all the way through. See #1734 for dev work as well as #1729 for investigation details. I may be able to get this into a release today even.

[ggfevans]

hey @dtwitkowski I just released v0.10.0 with improved PDF export that should be able to be imported into AutoCAD as a vector. Can you give that a shot, please? I don't have AutoCAD licensing to test with