Bitmap export image size question

[franksbedford]

Version: 3.29.4.0 (3.29.4)
Internet: QCAD.org
Build Date: Feb 7 2024
Revision: 36a6423
Qt Version: 5.14.2
Architecture: x86_64
Compiler: Clang 10.0.0

Hey all,

I am putting together a user manual that contains Qcad drawings. They're dimension drawings for the product we designed using Qcad. The manual is created in Word and exported to PDF. What is the best way of exporting the Qcad drawings to be imported? I'm guessing I need to export to Bitmap to get a JPEG and place the JPEG in the Word doc before exporting to PDF. But I don't want the file size of the manual to be enormous and I don't want the drawings to be fuzzy.

Any advice on the export height and width, and pixels per drawing unit?

For example, I could set them high, let's say 3000x3000, and then compress the image. But I don't really know.

Thanks!

[andrew]

I'm not familiar with Word but as far as I know it should support the SVG format. If so, SVG is usually the way to go as this avoids any issues with resolution and file size. We're using SVG in house for the QCAD book / e-book.

You can export to SVG in QCAD using File > Advanced SVG Export or automate your file conversions with the dwg2svg command line tool that comes with QCAD.

[CVH]

Hi,

Because the drawing is almost a sheet I would merge it together in one PDF as PDF data.
But that requires an application to edit PDF files directly.
Here the exported PDF by QCAD is also in vector format.

I don't think that you can get bitmap files in a good enough resolution without that they are
quite large and still display the same sharp details as with vector information.

SVG is also vector art.

Regards,
CVH

[franksbedford]

Very good input guys. Thanks.

Andrew, what tool are you using to create/edit the Qcad e-books? They look great, and that's exactly what I need to do.

CVH, I'm not totally clear on your recommendation. Can you elaborate a little bit? Is there an advantage to export to PDF and editing it over export to SVG?

The final manual is PDF.

Thx again.

[andrew]

Andrew, what tool are you using to create/edit the Qcad e-books?

We use an in-house tool for this to first generate XSL-FO and then PDF from Google Documents stored in a Google Drive folder, automatically swapping out bitmaps with SVGs in the process. This works well for us since we are aiming to automate as much as possible and we can easily share the documents with translators. It would very likely be huge overkill for your use case though.

[CVH]

FB,

That where 3 paragraphs.
- If the drawing as PDF is fine then use it as a PDF merging sheets from different PDF sources to one PDF.
- Bitmaps won't give the same satisfaction as vector art will.
- An image type using vectors is SVG ... Both QCAD and Word would handle that.

Regards,
CVH