A DWG arrives and the site needs paper
The services subcontractor sends the coordinated layout as a DWG on a Friday. The site manager has no CAD licence and needs an A1 print for Monday morning’s briefing.
Drawing Studio · DWG
DWG to PDF: what survives the conversion and what does not
Clients, site teams and subcontractors are often sent a DWG when what they need is a PDF they can print, mark up or issue. Without CAD, getting from one to the other means asking the author for a plot or trusting a converter you know nothing about. Fidrel makes the PDF in your browser from the DWG in the project, with the layers the file itself plots, on the paper size you choose, and with a footnote on every page saying that the drawing has been interpreted.
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Why turning a DWG into a PDF is harder than it sounds
Every layer printed at once
Converters that print everything bring in construction lines, frozen layers and notes the author never meant to plot. The result is legible to nobody and quietly different from the author’s own issue.
A PDF that looks like an official issue
Once converted, the PDF looks as authoritative as the author’s own plot, though fills, fonts or external references may be missing. Without a note on the page, the next reader has no way of knowing.
What carries over from the DWG
Fidrel reads the DWG in the browser and draws the layout you picked, or model space, onto the paper size you chose. The scale comes from the units of the DWG file: Fidrel shows the plotted scale, such as about 1:100 on A1, warns when the drawing will not fit on the paper at that scale, and fits it to the sheet with a 10 mm margin when no scale is set. Layers keep their names, and the layers the file marks for plotting are the ones printed unless you choose otherwise. Lines far away from the rest of the drawing can be left out by plotting the main content only.
Documents, drawings & models
What may not survive
A DWG is a CAD database, not a picture, and some of it does not translate. Hatches, dynamic blocks, paper space viewports and some fonts are simplified or left out, and Fidrel counts the simplifications and omissions as it opens the drawing. External references are missing unless they were bound into the file, and special objects from AutoCAD Architecture, MEP or Civil 3D need converting to ordinary lines, blocks and text by the author first. Filled areas are shown filled and a layout shows what its viewports see, but 3D solids are not shown.
From DWG to PDF in Fidrel
Step 1
Upload the DWG to the project
Put the DWG into the project’s folders. It reads best saved as an AutoCAD 2018 or 2013 DWG, under 32 MB, without a password and with external references bound into the file.
Step 2
Create a drawing on the DWG
In Drawing Studio choose New drawing, start from the existing drawing and pick the DWG. Choose a layout or model space, the paper size and orientation, whether to plot the main content or the whole drawing, and a title and folder.
Step 3
Choose layers and colour
Choose Export PDF. By default the layers the DWG file itself plots are printed; switch to all layers, filter by name, or pick them one by one. Choose all pages or only some, and colour or black and white.
Step 4
Download or publish the PDF
Choose Download PDF for a copy, or Publish to Documents to save it in the project. A DWG is always published as a new PDF document, under a drawing number that is not the DWG file’s own, so the DWG stays the current version.
A footnote on every page
Because the PDF is an interpretation, every page exported from a DWG carries the footnote “DWG interpretation – not verified against the original”. The export dialog says the same before you download. The footnote is there for the next reader, who may never see the DWG: it tells them to check dimensions and text against the author’s file before relying on them.
Checking the drawing before it goes out
A drawing made on a DWG opens in Drawing Studio for viewing only, because the studio is not a CAD editor. What you can do there is look and measure: show and hide the DWG’s layers, and use the Measure tool to read lengths and areas at the scale taken from the file’s units, a quick way to check a dimension before the sheet is printed. The DWG underneath stays exactly as it was uploaded and can be downloaded as the original.
What the conversion does not do
The DWG file itself is never changed, and Fidrel does not save anything back to DWG: the result is always a PDF. The PDF is an interpretation of the DWG, not the author’s own plot, so check dimensions and text against the original before you issue it. No markups or title block can be added to a drawing made on a DWG: it is shown, never drawn on. Files from AutoCAD R13 and older cannot be read, and a file over 32 MB or protected by a password does not open. New drawings are not created on a mobile phone; the conversion is done on a computer or tablet.
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Drawing Studio · DWG
Frequently asked questions
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usYes. Fidrel reads the DWG in your browser and creates the PDF there, with no CAD software installed. The DWG must be uploaded to a project in Fidrel first.
By default, the layers the DWG file itself plots. You can print all layers instead, filter them by name or switch individual layers on and off before exporting.
Fidrel works out the scale from the units of the DWG file and shows it, for example about 1:100 on A1. If the drawing does not fit at that scale, it tells you to choose a larger paper size or a smaller scale.
Every page exported from a DWG says it is a DWG interpretation not verified against the original, so whoever reads the PDF knows to check it against the author’s file.
No. The DWG is never changed and stays the current version in its folder. Publishing creates a separate PDF document beside it.
No. New drawings, including those made on a DWG, are created on a computer or tablet. On a phone you can view the DWG and download the original.