Efficient & Accurate Conversion of

2D PDF to 3D models
Jason Wooden
Mechanical Designer
Space Dynamics Laboratory- Utah State University-Logan, UT
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About myself

Education: 3 years of drafting in high school. Degrees from

Utah State University (USU): A.A.S. in Drafting, B.S. in
Industrial Teacher Education and M.S. in Industrial
Technology.

Tooling designer for DeLorean Manufacturing Company

(Snow-cat Division).

Design engineer for Icon Health and Fitness, folding treadmill

patent.

Taught CAD part-time at USU and a local community

college for about six years.

Since 1998 mechanical designer at SDL.

Extremely rewarding to design “stuff that
goes into space.”

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About my company

The Space Dynamics Laboratory is over 50 years old and is a not-for-profit unit of
the Utah State University Research Foundation. Around 350 employees.
SDL solves the technical challenges faced by the military, science community, &
industry in these key areas:
Electro-optical and space environment sensors and subsystems for over 400
rocket-borne and space-based payloads (more than any other university).
Calibration and characterization techniques and facilities.
CubeSat busses and small-scale satellite components.
Data compression, processing, and exploitation.
Real-time reconnaissance data visualization hardware and software for
operational military applications.

Company has been using Solid-Edge for design software since 2003.

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Recent project: EyePOD
Airborne IR & Visible 2-axis gimbaled sensor system with 3-axis stabilization* &
geo-registration.

*USPTO 12/339,444

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Recent project: Suncatcher
Fully automated sun-tracking instrument for AFRL.

Design,
Document,
Fab, Test &
install < 3
months.

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Recent project: ARSS
Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System is a lightweight gimbaled weapon
platform that can hit a small moving target at 1000m from a hovering
rotorcraft.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/planes-uavs/4313331

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Challenge: 2D PDF to 3D model
In my line of work, roughly 1/3 of all parts
that make up an assembly (excluding fasteners)
are Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS).
Frustration: All COTS parts that we model
ALREADY EXIST and have certainly been modeled previously!
More often than not, it’s very difficult to get copies of these models.
• Try contacting the company (yeah right, NDAs, etc.)
• Web libraries like PartCommunity, TraceParts, 3DContentCentral, etc. have
only a small fraction of everything COTS. User dependent, accuracy?
On the other hand, PDF data sheets of COTS parts are prolific- but often lack
the level of dimensioning required to accurately model the part.
Even if sufficiently dimensioned, manual modeling from a PDF is cumbersome
and mistake-prone.
Keep it digital: How can a designer use Solid Edge to go directly from a digital
PDF data sheet to a solid model?

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Step 1: Open the PDF with Inkscape*

8 *free download at http://inkscape.org/download/

Step 2: Clean-up the PDF
Use “ungroup” and “delete” to isolate the geometry.

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Step 3: Save the PDF as a DXF

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Step 4: Open the DXF in SolidEdge Draft
Scale geometry if needed (scale factor= size in real life ÷ size in SolidEdge).

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Step 5: use the Create 3D command
More on this from Dan Swartz at 10:30 am.

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Step 6: Create a 3D model using the 2D sketches
Synchronous really shines in this step.

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Part shown in next assembly

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Example: GPS splitter

2D PDF drawing

SE Part sketches

SE Part Model

SE Draft

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Example: PCB

2D PDF drawing

SE Part sketches

SE Part Model SE Draft

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Example: Thermal Weapon Sight

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Conclusion
When won’t it work?
Scanned PDFs can’t be saved as DXFs (scanned PDFs are obvious by their
look).
Holes & fillets sometimes have to be re-drawn in SE.
Live demo…
Who would like to see the ability to open PDFs in ST6? 
Questions/comments?

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