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How can I include WMFs in PDFs in PartyCAD
If you create and save a color view in the View module, PartyCAD creates a WMF file that can then be loaded and printed by the Layout Page module. However, if you go a step further and make a PDF of the page, such WMF files are not included. Is there a way to make a PDF file that includes such files?
This is an old problem that was fixed in PartyCAD 10, by the introduction of the new paint module. This saves such files a JPGs rather than WMFs. If you have an earlier version of PartyCAD and do not want to upgrade, here is the only solution I know:
WMFs are Windows Meta Files. These contain stroke and color information rather than pixels as do JPGs and BMPs. For this reason, PartyCAD cannot include them in the PDFs the program itself creates. However, you can buy software that appears as a printer in your list of available printers, which instead of printing on a physical device, creates a PDF file. Using one of these programs, you can indeed include PartyCAD WMFs in your PDFs. Here's how:
1. Get the PDF printer software and install it. The top of the line product is Adobe Acrobat Standard. This costs $300. Another package that is quite popular is ScanSoft's PDF Converter. This costs $100. Both of these products cost a lot and do much more than the PDF printing trick. The cheapest PDF printer I found with a quick Google was Win2PDF which costs $35. (Click here to go to their website) I downloaded and installed their free demo and it worked just fine for me.
2. Once the software is installed, run PartyCAD and load the page containing the WMF that you want to make into a PDF. Next click File/Printer Setup. In the menu that appears, the Name box contains the name of the printer that is to be used when you print in PartyCAD. Select Win2PDF or whatever PDF printer software you are using from the list and click OK.
3. Now if you Print your page in normal fashion from within PartyCAD, when the print starts, you will be asked for the name and location of the PDF file you wish to create. It is the PDF printer software that is asking for this information. I usually just use the project name as the file name, and set the location to be the desktop. This makes it easy to find the resulting PDF after you exit from PartyCAD.
That's really all there is to it. If setting the printer within PartyCAD does not work, get out of the program and go to Printers and Faxes in the Control panel. Once there, set the PDF printer as the default printer by right clicking and selecting the Set as Default option. Do this, and the next time you run PartyCAD (or any other program), anything you print will be tucked away into a PDF file. This method is surefire, but you will have to reset your default printer when you are ready to once again print on a real printer.
http://www.hufsoft.com/QnA/WMF.htm
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