Tablet (or app) good for viewing detailed blueprints(vector) pdf's?

[Lifted]

I just took a look at the iPad 2 and the latest from Samsung and Motorola at the Verizon store, and opening and navigating vector pdf's of building blueprints was painful. 95% of the files are under 1MB in size, most hovering around 500KB. The iPad was able to open the few I tested in 10 - 20 seconds, and after zooming in it would take another 10 - 15 seconds to sharpen the image up for that general area of the document. Panning around while zoomed was usually responsive, and then the same 10 - 15 seconds to sharpen from a blurry mess to something legible.

The Samsung and Motorola tablets were hit and miss, successfully opening and navigating the document about 50% of the time, sometimes just locking up for several minutes, and when they worked they were generally about the same speed as the iPad, though the Samsung would not sharpen the document at all once zoomed in.

I was surprised at the poor performance considering these tablets can push rather intensive 3d apps, but a 500KB pdf will bring them to their knees.

Anyone know if perhaps a more refined app in their respective app stores would perform much better than the built in office doc viewers, or is this just a limit of the hardware or OS? These tablets would be great for the people who could use them here, but the sluggish performance with their primary use is a deal breaker.

 

[pm]

GoodReader handles large PDF's pretty well. I've used it for large PDF's that are >24MB and it's not super fast my 1st gen iPad but it works tolerably well.

iOS:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goodreader-for-ipad/id363448914?mt=8

I don't know of a similar app on Android... I'm new to the whole Android app scene but I'm sure someone on here can suggest one.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Quickoffice has by far the best pdf viewer I have found for Android.

 

[Lifted]

Thanks for the GoodReader link. I'm having someone try it out on their original iPad tonight.

Is Quickoffice the default office/pdf app on Android 3? It's sounds familiar, and if that's what I was using today, it couldn't handle these pdf's at all. The oddest thing is that on the Samsung there was a rotate button which we would require, but the Motorola didn't have that button. Maybe it was just hidden via a preferences section in the app, but I couldn't even consider it without the ability to rotate the files.

 

[ChronoReverse]

The problem is the official Adobe pdf reader is really crappy.

Try an alternative app whether you're on Android or iOS.

I don't have a representative of the type of pdf you're using but Repligo and ezPDF are both good apps.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

The pdf app on the Android tablets would varry based on what the manufacturer decided to install on them.

 

[hanoverphist]

The problem is the official Adobe pdf reader is really crappy.

Try an alternative app whether you're on Android or iOS.

I don't have a representative of the type of pdf you're using but Repligo and ezPDF are both good apps.

ive used the ezpdf to open 3-5mb drawing files and it handles them fairly well. i cant recall it taking much time to refocus on the details, ill have to go try that out again.

 

[Patranus]

Hrm.

I have opened a 15MB file containing construction blueprints without a problem on an iPad.

Maybe whatever you are using to generate the files is doing it incorrectly?

 

[swanysto]

Ewww, I have to look at blueprints ALL day long, so I bought a 27" monitor and I still hate it. Looking at them on my laptop is downright crappy, I couldn't imagine trying to mess with them on an iPad.

 

[Lifted]

Hrm.

I have opened a 15MB file containing construction blueprints without a problem on an iPad.

Maybe whatever you are using to generate the files is doing it incorrectly?

The architects use AutoCAD, and after taking a peek at the PDF's, they are using Distiller 9.4.2 on Windows (i.e. Acrobat 9). PDF is produced as version 1.5 (Acrobat 6).

I've tried Goodreader on the iPad1 and it appears to be faster than the built in reader, which is extremely slow when zooming and panning, but it's still not fast enough. The iPad 2's at the Verizon store are pretty locked down by Apple, so no chance in loading Goodreader on one of those to test performance unless I purchase one. I'm thinking of putting this off until Windows 8 is released as those those tablets will be regular laptops and will certainly have enough juice to do this.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Is there an example of these PDF's? I'd like to try it on Android

 

[runawayprisoner]

I think there is a simpler solution for this. Instead of outputting PDFs, I'm sure the architects can try to save a high resolution PNG or JPEG instead.

Vectors within PDFs are not very well-defined, and can vary in performance depending on the viewer.

I just checked and I can verify that at least in AutoCAD, there is an option to export to a BMP file, which can then be converted to PNG or JPEG at the same resolution within Paint in Windows or within Preview in Mac.

In fact, if any of them has a Mac, there is an option in Preview that can export PDF files again in either PNG or JPEG with a set DPI. Choose around 600dpi and all of the details should show.

Under Windows, I'm certain Adobe Reader can do the same, but I can't verify right now.

 

[Lifted]

I think there is a simpler solution for this. Instead of outputting PDFs, I'm sure the architects can try to save a high resolution PNG or JPEG instead.

Problem is we already have several hundred blueprints at least, perhaps over a thousand. Edit: Just checked and it's at 1,300 and change.

I was thinking about going with cheap tablets for now and converting what we have to high res images, then migrating to Windows 8 laptop/tablets next year or whenever they come out.

Now the hard part. Anyone know of a utility which can monitor a folder for new files, convert them from vector based PDF to a high res image, and save them to a different folder with an identical file structure and file names? I could then sync the output folder with something like dropbox and they would have everything on their tablet, although I don't know if there are any apps for making markups on images similar to how GoodReader can markup a PDF. That's not a priority though.

 

[Lifted]

Is there an example of these PDF's? I'd like to try it on Android

You could probably find something similar out there with google. I can't share these.

EDIT: OK, I tried opening the source drawings in AutoCAD and I don't have a clue as I haven't used this in about 20 years, and needless to say it doesn't look familiar at all. I exported the drawings to pdf and the page is already laid out with all of the details such as architecture firm, my company, project name, location, etc. Anyone know how to export to a PDF without all of this? I tried looking for these settings in the output and page setup menus but I couldn't find anything.

I'd love for those of you who are interested to try these out on your different tablets and apps as there may be something out there that can handle these, but I'd need a hand removing the above mentioned details first.

 

[alent1234]

On my iPad 2 iBooks hasn't found a PDF it couldn't open yet

 

[runawayprisoner]

Problem is we already have several hundred blueprints at least, perhaps over a thousand. Edit: Just checked and it's at 1,300 and change.

I was thinking about going with cheap tablets for now and converting what we have to high res images, then migrating to Windows 8 laptop/tablets next year or whenever they come out.

Now the hard part. Anyone know of a utility which can monitor a folder for new files, convert them from vector based PDF to a high res image, and save them to a different folder with an identical file structure and file names? I could then sync the output folder with something like dropbox and they would have everything on their tablet, although I don't know if there are any apps for making markups on images similar to how GoodReader can markup a PDF. That's not a priority though.

I don't think there is any utility like that save for an automated script or a background process always monitoring...

But even if you have thousands of PDFs, it shouldn't be too hard to batch convert all of them into a different format. Here's a method for Adobe Photoshop:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Adobe-Photoshop-1028/Batch-Convert-PDF-JPG.htm

I'm sure there are even more out there. Perhaps try a Google search?

On a side note, as for your company information, try to check in AutoCAD and see if the information is on its separate layer? (it should!)

If it is, all you have to do is turn that layer off.

 

[Lifted]

On a side note, as for your company information, try to check in AutoCAD and see if the information is on its separate layer? (it should!)

If it is, all you have to do is turn that layer off.

I tried but I have no idea what I'm doing. I was able to turn some layers off by clicking on them, but I couldn't get at some of the text, and on some drawings the architecture firms logo wouldn't hide.

I'll take a look at the Photoshop option.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

You could probably find something similar out there with google. I can't share these.

EDIT: OK, I tried opening the source drawings in AutoCAD and I don't have a clue as I haven't used this in about 20 years, and needless to say it doesn't look familiar at all. I exported the drawings to pdf and the page is already laid out with all of the details such as architecture firm, my company, project name, location, etc. Anyone know how to export to a PDF without all of this? I tried looking for these settings in the output and page setup menus but I couldn't find anything.

I'd love for those of you who are interested to try these out on your different tablets and apps as there may be something out there that can handle these, but I'd need a hand removing the above mentioned details first.

If power is a concern you could always go with a Windows 7 tablet like the Samsung Series 7 Slate or the Asus EEE Slate EP121. Both of those tablets have Core i5 processors that would have no trouble with those pdf's

There are also some cheaper Windows tablets like the MSI Windpad 110w that use AMD Fusion processors that are still significantly more powerful than the iPad or Android tablets.

 

[roguerower]

My company switched over to Bluebeam for reading, creating, & modifying documents. Love it.

 

[Lifted]

An update as I received a 3rd gen iPad here in the office.

Performance hasn't improved, which I was expecting as the CPU is basically the same as that in the iPad 2. I'm starting to wonder if ARM just doesn't have the horespower. I wonder if Windows 8 ARM tablets will fair any better. x86 may not give amazing battery life, but it seems like it's the only option for these vector docs.

 

[bonkers325]

if there are tons of lines and information in the PDF, it will open slow even on a good desktop computer.

that said, ezpdf reader on Android runs like a champ. i open construction documents a lot on my phone and it opens fine.