architecture

Top 7 Ways AutoCAD Conversions Helps Architect Firms

Top 7 Ways AutoCAD Conversions Helps Architect Firms

DWG Conversions Will Change Your Architect Business

Architects are as busy as ever. If you have your own architect firm, freelance, or are part of a team, AutoCAD conversions can help your company in many ways. Adding AutoCAD conversions to your workflow can increase productivity, and profits. Here’s 7 ways AutoCAD conversions can help you as an architect.

Architects using AutoCAD in office.
Architects looking at plans in AutoCAD

1. It will make your workflow quicker

Ever have a remodel where you are redrawing old plans from 20+ years ago? Have that sheet scanned, and sent to us for a fully-layered AutoCAD conversion. You will receive a vector DWG file, and you can quickly make your changes.

2. Clean up hand drawn plans

Many of our customers hand-draw plans, and they find it easier and has more character than CAD drawn plans. The problem is, often they work with others who only use CAD. We can convert your hand-drawn plans to CAD, so you can collaborate with other industries, including interior design, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and structural engineers.

site plan blueprint to AutoCAD
Scanned site plan blueprint converted to AutoCAD.

3. You can take in more work

Now that you are not drawing everything yourself in CAD, you can take in more work, while we do a much of the AutoCAD work. This is especially useful for remodels, so you can make your changes, additions to the home, accessory dwelling unit (ADU), office, hardscape, landscape, decks, pool, electrical, or plan change. Check out this article on how this saves you time and money.

4. Redline changes

We can make changes to your plans. Simply grab a red pen, or make comments in the PDF specifying the changes you need, and we will make the changes. For example, you can circle walls, doors or windows you would like removed. Curious to how Convert2AutoCAD compares to other services that claim to perform the same service? Check out this article.

Architectural redline changes

5. Friendly customer service

We are located in Del Mar, California. This makes it easier for you to work with us, from the United States. We are easy to communicate with, and you will not have to worry about langue-barriers, or time zones. We are available to you Monday – Friday, 8:00AM to 5:00PM Pacific Time. Feel free to contact us or give us a call at 858-755-5134.

6. Fast turnaround

We are capable of getting your PDF converted to CAD in as little as 24-hours! As an architect, we know sometimes you have tight deadlines. This is why we offer expedited processing, so you can meet your deadlines with your clients, contractors, or municipalities.

7. Your architect competitors are using it

We have been offering this service for more than 20 years, and have amassed over a thousand customers and have converted over 100,000 pages. It’s a very good chance you could be bidding against another architect that will be using our services for the project. This lets them bid lower, and have a faster completion time. We want you to remain competitive as well.

Architect with paper plans working on laptop

Conclusion

Architects have much to gain, and nothing to lose by having Convert2AutoCAD in their workflow. It can save you money and time, and help you take in more work. Send us your plans for a quick quote to convert to AutoCAD.

Posted by Michael Mellor in AutoCAD tips
Make Federal Buildings Great Again?

Make Federal Buildings Great Again?

Should we ignore modern and non-Western architectural styles in all future federal buildings?

Standardization of Art

Federal buildings are not standardized. They come in many shapes, and styles. You will find Romanesque Revival, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival and many other classic western styles. These are known for stone block, steep columns, vaulted ceilings, and arched doorways and windows. They often have towers and are decorative. Art deco style was popular in the early 1900’s and we can see that in many federal buildings, including the Federal Courthouse in South Bend, Indiana. Later we had modern styles like brutalist and deconstructivist architecture.

President Donald Trump has proposed an exectuive order that could ban modern styles like brutalist and deconstructivist architecture for federal buildings. It could also ban non-western style architecture styles from Asia, Africa and the Middle East. This would severely limit how our buildings would look.

Build more, or restore?

The money used to build these new buildings might be better off spent preserving and restoring current federal buildings. There are many in disrepair, and preserving history could be money better spent. I do enjoy the classic western styles, but also enjoy the modern styles. To limit our creativity, is to limit our thoughts. The United States of America is bout hard work, creativity, and pushing boundaries.

About Convert to AutoCAD

Save yourself hours, days, and weeks redrafting old plans. We take your PDF, JPG, GIF, or TIF file, and convert it to fully layered AutoCAD DWG files. We also work with Revit and Sketchup. Our professional drafters can have your conversion done for you in as little as 24-hours. For a free, immediate quote, submit your files on our order form.

Posted by Michael Mellor
Defending Brutalist Architecture

What is brutalist architecture?

I found a very informative podcast about a form of architecture that does not get much praise. Brutalist architecture came out of the 1960’s Europe, when it was too expensive to build from steel. It mostly traces back to French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier, and is known for it’s use of raw concrete. Many people think of brutalism as “ugly” and “communist looking”, but there are many examples of amazing structures in this style, including the Geisel Library in my home town of San Diego.

Brutalist architecture Geisel Library

Geisel Library at University of California at San Diego is an example of brutalist architecture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While it’s true, sometimes it’s used in boring ways, I think you would agree that the above building is hardly boring. This topic is explored in more detail at the WBUR show “Here and Now” in both podcast, and written form.

 

Brutalist architecture Qualcomm / Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego

Qualcomm / Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego

Another example in San Diego is Jack Murphy / Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, completed in 1967. More about that stadium can be found in this Voice of San Diego article. The stadium has most recently hosted the San Diego Chargers football team, and used to host the San Diego Padres, before Petco Park was built.

Brutalism architecture arches

Brutalism architecture arches

Posted by Michael Mellor
Most used AutoCAD keyboard shortcuts

Most used AutoCAD keyboard shortcuts

Here are the most commonly used AutoCAD 2018 keyboard shortcuts.

Get more work done!

Keyboard shortcuts help you do navigate AutoCAD much quicker than clicking with the mouse. Get to know these commands to speed up your productivity. Print up this chart of keyboard shortcuts for AutoCAD 2018. We can save you more time by converting PDF plans to DWG AutoCAD files. From there, you can simply edit in AutoCAD. Contact us for a free quote.

PDF to CAD

Send over your PDF plan to have it converted to fully layered vector CAD file.
KeypressCommandDescription
F1HELPCalls for Help screen
F2TEXTSCRToggles the Text screen display
F3OSNAPToggles Object Snap mode
F43DOSNAPToggles 3D Object Snap mode
F5ISOPLANEToggles Isoplane mode
F63DOSNAPToggles 3D Snap to Plane mode
F7GRIDMODEToggles Grid mode
F8ORTHOToggles Ortho mode
F9SNAPToggles Snap mode
F10POLARToggles Polar mode
F11OTRACKToggles Object Track mode
F12DYNMODEToggles Dynamic Input mode
Ctrl+SaveQSAVESaves the drawing
Ctrl+OpenOPENDisplays the Select File dialog box
Ctrl+PPLOTDisplays the Plot dialog box
Ctrl+Tab Switches to the next open drawing
Ctrl+PgUp Switches to the next tab in the current drawing
Ctrl+PgDn Switches to the previous tab in the current drawing

For more shortcuts, visit the AutoCAD website.

Posted by Michael Mellor
How Converting to AutoCAD Can Save You Money

Who doesn’t want to save money?

As they say, “a dollar saved, is a better than a dollar earned.”  This is very true for converting your files to AutoCAD. Here’s the ways using this service can save you money.

We know you are in this business to make money. Hiring a drafter is expensive, and you often have better things to do than to redraw old plans for a remodel or addition. Here’s a few reasons why this service not only can save you money, but can make you money.

  • Drawing one page from scratch can take 4 to 24 hours, that can cost you a lot of money.
  • Average hourly rate of an architect is $35 to $75 per hour.
  • We provide fully layered AutoCAD DWG files, that you can begin your remodel design right away.
  • This can be used for architectural, structural, engineering, plumbing, mechanical, shop drawings, as-built, calculations, details, kitchen, landscape, topographic, elevations, floor plans, sections, and any other type of plans you may have. We work in both imperial, and metric measurements.
  • We can also work with you to make design changes to plans, and a rate of only $30 per hour.
  • You can concentrate on design and business development, instead of redrawing plans.
  • Reprographics companies can offer this to their customers with a special rate.
  • Take on more jobs by having us handle a lot of the drafting.

As you can see, this service can help your company by giving you a jump start on your design and remodel projects. This service has helped out hundreds of our customers. Have the advantage over your competition. We can convert PDF, PLT, TIF, JPG, GIF, and even paper plans to fully layered AutoCAD DWG files. If you would like a free quote, Email us now.

Convert2AutoCAD is a small business residing in Del Mar, California. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Posted by Michael Mellor

I loved this service! It saved us a lot of drafting time and was accurate, and quick. We will definitely use it again.

Martha D. – Martha’s Creative Gardens and Landscapes
Posted by Michael Mellor