Hi All,

I found out about Inkscape from an AutoCAD forum, and I hope I can find the answer to my problem.... of not knowing how to use it!

So I do technical writing with FrameMaker, and use Adobe PhotoShop (in CS2) to do picture tweaks as needed. My manager wants me to create vector images from line drawings of our product, which I have not done before. These images are provided to our clients who use them in their own promotional materials.

These PDF drawings are provided to me from another employee who uses AutoCAD Lt 2011. He doesn't seem to know much about AutoCAD except how to create these drawings. He tells me that he can only provide the drawings to me in .BPM, .WMF, and .PDF. Why he can't provide them to me in other ways, I don't know, all I know is this is what I have to work with.

From what I understand in the forums, you can use Inkscape to open a PDF and create a vector image. so I downloaded Inkscape and yes, it opens the PDFs nicely. I didn't see an obvious way to save as a vector, so after searching the forums I saw the FAQ. So now I know that I need to do something to this PDF in order to prep it to be a vector, but what I should do I am not sure.

The drawing is just back and white, and not alot of detail. It is the front panel of a chassis for an advanced modem. So I don't expect the process to be complicated.

I would appreciate any advice you could give me in this task that is new to me. Thanks!

PDFs can be bitmap as well as vector. The quickest way I can tell to check which you are looking at is to click on it, and read what it says in the status bar at the bottom.
The other way is to switch to outline view (view menu>display mode). If it is vector and editable you will see shapes. If it is a bitmap you will just see a rectangle with diagonals.