Open a drawing PDF. Walk out with Form 3.

Balloonify reads the text layer of vector CAD exports — CATIA, NX, AutoCAD — recognises dimensional callouts, numbers the balloons on the sheet and writes the Excel characteristic list with AS9102 Form 3 Rev C and PPAP Dimensional Results. The drawing never leaves this machine.

Balloonify main window: a mechanical drawing on the left with numbered red balloons beside each callout, and a 22-row review table on the right listing type, quantity, nominal, tolerances and ISO fit.
The sample link plate: 22 characteristics found; every other digit-bearing line on the sheet is skipped with a stated reason.

01Open any vector PDF export

Fragments are reassembled before classification: stacked limit deviations, ⌀ and ° drawn as graphics instead of text, GD&T frames built from line cells. A capture invariant holds — everything carrying digits is ballooned, excluded with a reason, or listed as skipped with one. Nothing disappears quietly.

Close-up of the ballooned drawing: red numbered circles placed beside each dimension callout, never covering geometry or other balloons.
Balloons take the nearest fully-free spot — occupancy-aware placement, computed once for screen and print.

02Judge limits, not guesses

Every exported row states where its limits came from in a Basis column. An ISO 2768 class note on the sheet governs un-toleranced dimensions; carried fit classes (H7, f6, j6…) look up ISO 286 bands up to 120 mm. Outside the tables, rows say so instead of guessing.

  • Computed — deviations, Ra max, min/max qualifiers, carried fits, general-tolerance classes.
  • Refused honestly — thread classes, angles without a shorter side, fits beyond coverage: marked manual, reason stated.

03Fix what the engine missed by hand

Drag a rectangle over any callout and it is read, classified and ballooned — undoable, and it survives re-extraction. Textless crops fall through to assisted OCR when Tesseract is installed. Exclusion regions silence revision tables and title blocks for good.

04Export the workbook inspectors fill in

Six sheets: Ballooning, Summary with live formulas, Coverage accountability, Inspection Results — type measurements, Excel returns PASS/FAIL — Form 3 Rev C, PPAP Dimensional Results. Reopen the PDF later and your review is still there.

The exported BALLOON PDF page: the same drawing with numbered balloons placed next to every characteristic callout.
<name>_BALLOON.pdf ships beside <name>.xlsx — review on screen is exactly what prints.

What it reads off the sheet

Classification is geometric, not keyword-shaped: symbols are recognised from their strokes, quantities and qualifiers from grammar.

Linear · Diameter · Radius · Chamfer
Nominal plus signed deviations, symmetric or stacked, with unit conversion mm ↔ inch at export.
⌀83.8 H6 +0.022/0
Threads M / MJ
Pitch and tolerance class captured; judgement left to an inspector by design.
4× M8×1.25 − 6H
GD&T frames
Value, ⌀ zone modifier, datums — and the symbol itself, classified from its vector strokes across fourteen characteristics.
⏥ 0.05 A B C
Roughness
Ra values from text and the √ finish mark drawn as graphics.
Ra 1.6
General tolerance notes
An ISO 2768 class governs every un-toleranced dimension through the standard’s band tables.
ISO 2768-mK
Critical-characteristic marker
The ⎊ flag rides its row into Form 3’s Characteristic Designator column.
19drawings reviewed characteristic-by-characteristic
451characteristics found against the human gold list
61%of those now judged automatically, basis stated per row
0drawings uploaded anywhere — extraction is local CPU

One licence, no subscription

€699first seat, one device, one-time

How to get it
Write to us and we send you the build. It is the whole program: no account, no time limit, nothing to sign in to.
Each additional seat
€350 each — half price, as many as you need.
Included
Updates for 24 months. 30-day refund if you remove it.
After 24 months
Nothing happens. The version you installed keeps working, offline, for good. No mandatory subscription, no expiry, no kill switch.
Update Pass (optional)
€199 first device, €99 per extra seat — 24 more months of updates and support. Buy it only if you want newer releases.

Put it on the bench next to Acrobat and a spreadsheet. Compare one drawing.

Looking up the current build…