---
title: "Partimation — quote from a drawing, no 3D model required"
url: https://partimation.com/documents/
description: "Upload a drawing — a clean CAD export, a scanned print, or a photocopied PDF — and Partimation reads dimensions, tolerances, and GD&T into a structured requirements model that drives should-cost and process fit. Start free."
product: "DocDFM"
domain: docdfm.com
---

# Quote from a drawing — even when there's no 3D model behind it.

*Drawing intelligence · tolerances · GD&T · should-cost*

DocDFM is Partimation's drawing reader: upload a drawing and it pulls dimensions, tolerances, and GD&T straight off it — a clean CAD export, a scanned print, or a PDF that's been photocopied for twenty years — each value carrying its own confidence score, with no 3D model required. Read the print sitting in front of you, not the model you wish you had.

- **No model needed** — quote straight off a scan, PDF, or raster print
- **Confidence scored** — every read tagged vision / vector / PMI, with a score
- **Tolerance → cost** — the tightest callout drives process, stock, and finish
- **Cross-checked** — units, tolerance-vs-capability, dims-vs-holes — before you quote

Free to start · no credit card · your files stay yours.

## Quoting from a print shouldn't mean reading it twice, by hand.

- **Every tolerance, read off the print by hand** — Datums, feature control frames, plus-or-minus calls — someone reads every one off the drawing just to build a quote. It's slow, and it's easy to miss one buried in a note.
- **Tolerances cost more than the shape does** — A tight bore or a position callout changes the process, the stock, and the finish more than the part's geometry does — and it's easy to price the job before anyone's actually read the callout.
- **Half the incoming work has no CAD model** — Scans, faxed prints, twenty-year-old legacy drawings — a real share of RFQs arrive as a 2D image with nothing behind it, so 3D tools sitting on your desk can't help at all.

## Read the print once, correctly, and price it off what's actually on it.

- **No model, no problem — Quote from the drawing alone** — Drop in a scan, a PDF, or a raster print — DocDFM reads it the way an estimator does, off the sheet itself, with no 3D model required anywhere in the process.
- **Read it right, and know how sure — Tolerances and GD&T, pulled automatically, with a confidence score** — Dimensions, tolerances, and GD&T callouts come off the drawing with a confidence score attached, and anything uncertain gets flagged for a human to check before it's trusted.
- **Tolerances become dollars — The tightest callout sets the process and the price** — Tight features drive machining stock, process choice, and finish more than shape does — Partimation prices them with the same engine that prices fabrication and casting work, so the number stays consistent across the shop.
- **Catch it before you quote — Cross-checks that catch the drawing's own mistakes** — Unit sanity, tolerance against your shop's real process capability, dimensions against the holes Partimation actually detects — the print gets checked against itself before the number goes out the door.

## Four steps from a drawing to a price you can send.

1. **Drop the drawing** — Upload a DXF, PDF, or CAD export — or just a scanned or photographed print. No 3D model needed.
2. **See what's read, and how sure** — Dimensions, tolerances, and GD&T come back tagged by source — vision, vector, or PMI — each with a confidence score.
3. **Tolerances become a should-cost** — The tightest callouts drive process, stock, and finish, and threaded callouts price straight through the same engine behind machining, fabrication, and casting work — add the 3D model and the full should-cost follows.
4. **Cross-checked, ready to send** — Unit sanity, tolerance-vs-capability, and dims-vs-holes get checked automatically, so errors surface before the quote goes out.

## Start free. Upgrade when it's winning you work.

Priced for a one-person shop reading prints off a scanner and a production job shop alike. Reading drawings is unmetered — run as many as you like.

| Tier | Price (EUR / USD / GBP) | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | €0 / $0 / £0 | 10 drawings a month; Dimension, tolerance & GD&T reads, confidence scored; Advisory analysis, draft resolution; No credit card |
| Pro | €199 /seat · mo / $199 /seat · mo / £169 /seat · mo | Unlimited drawings, full resolution; Should-cost from tolerances, reports, exports; Cross-checks: units, tolerance-vs-capability, dims-vs-holes; Confidence-scored reads — vision, vector, PMI |
| Shop | €699 /mo · 5 seats / $699 /mo · 5 seats / £595 /mo · 5 seats | Everything in Pro; Your shop's process capability data; Quote calibration + API access; Priority support |
| On-prem | €15k yr 1, then €10k renewal / $15k yr 1, then $10k renewal / £12.5k yr 1, then £8.5k renewal | Runs on your hardware; Unlimited drawings, no metering; Signed updates, never phones home; 10 seats · optional device lock |
| Enterprise | from €25k / from $25k / from £21k /yr | Multi-site licensing, custom rate tables and rules, a model tuned on your own quote history, and an SLA. |

EUR and GBP prices exclude VAT, added at checkout where it applies. Early adopters keep their price as the suite grows.

## In the cloud by default. Behind your firewall when it has to be.

- **Cloud — Nothing to install** — Sign in and read a drawing from any browser. We run the compute, ship the updates, and keep your data yours — the shared model only ever learns from your own drawings to calibrate its confidence.
- **On-prem & air-gapped — For drawings that can't leave the building** — Aerospace and anyone holding NDA drawings can run the whole thing on their own hardware. Licenses and updates are signed files — it never phones home, so an air-gapped install stays air-gapped.

**Working from a full drawing package? — Go deeper on revisions, title blocks, and drawing-vs-model comparison.** — Beyond reading tolerances off a single print, Partimation also builds the revision chain from a drawing's rev table, parses title block and BOM data, and — when a 3D model is also on file — checks the drawing's callouts against it. See the [drawing-specific entry](/documents/drawings/) for the full detail.

## Frequently asked questions

#### How do I quote a part when the RFQ is just a PDF drawing with no 3D model?

A scanned, PDF, or raster drawing on its own is enough to pull dimensions, tolerances, and GD&T off the sheet. No 3D model is required anywhere in that path. Every extracted value carries its own confidence score and the source it was read from, so the requirements you quote against come off the print in front of you rather than a model nobody sent.

#### Will it read a print that's been scanned and photocopied for twenty years?

Scanned, photographed, and raster prints go through the same reader as a clean CAD export. What differs is the confidence: every value comes back with a score for how well it was read, and anything below the threshold is flagged for a human to check. A twenty-year-old photocopy shows as a poor read on the screen rather than getting priced silently into the quote.

#### How do I know a tolerance was read off the drawing correctly?

Every dimension, tolerance, and GD&T callout comes back with its own confidence score and the source it was read from — vision, vector, or model PMI. Vision means it came off a raster image, vector means it came from the drawing's own line data, PMI means it came off the model. Low-confidence reads are flagged for a human instead of being accepted into the numbers.

#### Does it catch a tolerance the process can't actually hold?

Tolerances tighter than the process can hold get flagged before the quote goes out. Two more cross-checks run in the same pass: unit sanity on the drawing's own numbers, and the drawing's dimensions against the holes actually detected in the model. The callout that doubles a price surfaces at review, while you can still ask the customer about it.

## Related pages

- [DrawDFM](https://partimation.com/documents/drawings/)
- [PartDFM](https://partimation.com/part-analysis/)
- [CostDFM](https://partimation.com/costing/)
- [Partimation Core](https://partimation.com/core/)
- [The RFQ is a PDF drawing with no 3D model](https://partimation.com/solutions/drawing-only-rfqs/)
- [An RFQ that takes days loses the job to whoever answers first](https://partimation.com/solutions/quote-turnaround/)

## Put your next print through it.

Quote a real drawing free in your browser — scan, PDF, or CAD export — or book a walkthrough set up for the drawings you actually receive.

## Tell us about your shop.

We reply within one business day.

> Partimation is decision support, not a guarantee — every value names its source (vision, vector, or PMI) and its confidence. Low-confidence reads never slip silently into a price — review them before you send the quote.