Scan2cad

[automate]

Does anyone have experience with scan2cad software?
I have heard it does a very good job at converting jpegs and other drawings in to vector files? Any info will be much appreciated.
Ed

[CNCCAJUN]

Test before buying . . . having worked in engineering offices for the past 20+ years we have never found anything that would convert a non-vectored drawing to a useable one without a significant amount of clean-up.

Although we were usually working with PFDs & occasionally a JPEG.

If you do find one that works please upload a file prior to clean up.

Steve in Louisiana . .

[Metriccar]

I am trying scan2cad free for 14 days... I can make a lot of headway but it seems "so close yet so far away." Look at this file, notice all of the "big pixels" in there, can anything be done with this?

trial.jpg (26.14 KiB) Viewed 3982 times

[Gamelord]

For something that simple, I would just re-draw it from scratch. If you have the dimensions it shouldn't take but 3-5 minutes to draw in Corel Draw...

Actually, I went ahead and re-drew it quickly. It took about 2 minutes. Here is the result.

[abmagrum]

corel draw is the way to go , a simple drawing like that takes a second in auto trace

you can try it free for 30 days

and there are cool plugins to try for free for 30 days also

dxf pro tool

nesting tool

artwork optimizer
All done by James leonard

http://www.leonardcncsoftware.com/

[Metriccar]

Holy cow Gamelord, how did you get what appears to be an exact duplicate of it in a matter of minutes? The spacing between the holes, the location, the radius of the bend on the right? I'll have to try Corel Draw. Actually I'm new to CAD and have been trying a few: Inkscape, DraftSight, V-Carve Pro. Right now I like V-Carve Pro the best. Someone said that V-Carve Pro has good .bmp to DXF capabilities but they're not nearly as good as Scan2CAD, or what I found even better, Print2CAD. But yeah, the stuff I want to duplicate is very simple.

[OTHill]

Same here Gamelord .How do you draw like that in Coreldraw? What are the main tools that you use? I must buckle down and learn Corel draw!!! So far i'm okay working with DXF files and all that but drawing is another thing altogether.

[Gamelord]

I just imported your picture, then got the circle tool and drew a circle the same size as yours, laid it right on top of your picture, then just dragged/right clicked to duplicate it on top of the other 3 circles. Then to draw the outline, I just selected the freehand tool and started clicking around the outline of your drawing, angling off the corners. Once I drew around the entire outside of the drawing, I then converted the segments on the corners to curves and dragged them out to match your drawing. I also curved the backside to match.

Once that was done, I clicked on your drawing, dragged it to the side and deleted it. What was left was the vectored drawing which I then exported to DXF and uploaded here.

If I knew how to make a video of my screen while I drew it I would do that so you could see how easy it is to do.

BTW, I have been using Corel for over 10 years now so using the tools and features is very easy for me to do. Being familiar with all the ins and outs makes things like this super easy to do. That being said, for a raw beginner, I would still say it could be drawn in less than 10 - 15 minutes.

Hope that helps.

[OTHill]

Thanks.What I am really interested in is how to draw something like that from scratch.I appreciate your help!

[Metriccar]

Got it, thanks. I can use the same principles in V-Carve Pro. CorelCAD doesn't seem to have an import .BMP or .JPG option.

[Metriccar]

It looks like the screen resolution is better in Corel Draw compared to V-Carve Pro. In the circles in the picture below of the Corel export, there are not many "visible pixels out of place" when the V-Carve screen has plenty of them. But I zoom in, and the pixels disappear. So I'm guessing Corel is better for detail work.

Cons of the Corel Draw: their circles can easily be slightly oval with how you create circles and ellipses from the same tool. I also want something with a grid and I can measure along as I'm doing it.

[abmagrum]

in corel there is a key you push when making a circle not sure which one at the moment but you push the key and use the circle tool and it comes out perfect
actually it works for all the shapes.

export it in the dxf pro tool and it reduces the nodes for a really clean file

[Gamelord]

In Corel, you have two options when drawing circles and you can use them both to get a perfect circle. First and quickest, just hold down the CTRL key while you draw, this makes a 100% perfect circle. The other option is to draw the circle and then use the sizing boxes to make the circle perfect.

As for grid, you can turn the grid on or off in Corel. The grid is pre-set to whatever you need it to be, 1", 2", 3.5" or 1' etc... You can also select that the objects "snap" to the grid so that you don't have to zoom in to get an object exactly where you want it.

Instead of grids, I found that using the guidelines is quickest and easiest when drawing an object that needs to be exact. So say you have a shape like the state of Utah that was 3" x 7" with a .25" notch taken out of the corner. Just create guidelines at 0" and 3" for the vertical and 0" and 7" for the horizontal. Then create two more at 2.75" vertical, and one at 6.25" horizontal. After all your guidelines are created, Select "Snap to guidelines" and then use the freehand tool to draw the shape, starting at 0,0 and working all the way around the guidelines until you get back to 0,0 and you're done.

For placement of circles (bolt holes) you can use the x,y coordinates boxes to place your items exactly where they need to be. Some math will need to be used to get the exact axis points, but it is pretty easy.

Going back to the shape above, if someone was to hand me that scratched out on a napkin, and it had all the dimensions/measurements. It could be drawn with exact precision in less than 10 minutes using the methods listed above. Corel has a ton of features that most people don't even know exist. Once you start to get use to these features, it becomes a program that is very valuable, especially for this industry.

As for importing .bmp or .jpg or .tiff etc... Corel does that just fine and simple. Just create a blank drawing page, then use the import feature. Or you can do just like I did above, open a blank drawing, then right click on the opened .jpg and then paste it into Corel Draw on your blank drawing.

Hope this helps.

[Metriccar]

Hello, yes it does help. Thanks. Originally I was thinking CorelCAD does not offer image import but it may. I see CorelDraw's option for that. I'll have to just spend time figuring this software out and see if there is any preference for one of them. CorelDraw, CorelCAD, or V-Carve.