Can Autocad scan and digitize paper blueprints, or reverse engineer from an image file? How can Autocad be used to help bid construction jobs and help do take-offs and materials calculations? Thanks.
Gene Sanborn
No.
You need additional software to do any of those things. ___
You need to convert the paper drawings to digital by scanning for example.
Then you can use software to make a vector (line) image from the digital image.
AutoCAD can than use the vector image.
Check out
But, even when it's been converted to vector, it can't be used with any automated materials take off programs or anything like that.. You basically have a drawing traced into AutoCad.
Now, if you don't mind sitting there and running various commands, you can get square footages from different rooms of a building but, unless you have the information in the drawing, you won't be able to just measure a re-created drawing and know how much square footage is on say the walls. That all has to be input fresh with a program like Architectural Desktop or one of the many other AutoCad add-ons.
But, you need to ask yourself if it's worth all that trouble if you're dealing with paper blueprints?? Why not just use your old wheel and get the measurements the old fashioned way if it's an old (pre-cadd) building.. If it's one built in the last 15 years, you might do some searching for autocad files and you just might get REAL lucky and find a set made to some sort of standard and actually be done accurately..
Good luck.. Hope that helped a little..
Paul Jordan Anchorage, AK
What about Quick Bid and On Screen Take-Off
Gene.
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