From scanner to autocad? Can it be done?

What you're asking for is magic, or technology not of this era. There's no way you are going to get where you want to go without considerable careful measurement and drawing. You'd better face it. On the other hand why not try casting?

why would you need a miracle to do this? all you need is an application within the program you use right now, (if that is possible by the way) or a program that can do this. I use autocad 2004tl with wiseimage, I scan drawings into tiff format, then open them in autocad. you can do just about everything with the drawing then, depends on how skilled you are, but it works!!!

why would you need a miracle to do this? all you need is an application within the program you use right now, (if that is possible by the way) or a program that can do this. I use autocad 2004tl with wiseimage, I scan drawings into tiff format, then open them in autocad. you can do just about everything with the drawing then, depends on how skilled you are, but it works!!!

It is neither magic or futuristic technology. It can be done to extreme precision with a CMM (coordinate measuring machine) that will interface directly with CAM software to program your machine. There is also the older method. 3D tracer mill. It will mill a part directly off your original. New technology maybe. It's only been around since World War 2. The kind of parts that we are talking about here would be easy enough to do manually in any case. Talk to any good machine shop.

How about a 3D scanner?

having someone use their CMM costs way too much to do what I want to do. A tracer won't work because I need to get the thing in a cad program to modify the things. The originals were hand made and for example are often symetrical or should be. A cad program will let me correct these unsemetrical parts of the parts. Then I can print out the corrected picture, lay it out and make a new pattern with a bandsaw and die filer. We are doing low quantities and till I got here were always made by hand. I am working to build a cheap tracer or suplicator of some kind. I am a machinist, its the cad, computer stuff I don't know much about.

wise image also works with the full autocad version, so you will also be able to draw 3d.

This is the second time the CW and I agree. We must stop doing that!

Welp, yer screwed.

I remember back when I first learned AutoCad, I had a need for a scanned map (for a non-profit organization) and hoped and prayed that I could find someone to do it for free. If ya want that, find someone who can do it and loves doing it as much as you enjoy what you want to do.

Seems that you may have thought yerself into a box. Poke a hole in the box.

-- "Who we are and who we become depends, in part, on whom we love."

-- "A General Theory Of Love" Thanks, Mom ______________________________________________________________ Glen Appleby snipped-for-privacy@armory.com

Another word for "CMM".

-- "Who we are and who we become depends, in part, on whom we love."

-- "A General Theory Of Love" Thanks, Mom ______________________________________________________________ Glen Appleby snipped-for-privacy@armory.com

It would seem the future is here.... but not within the OP's budget.

Hi Ken

Sounds like you just need a raster to vector converter, if you're just wanting the 2D outline of the parts.

You can place the brass part on the scanner, or you could draw around the part on a piece of paper and scan that. This would give you the raster representation of the part. Then you need a tool like WinTopo Freeware to convert it into an Autocad DXF. Then you can load it in Autocad and do any tidying/correcting that you feel is necessary.

WinTopo is a free product. For a freeware it is surprisingly well designed and easy to use. You can find a download site doing a google search, or just guess at the www...

Save in TIF or PNG. Try to avoid JPG, as that makes it harder for the r2v by kinda blurring the outline.

I worked with a bloke who was using photography to create 3D drawings of very complex sites, like a wharf complete with pipwework & piling. You take a couple of photos from different angles, having a couple of points on the object marked for common reference. Then using a program which may have been a plug-in (I think) for Microstation - yeah, wrong NG ;) - you digitise the common points off the pics on screen, along with all other points you can see, and it builds the model for you.

That sounds like Realviz ImageModeler. I've never tried the software, but have always wondered how well it works.

Michael (LS)

Yes that rings a bell. The office was using it in all manner of jobs, complex wharf structure with no as-builts, to an internal pickup of a museum. Hard to reconcile the cost for run of the mill jobs though. As usual, the quality of the survey in collecting the common data points for reference was the make-or-break.

Yeah, I do a lot of residential remodels and additions and have always wondered how well this software worked. Using 3DViz I can "camera match" a photo and add my model accurately to it, but boy would it be nice to be able to actually convert the photo INTO a model. Accuracy of data points isn't a problem for me since I have to measure everything in order to do the construction drawings, I have more than enough reference points.

Now, the question is, how easy is the software to learn and is it a good investment.....hmmmm.....

His choice, then, is to either steal plans for the stuff OR get to know someone who has a CMM *real* well.

-- "Who we are and who we become depends, in part, on whom we love."

-- "A General Theory Of Love" Thanks, Mom ______________________________________________________________ Glen Appleby snipped-for-privacy@armory.com

You can have the parts digitized (sonic or laser) by many service bureaus or by buying the scanning device(s) for your own use. Many are available from $2500 to several hundred thousand USD. The 3D (point cloud) file can be saved as IGES and imported into most MCAD apps. Some will be able to convert directly to solid models. Do some googling for

ken wrote: