Covert line drawing

[woodturningbypaul]

Hi All

While waiting for delivery of the laser machine though i might start on getting diagrams sorted.
Question is there a easy way to convert a black and white line drawning jpg to a cutting pattern. We use Techsoft 2D design at work which work's ok but when converting a jpg it will cut but not clean lines. The best we can do is go over the pic and redraw it, which is a pain when there a is a lot of detail.

thanks for any help

Paul

[Daven]

Hi Paul,

I use a program called R2V from MrSoft - depending on the picture you may have to tidy it up in a CAD program like DoubleCad (free) ot AutoCad (very not free)

Cheers

Dave

[Spooky]

Hiya Paul,

It depends how complicated the shape is? R2V programs tend to generate a LOT of small lines rather than genuine curves so file sizes can get big very quickly. For the most part I tend to do complete redraws if I have that kind of work to do. Redraws in the long run are more reliable and take up much less space.
If possible ensure you DON'T use a vector program to generate splines!! the dam things are the bane of my life and rarely cut to the correct sizes!! even a small segment polyline is preferable to a spline, splines aren't actual positions, they are a software generated interpretation of two positions hence if there is a difference in your software to the software of lasercut or newlydraw you end up with all sorts of wacky sizes!

best wishes

Dave

ps: Welcome to the madhouse

[woodturningbypaul]

thanks for the reply's.

I had hoped there would be a "wonderful" piece of software to convert but expected the answer i got !!!
Which software would be the easier to use to redraw the images ?? I use Photoshop a lot at work would Corel draw be quicker and easier then learning a new cad package ( I guess Corel will be close to photoshop been a lot of years since I last use Corel)

Thanks again for the help

paul

[Spooky]

If you're cutting Paul I'd recomend Draftsite (its free) or if you have a strong heart then go for AutoCAD (the heart will be needed when you see the price)

best wishes

Dave

[podbox]

Hi,

Id just like to second the recommendation for "DraftSight". Ive used many versions of Cad over the years when i worked in architecture (with AutoCAD being the main program) but when i tried "DraftSight" i found its virtually identical to AutoCAD and its fully compatible with the recent version of AutoCAD10.

Its almost like they have taken AutoCAD and just changed the icons and re-branded it.

Im sure there are lots of differences that i've not spotted yet, but if your looking for something that does the job (and is free) id recommend it!!

Podbox

[PhillyDee]

Hi,

Id just like to second the recommendation for "DraftSight". Ive used many versions of Cad over the years when i worked in architecture (with AutoCAD being the main program) but when i tried "DraftSight" i found its virtually identical to AutoCAD and its fully compatible with the recent version of AutoCAD10.

Its almost like they have taken AutoCAD and just changed the icons and re-branded it.

Im sure there are lots of differences that i've not spotted yet, but if your looking for something that does the job (and is free) id recommend it!!

Podbox

Exactly this!

I am an Autocad r14 veteran, and this is pretty much identical!

[Spooky]

The only real differences are in the Xref methodology and stuff like dynamic blocks but no difference at all in the things that would be used on a laser

best wishes

Dave