DXF/SVG Question

[cnc_aero (Paul Buckland)]

Has anyone successfully taken an paper woodworking template and made a DXF/SVG? My father has one he’s like me to cutout on my SO3 XXL
Thanks

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

You should be able to scan it and then trace it, either automatically:

Carbide Create - Image Tracing

We just posted CC 520 to: https://carbide3d.com/carbidecreate/download/ 520 includes a big new feature for us, Image Tracing. [image] You should be able to load a JPG or PNG and get a reasonable set of curves from it very quickly. A few caveats: Right now, it’s mono only so color images will be converted to black and white using the thresholds in the window. We’re not optimizing for very small images so some will work well, others won’t. We’d recommend images larger than 500px on a side …

or manually:

Importing a file or a backgound image

I’ve searched, honestly, but I still can’t find out if the importing of images is fixed, or I’m just doing it wrong. Essentially, I drew around a spanner (wrench) with the intention of scanning it, editing the image in Affinity Photo, and then importing it as a background, to draw a vector over it, or as a vector. Except, it’s either the size of the Eiffel Tower: [Screenshot 2020-11-09 at 17.28.40] or the CN Tower in Toronto: [Screenshot 2020-11-09 at 17.29.38] Oh, and the stock size is …

If you have difficulties post the scan here or to support@carbide3d.com

[gdon_2003 (Guy Donham)]

I have scanned images to turn into SVG images. The only think you have to be mindful is the thresholds that your scanner will scan out. You want a good black line that is solid. As @WillAdams suggested you can trace the image or you can use the open source application Inkscape. In Inkscape you open the bitmap image and highlight it. Then in the path menu you select trace bitmap. You can preview the process by clicking on update. Just as with the scanner you can change the thresholds to get a good trace of your image. Then just “Save As” as an SVG. If you use a resolution of 96 DPI you SVG will likely be imported in to CC at the scale of the original. However if the svg is too small or large then draw a rectangle the size you need the part to be and then use the scale to fill your image inside the box to the size required.

[cnc_aero (Paul Buckland)]

That’s great advice, but my only concern is how do I scan plans that are larger than a standard size scanner bed? You would have to align everything perfectly and then somehow stitch the two or more images together. That’s the biggest part I’m trying to wrap my mind around.

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

For parts larger than a scanner bed you have several different options:

• take a photo
• fold or scan the drawing and make multiple scans and then stitch together in a pixel editor or vector drawing program
• use a copier to reduce it in size to fit a scanner
• use an outside service which has a sufficiently large scanner
• draw a grid on top of the design and count squares to enter it (I actually did that for a map of my wife’s hometown to get folks from out-of-town to the church — the priest kept a copy of our wedding invitation by his fax machine to send to folks thereafter)
• make a pantograph and use it to make a reduced size copy

[gdon_2003 (Guy Donham)]

My scanner utility has a stitch utility. As @WillAdams suggested there are ways around. Here is a screen grab of my utility. See if your scanner has a similar utility.

[cnc_aero (Paul Buckland)]

I will definitely check that out. Thank you