raster to vector

Hi all,
Does anyone use raster to vector software.
I'm looking for something cheap, easy, affordable, and not too expensive.
Guess you get my drift.

Seriously.
Many times my boss does a nice little hand sketch of a floor plan, only to
be asked to
"add a couple of feet', or "just reverse the garage", generating all new
sketches.
I'd like to be able to scan these images, then do minor mods in cad, and
send them back out.
Any help for me?

Thanks,
jojo

 

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's Photoshop.


(or Photoshop Elements).

 

I think SketchUp would get you further faster. I don't know what
limitations the Google freeware version has. The full blown version is
about five hundred so that doesn't fit into the "not too expensive"
part. If your boss could play around with it he might be willing to
use it in the field on a tablet PC. It would certainly send a "we're
on top of technology" message and justify an increase in your fees.

R

 

you might try Corel Draw or Turbocad Pro.

AECVizPRO does specialize in this type of file conversion. We would be
glad to do the initial file for you to see if our service meets your needs.

Visit us on-line at www.aecvizpro.com

 

Photoshop/Illustrator will do the trick. If we're talking about
bringing something out of a cad software to a raster software the
easiest thing is to plot with a Postscript driver and create an EPS
file. You can open it with Photoshop (or Illustrator to do some
clean-up), and you can still use any pen tables you have in said CAD
software.

 

I'm going the other way.
..tiff file to dxf

 

www.wintopo.com used to have a decent free one. it would do ok, you have to
scale it & fix some lines if you are looking for laser or plasma type
quality dxf

 

In a previous post longshot wrote...

If you really must do this the my recommendation too: Wintopo.

In the cadd program I'm using there is a routine to import BMP. JPG and
TIF files. I usually do that then just trace over it. Much faster than
trying to fix a raster to vector file.


--
Bob Morrison, PE, SE
R L Morrison Engineering Co
Structural & Civil Engineering
Poulsbo WA
bob at rlmorrisonengr dot com

 

Oops. I must get a handle on my dyslexia. I'll do some digging around
because someone in my office used something recently that worked quite
well.

 

A sketch like the one you describe only takes a few minutes to draw in Acad
(All the details are already in your library????)
Raster to vector software is rather seldom a "nice" experience.......

Regards,

ola henning

 

This is true, but my boss does not want the "cold,sterile look of a precise
autocad drawing" at this stage.
He wants a hand drawn sketch that is easy to modify.
He also will not design in autocad. must use pencil and paper
jojo

 

aren't you the drafter here?

 

Maybe a 8B pensil, a poorly lit bar and a cocktail napkin will do the trick
(and 5 GT's)???

 

no

also, this this is a tool he wants long before this goes to the "drafter"

 

Onion Skin, aka Trace, Bumwad, etc.... Works for most people...

 

Onion skin, trace, bumwad? Where do these words come from??

R

 

the Mexicans

 

architectural firms....
aka, trash paper, butter paper, ect.

jojo

 

Hell if I know... First office I worked in, the guy called it 'trace."
Second office, it was "bumwad". Another office, it was "onion skin."
I didn't make it up...

http://www.dataprint.com/shopping/item_details/?item_code=3351499

If you wanna buy some...

 

I've always heard tracing paper or onion sheet. Never heard of bumwad which
sounds like an insult...