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Is there a cheap, fast, easy way to turn hand draftings into CAD?

BigMike

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
I am working on a project that has to be done REALLY soon, and I have little to no CAD skills. I have three structures with a lot of detail work that need to be put in this project, and I don't have the skill to get them done in the time I have to do it. I'm sure they would only take an hour or two a piece for someone that is good at it, and that person is not me.

Is there a way to get hand draftings made into CAD cheap, quick, and easy?
 
stinkyboy

stinkyboy

Plastic Santa
Jan 6, 2005
15,187
1
¡Phoenix!
I would scan them, redraw them in Illustrator, and export them as Autocad files.

An art student would prolly love this project.
 
H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
stinkyboy said:
I would scan them, redraw them in Illustrator, and export them as Autocad files.
Click to expand...
That would take as long or longer than entering them directly into Autocad, and you would have to tweak the hell out of it.

Can you give an idea of how much detail here? Maybe we can help? I'm a little rusty in Autocad, but not hopeless.
 
SK6

SK6

Turbo Monkey
Jul 10, 2001
7,586
0
Shut up and ride...
Scan and trace...but, again, what do you want to get out of it?

a redraw would be the best....whats this for? and Yeah, i got your e-mail...gimeie and hour or two and I'll call ya on de tele..
 
amydalayna

amydalayna

Turbo Monkey
Aug 16, 2005
1,507
0
south lake tahoe, ca
there isn't a program that takes scans and makes them into cad drawings. quickest way would be to scan the hand drawings, import and trace over them in autocad which would make the hand drawings accurate, probably only use 3-5 layers and lineweights. I don’t think the illustrator idea is a good idea, illustrator is much slower, not accurate, and translates into cad bad.
 
H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
amydalayna said:
there isn't a program that takes scans and makes them into cad drawings. quickest way would be to scan the hand drawings, import and trace over them in autocad which would make the hand drawings accurate, probably only use 3-5 layers and lineweights. I don’t think the illustrator idea is a good idea, illustrator is much slower, not accurate, and translates into cad bad.
Click to expand...
:stupid:
 
SK6

SK6

Turbo Monkey
Jul 10, 2001
7,586
0
Shut up and ride...
amydalayna said:
there isn't a program that takes scans and makes them into cad drawings. quickest way would be to scan the hand drawings, import and trace over them in autocad which would make the hand drawings accurate, probably only use 3-5 layers and lineweights. I don’t think the illustrator idea is a good idea, illustrator is much slower, not accurate, and translates into cad bad.
Click to expand...
I agree with H8R...:stupid:

I've been doing CAD for over 20 years...and yes, they actually DO make a program....they had a crude version of it in 1993...now there's like 3 or 4...and they ain't all that bad...

(I'm SO glad I'm changing careers)

So, Mike, be wary of answers such as this...:rolleyes:
 
H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
BigMike said:
Just so we know what we are talking about here............ there are three of these:
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Damn.

Back when I did lighting and stage stuff, we had an entire model library to build stuff like that with in Autocad. Even materials - plywood, luan, canvas, drape, etc. You could insert it and scale it and even spit aout a BOM to build from out of the attributes.

It would take me quite awhile to build the chops back to do that stuff.

I say SK6 and Vt Mtbkr go head to head and see who completes it first. Battle of the CAD pumpers!!
 
BigMike

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
Transcend said:
Man, drafters sure do like them swoopy arrows!

What's up with the naked dude columns? Brokeback ranch house?
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Yeah, there are TONS of notes on these things!

And I have no idea whats up with the statues, I ain't the scenic designer, I'm the Lighting Designer!
 
BigMike

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
And oh yeah, the whole purpose of getting these things in CAD is to get them into VectorWorks to do 3D light modeling to enter my lighting design into competition
 
H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
BigMike said:
And oh yeah, the whole purpose of getting these things in CAD is to get them into VectorWorks to do 3D light modeling to enter my lighting design into competition
Click to expand...
Eek...

I never got Vectorworks and Autocad to play together nicely. They each handle layers and lineweight in different ways. Total mindf*ck.

I say build it all in Vectorworks or all in Autocad. Trying to convert might waste time that you don't have.
 
Transcend

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
BigMike said:
And oh yeah, the whole purpose of getting these things in CAD is to get them into VectorWorks to do 3D light modeling to enter my lighting design into competition
Click to expand...
Oh man, you need lights shining outta them ass cracks. Farts from heaven!
 
SK6

SK6

Turbo Monkey
Jul 10, 2001
7,586
0
Shut up and ride...
BigMike said:
Yeah, there are TONS of notes on these things!

And I have no idea whats up with the statues, I ain't the scenic designer, I'm the Lighting Designer!
Click to expand...

Just a suggestion then lighting guy...LOW lighting levels on teh columns...:p
 
BigMike

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
H8R said:
Eek...

I never got Vectorworks and Autocad to play together nicely. They each handle layers and lineweight in different ways. Total mindf*ck.

I say build it all in Vectorworks or all in Autocad. Trying to convert might waste time that you don't have.
Click to expand...

I have gotten them to work together fairly nicely, but only with groundplans and the such, never tried 3D stuff. If it HAS to be done in one or the other, it has to be done in VW, because of the lighting stuff.

I just got a copy of the new VW12, and the import list has DXF/DWG, PartSpec, EPSF, Image, Pict, Shapefile, Worksheet, 3DS, IGES, and SAT.

I only know what a DXF, DWG, and the image stuff is. What are 3DS, IGES, and SAT?
 
BSEVEER

BSEVEER

Monkey
Dec 23, 2004
248
0
SoCal
BigMike said:
I have gotten them to work together fairly nicely, but only with groundplans and the such, never tried 3D stuff. If it HAS to be done in one or the other, it has to be done in VW, because of the lighting stuff.

I just got a copy of the new VW12, and the import list has DXF/DWG, PartSpec, EPSF, Image, Pict, Shapefile, Worksheet, 3DS, IGES, and SAT.

I only know what a DXF, DWG, and the image stuff is. What are 3DS, IGES, and SAT?
Click to expand...

They are just different file extension options for import/export. Some programs can't import a .dxf but can .iges or .sat.
 
BigMike

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
BSEVEER said:
They are just different file extension options for import/export. Some programs can't import a .dxf but can .iges or .sat.
Click to expand...
Right, I realize that, i just dont know what an iges or sat is. I know DXF/DWG is AutoCAD
 
oly

oly

skin cooker for the hive
Dec 6, 2001
5,118
6
Witness relocation housing
iges is a pretty standard translator file. I use Cadkey, Mastercam, and Surfcam for my job, and the only secure way to translate info between all programs is .iges. DXF is pretty standard too, it just looses some spline shapes when coming into Mastercam... then again, MC is pretty backwoods at times with commands like Get it, and Do it... Im still looking for the "Gitter Done" button.

Im unfamiliar with Vectorworks, but what it seems like you really need to do is turn the 2d layout drawings into a 3d model? Man does that remind me of drafting school. Sounds like a pretty major task ripe for one of the monkeys under worked engineering slackers... although it would take away from their post count accumilations......
 
BSEVEER

BSEVEER

Monkey
Dec 23, 2004
248
0
SoCal
BigMike said:
Right, I realize that, i just dont know what an iges or sat is. I know DXF/DWG is AutoCAD
Click to expand...
When I did 3D solid drawings in AutoCad 2002 I exported them as .sat files to be imported into MasterCam. It seemed to work pretty well according to the machinist.
 
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