JPG/JPEG to DWG or DXF ? - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Willie T · 02-07-2009, 11:36 AM

Can anyone point me in the right direction for importing JPEG images of drawings into DWG's. Actually, "converting" is what I'm looking for... will need to work with them once in the drawing, and I stink at tracing.

bwalley · 02-07-2009, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willie T

Can anyone point me in the right direction for importing JPEG images of drawings into DWG's. Actually, "converting" is what I'm looking for... will need to work with them once in the drawing, and I stink at tracing.

You can't convert a JPEG to a .dwg

I have a client that owns a software company and they said it can not be done, the person who can figure that out will be a gazillionaire.

.dwg are raster files and jpeg's are an image, there is no way of converting a .jpeg to a .dwg, you can make a .dwg a jpeg.

**framerman** · 02-07-2009, 12:42 PM

well.....yes...... you can convert a jpeg to a dwg....sort of. Like bwalley said, raster....vector...two different beasts. You have to convert your jpeg to a vector format, which illustrator and a few other programs can do,

BUT you will never, never, never, get what you are looking for as far as a decent CAD drawing. It's like translating Chinese to English. Doesn't quite come out the way it's supposed to.

You can use it as a background image in CAD and trace over it. It's about as good as you will get.

Willie T · 02-07-2009, 01:43 PM

Thank you, Gents. Well, I guess it's Scan2CAD or TraceArt for me, like I was thinking. Ah well, not much else to do in this slack time anyway.

Buckknekkid · 02-08-2009, 10:59 AM

if its something I can help draw in acad let me know.

Kgmz · 02-08-2009, 07:15 PM

There is a way you can do it but not directly.

You will need to print the image, then run it through a scanner, then convert it with raster to vector software. But it will never be 100% accurate and will need a lot of editing.

Max Nomad · 02-08-2009, 08:26 PM

All the answers posted so far are correct -- but none of them are truly the "shortcuts" they might sound like.

Between taking drafting classes back in the day and working with Raster (Bitmapped) and Vector graphics since the late 80s, I can safely say you'll end up putting in much more work trying to "convert" a JPG file to a clean scalable DWG. The problem is that tracing bitmapped lines will give you shapes and not true scalable single lines that are also "to scale" with measurements and all. It also won't give you the layers that most DWG plans have. As much as this is probably not what you want to hear but if you absolutely need that JPG as a DWG you would be better off printing out the JPG and re-creating it with whatever CAD program you're using. Ultimately you'll be glad you did because you'll get progressively faster with CAD design the more you do it.

ScipioAfricanus · 02-08-2009, 09:20 PM

Quote:

All the answers posted so far are correct -- but none of them are truly the "shortcuts" they might sound like.

Between taking drafting classes back in the day and working with Raster (Bitmapped) and Vector graphics since the late 80s, I can safely say you'll end up putting in much more work trying to "convert" a JPG file to a clean scalable DWG. The problem is that tracing bitmapped lines will give you shapes and not true scalable single lines that are also "to scale" with measurements and all. It also won't give you the layers that most DWG plans have. As much as this is probably not what you want to hear but if you absolutely need that JPG as a DWG you would be better off printing out the JPG and re-creating it with whatever CAD program you're using. Ultimately you'll be glad you did because you'll get progressively faster with CAD design the more you do it.

What he said.

Andy.

mdshunk · 02-08-2009, 09:37 PM

Turning a Jpeg into a DXF is a bit like stuffing hamburger into a meat grinder backwards, turning the handle, and expecting a roast in return. Ain't gonna happen.

ABLE1 · 02-08-2009, 09:44 PM

While reading the thread I thought I would check on TraceArt site.

I am not hawking these guys but they say that they can. Don't know how good but check this out.

http://www.freefirestudio.com/traceart.htm

Max Nomad · 02-08-2009, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ABLE1

While reading the thread I thought I would check on TraceArt site.

I am not hawking these guys but they say that they can. Don't know how good but check this out.

http://www.freefirestudio.com/traceart.htm

It looks good and, yes, it would be "editable" but unless they've built in some really high-end shape/symbol recognition algorithms, this is just another high-end trace program that doesn't actually recreate the shapes as line art but traces the outside and inside of a given shape then fill it in so on the surface it looks like it's one line but in reality it's two shapes with a negative space in the middle. I'm not doing a good job of explaining the difference but, if anything, play around with the demo and you'll probably see what I mean when you try to go edit the shapes and can't do it the same way you would if it was natively created in CAD.

wallmaxx · 02-09-2009, 03:06 AM

Since I redraw every plan I get....my vote is take the jpg and open it on your left monitor and redraw it in your CAD pgm on your right monitor...you are cool with dual right?

It will be best in the long run.

Good luck.

bwalley · 02-09-2009, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kgmz

There is a way you can do it but not directly.

You will need to print the image, then run it through a scanner, then convert it with raster to vector software. But it will never be 100% accurate and will need a lot of editing.

What software is capable of this?

Max Nomad · 02-09-2009, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwalley

What software is capable of this?

When you get a chance read through the rest of the thread -- we've been talking about it. Even though DWG is vector format, it's more like "Vector on Steroids" in comparison to other vector formats like EPS, Postscript, Illustrator, and etc. This is why you can be in CAD and jump from working 2D to 3D whereas with most other vector illustration programs you can't, at least not in the sense of true engineering.

Tony33770 · 04-07-2009, 01:13 PM

Let Me know if I can help - adelnunzio@tampabay.rr.com
Proficient in CADD etc.
Tony