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About LinkBacksI am looking for a cheaper software, where I can scan a picture , save it as a line drawing, or DXF, and run it on my machine. I am using Biesse works. I am new to this, and have no idea whats out there.
Scanning software I am looking for a cheaper software, where I can scan a picture , save it as a line drawing, or DXF, and run it on my machine. I am using Biesse works. I am new to this, and have no idea whats out there.
There's a big difference between a "picture", which typically is an array of pixels in different color densities, and a toolpath you can run on your machine. There are various programs that can extract linear vectors from a raster image by looking for the edges of arbitrarily designated color areas, but these will produce extremely complex curves which probably won't correspond to your idea of a line drawing. Even if you start with a line drawing, it will take some work to make a good toolpath from that.
I'm not familiar with your software package, but I think you first need to find something that will do what you want at all, then start looking for a way to do it cheaper...
Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software
Inkscape is free, but getting a good line drawing from a picture is asking a lot. It can be hard to get a good line drawing from a picture of a line drawing.
But I guess it depends on what your expectations are.
Gerry
Mach3 2010 Screenset
http://home.comcast.net/~cncwoodworker/2010.html
(Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
You can use inkscape to generate G-code from a picture.
It isn't super easy, but it is super free, and I was able to create g-code for a 2D CNC laser. It worked incredibly well.
1: Download inkscape.
2: Import your picture.
3: Convert to raster image using the 'potrace' command
4: Convert to G-Code using 'gcode tools' plugin
Follow in depth tutorial here:
EMC Documentation Wiki: InkscapeHowto
Daniel Ferguson
3D scanning and Reverse Engineering
www.globalinspectionsolutions.com
Portland, Or
503.470.9306
Thanks guys, I will have a look at those, I definetely want to scan from a line drawing, as for from a pic,it would be nice, but, you're probably right that there is a lot more involved than I imagine. Like I said before I am GREEN at this.
The process works very well for photos with sharp contrast. I needed to reproduce a hand written signature as a toolpath, and it was a breeze. You could also reproduce blueprints, hand drawings, and other shapes using this technique. Using more complicated photos like buildings, people or animals would take a little more fiddling.
-Dan
Global Inspection Solutions
3D Scanning - -Reverse Engineering - 3D Inspection
Global Inspection Solutions, 3D Scanning - Reverse Engineering - 3D Inspection
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