Scan into CAD program recomendations??

[metalworkz]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone here has found a good program to use for scanning printed or faxed drawings into a usable image to use in CAD for program generation etc. There has to be a better way to take printed drawings back into CAD for programming parts than to redraw it all the time? I have found a program called Scan2CAD with a free 7 day trial but thought I would see if someone here has found a good solution to this problem before I try it. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!!

Regards,

[High Seas]

I played with it a bit a few years back - looks more advanced than before. But you piqued my interest and I found this:
http://www.cadtool.net/image2cad.htm
they say, "Image2CAD is a handy tool for converting raster image to DXF file, especially useful for crystal, metal engraving or title block's logo importing."
See it going for $99 - a bit cheaper.

There has to be a better way to take printed drawings back into CAD for programming parts than to redraw it all the time?

Are you wanting to go from scanned to CAM? And not CAD? What about using a vectorizer http://vectormagic.com/ then generate G code with some other programs or start with a R2V? There are several programs to do that - all have some limits though,
http://pcwin.com/Multimedia___Design/R2V/index.htm
Rasterfratz (free trial as I recall) http://www.imsrv.com/rasterfratz/ , etc

Hope thats helpful!
Jim

[Mike Stevenson]

What I do is scan the image and save it as a JPEG. I use Solidworks to create a drawing. Then under Tools select Sketch Tools then Sketch Picture. When you load the pic you can Scale, Rotate, and Translate it any way you want. Now you can very accuratly create geometry that copies the pictures geometry.

[metalworkz]

Thanks for links, ideas and tips. I will give them a try and I'm sure if you had good results with these methods they will help me also. The help is much appreciated!!
Regards,

[vinot]

another r2v I use somtimes is Algolab Rasterto Vector (google), needs tiff b/w. First I work the image with Gimp to simplify curves an so on, then I vectorize and save to a dxf file.

toni

[jimluu]

I think bobArt does that.