Solidworks How?


Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Solidworks How?

  1. #1
    Member Wjman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    England
    Posts
    59
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Question Solidworks How?

    Hi All,
    I'm a bit of a 'Newbie' to Solidworks. My boss says that he wants me to learn it so I can use it at work. Anyway after going through the tutorials, I think I am getting to grips with it.
    I would like to get a drawing of a dragonfly and make a dxf/dwg out of it to cut the outline on a waterjet machine, I have tried scanning an image, converting it to a TIFF file and inserting it into a Solidworks drawing, but I keep on getting an 'error reading file' message. Can anyone shed any light on this, and offer some help. I hope to apply the same method to various other pictures, (flowers, birds etc)
    thanks for any help
    Mark...

    P.S. Perhaps there is another program that is better suited to this
    application? Thanks...

    Similar Threads:
    If in doubt ask!


  2. #2
    Registered Rekd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    teh Debug Window
    Posts
    1876
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    You need to convert the raster image, (bmp), to vector (dxf, iges etc).
    There's a few programs that do this, wintopo has a freeware one that's barely OK, one of the adobe products which I don't remember the name of off hand works well, and Mastercam has a c-hook to do it. There's others as well.

    'Rekd

    Matt
    San Diego, Ca

    ___ o o o_
    [l_,[_____],
    l---L - □lllllll□-
    ( )_) ( )_)--)_)

    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)


  3. #3
    Gold Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Colorado Springs, CO USA
    Posts
    99
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Adobe Illustrator



  4. #4
    Registered Rekd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    teh Debug Window
    Posts
    1876
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Originally posted by woody5
    Adobe Illustrator
    Yeah, what he said.

    I think it's only in v9 and above, but I might be wrong. (at least the 'stable' one)

    'Rekd

    Matt
    San Diego, Ca

    ___ o o o_
    [l_,[_____],
    l---L - □lllllll□-
    ( )_) ( )_)--)_)

    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)


  5. #5
    Registered
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Oregon, USA
    Posts
    28
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Use the graphic as a sketch bitmap and trace it using 3 point arcs and lines. Splines would be faster, but the gcode resulting may be reduced to very small line sements. Arcs and lines produce a predictable path. Arcs also seem to transition into arcs much smoother than line segments due to ramp up/down being executed for each micro movement. Arcs may requires hundreds of line segments to produce an acceptable appearance. This has a huge impact on program length as well. 100 line segments = 100 lines of gcode vs 1 line of gcode to execute an arc.



  6. #6
    Registered
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    usa
    Posts
    2
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    I'm having the same problem. You should be able to insert a raster image without any problems. There's even an auto trace feature for creating vector geometry by tracing over your picture. It'd sure be nice to be able to use it...



  7. #7
    Monkeywrench Technician DareBee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Stratford, Ont. Canada
    Posts
    3154
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    This is a 4 year old thread that you just resurrected!

    SW 08 definitely has more features than 03 or 04 did.

    www.integratedmechanical.ca


  8. #8
    Registered
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    usa
    Posts
    2
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    I noticed the oldness afterwords, but it doesn't change my problem with the program. Now that it's resurrected, do you have a solution to the problem?



  9. #9
    Monkeywrench Technician DareBee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Stratford, Ont. Canada
    Posts
    3154
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    You will need to use autotrace or some other raster to vector converter. There are free programs available for this on download.com (raster to vector) or you can use adobe illustrator.

    www.integratedmechanical.ca


Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


About CNCzone.com

    We are the largest and most active discussion forum for manufacturing industry. The site is 100% free to join and use, so join today!

Follow us on


Our Brands

Solidworks How?

Solidworks How?