converting raster to vector

[Anonymous]

Hello to the newsgroup. Working on Raster Design 2004. I have a scaned image of a drawing and i 'd like to converted to vector lines. As far as i know i can't select a window and converted everything in it to vector lines. Correct? Which is the fastest way to convert the whole image to vector? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

This depends on what you have to start with, the drafted accuracy of the original, and distortion that has occurred in reproduction, and the accuracy of what you want to end up with. RD does have some semi-automatic vectorization tools but they require user guidance and intervention to operate accurately. Under the best circumstances, however, you probably expect accuracy above what pure tracing can supply. For a property plan, as a surveyor, I would never trust raster retracement - I would rebuild the boundary from the calls I see on the scanned drawing. For contours, I could probably accept what was drawn but I still have to intervene to assign elevations to the contours as they are traced. For an architectural plan, blindly tracing the lines will most likely not get them parallel and/or perpendicular. In all of the above, you probably want some layer discrimination among the various entities you are creating - again, this requires some user intervention. I have found over the years, that totally, or even semi-automatic, overtracing produces a product that usually requires more touch up and time than drawing it so I generally use the image as a guide and build new entities using the best information available on the image. Using raster snaps is a great aid, as is line following under specific circumstances. RD also has great ability to massage the image to remove bias and despeckle background noise. Perhaps a description of the drawn objects and the level of accuracy you seek would help. Autotracing a sketch of a Barbie doll house is quite different than doing the same operation on a drawing of a mechanical part or subdivision plan. -- Karl Fuls PLS Autocad AEC Training and Consulting Autodesk Discussion Group Facilitator office-user wrote: > Hello to the newsgroup. > > Working on Raster Design 2004. I have a scaned image of a drawing and i > 'd like to converted to vector lines. As far as i know i can't select a > window and converted everything in it to vector lines. Correct? Which is > the fastest way to convert the whole image to vector? > > Thanks in advance.