Can I create a sketch from a black and white image?

[RogerInHawaii]

I have the following black and white image, as a .png file (although it could be any image file format):

 I want to generate a Sketch from that image so that I can project it onto a flat surface.

I know that an image can be imported as a "canvas" and that I can manually trace lines all around, but is there any way that it can be done automatically?

[g-andresen]

Hi,

Open your image in a vector graphics programme (Inkscape, Illustrator...) and vectorise it.

günther

[RogerInHawaii]

And then what? I found a vectorizer tool on the Internet and used it to create an .svg file. But what do I then do with that within Fusion 360?

[g-andresen · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Insert into Fusion  > use it for  extrude, emboss, engrave

günther

[MRWakefield]

As others have said, you need to vectorise this using a vector graphics program. Attached is a DXF I've created from your image. Use 'Insert DXF' to load it into a sketch in Fusion360. You'll undoubtedly need to do some surgery on it to do anything with it like get it to extrude but at least it gives you a start.

Hope this helps.

[HughesTooling]

This post has a nice screencast going through the procedure of conversion in InkScape then transfer to Fusion.

Mark

[TrippyLighting]

I'd like to send a warning your way, before you engage in this. Proceed are your own risk!

While this might work without a problem as described by the other posters, these workflows have proven to be very consistent in creating problems and this forum is chock full of treads where users encounter problems with imported .svg and .dxf files

Problems often are that seemingly "closed" sketch profiles are not recognized as such and as a result cannot be extruded, embossed etc.

Then users try to edit such sketches and encounter significant performance problems. This isn't to deter you from proceeding, but it simply means that based on ample feedback on this forum and other places this might not be smooth sailing. 

[RogerInHawaii]

Yes, I encountered exactly that. I had to try a couple of different image-to-SVG programs before I came across one that actually produced a fully valid SVG file that, when loaded into Fusion, resulted in a perfectly valid (closed) sketch.

[g-andresen]

Hi,

I'm sure you'll tell us which one it is.

günther

[RogerInHawaii]

Ooops. Sorry, I intended to include a link. Here it is....

https://www.vectorizer.io/