Digitizing new prints

[Guest]

You can scan them and save as a bitmap. Import the bitmap into VW and do a trace bitmap command on them, but you will probably only get a small portion or what you want. It may also be less accurate than if you drew them in a vector program.

[Peter N]

I have a set of old prints (pre-cad) that I need to import into VectorWorks. Is there a way of digitizing to a file format that is manipulable by VectorWorks short of redrawing by hand?

thanks in advance.

[ErichR]

There are 2 effective methods of digitizing drawings, and unfortunately, VW isn't one of them.

1. Outsource the drawings to India

2. Scan2Cad http://www.softcover.com/

Bummer that the latter is windows only, though, so maybe #1 is your only choice.

[Robert Anderson]

I think importing the raster (at scale or nearly so) and hand-tracing over is the most effective way, particularly if you -don't- need all the data in the old drawing. If you need 100% of the data in the drawing (and understand that what you're going to get back is lines and symbols, not walls or any higher level objects). If you want "fewer, smarter" VectorWorks objects, the best approach is import the image and draft over it.

[Lee C.S. Young]

http://www.vectorsoftlimited.com