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I feel sure this has been discussed here, but I'm not having any luck finding the topic.

Can anyone recommend a good image to DXF converter? I've been using Convertio.com, and it does OK, but isn't great. I don't mind paying for the service if it does a better job than the free options.

We've started selling toy versions of our machines for marketing and reverse engineering the logos is taking waaay too much time.



Click me. I am a GIF.

SPerman wrote: ↑Thu Nov 02, 2023 11:52 am I feel sure this has been discussed here, but I'm not having any luck finding the topic.

Can anyone recommend a good image to DXF converter? I've been using Convertio.com, and it does OK, but isn't great. I don't mind paying for the service if it does a better job than the free options.

We've started selling toy versions of our machines for marketing and reverse engineering the logos is taking waaay too much time.



Click me. I am a GIF.
RDMicro.gif

Does the company you work for have a licence of PhotoShop? I'm pretty sure Photoshop can convert images to DXF.

Out of curiosity, what is that for? It looks like a turbine connected to some sort of cylinder.

Autotrace this and let me know how it goes.

AlexLachance wrote: ↑Thu Nov 02, 2023 11:56 am Does the company you work for have a licence of PhotoShop? I'm pretty sure Photoshop can convert images to DXF.

Out of curiosity, what is that for? It looks like a turbine connected to some sort of cylinder.

We primarily make equipment for testing dampers (aka shock absorbers.) That is a toy version of our skotch yoke machine with a 1:10th scale RC car shock.

SPerman wrote: ↑Thu Nov 02, 2023 3:36 pm We primarily make equipment for testing dampers (aka shock absorbers.) That is a toy version of our skotch yoke machine with a 1:10th scale RC car shock.

Awesome! Thanks for letting me know!

Might have a look at InkScape. I was thinking it had this capability.

KennyG wrote: ↑Thu Nov 02, 2023 6:44 pm Might have a look at InkScape. I was thinking it had this capability.

Yep. Inkscape does a pretty good job. Here's my version using split line features:
And with the red as a Boss-Extrude and the black as a Cut-Extrude: With some assistance from a video on separating colors:



And a method to go from SVG to DXF:

https://kellylollardesigns.com/blogs/ne ... svg-to-dxf

There was a little bit of clean-up before the save as DXF. There were several little islands associated with the red color:
I moved the main red areas to a new layer so that I could hide it and then delete the islands. Moving the red to its own layer also made the DXF import into SW cleaner since you can tell SW to put each layer in it's own sketch. From there it's just two features and you're done.

Here's the SW file:

The Autotrace feature in SolidWorks can do it but it takes a bit of finagling with the settings. I haven't tried Inkscape, it may do a better job.

If the original image was high res it might do better.

What I showed above is after all of my work. This is what I was given to start.

SPerman wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 12:19 pm What I showed above is after all of my work. This is what I was given to start.

image.png

Autotrace does a good job, as long as you scale the picture way high. I made it 20 meters wide and it works acceptable. Then scale it back down.
More information about this technique, here:

https://youtu.be/JX0tC6eym5A?si=Zwdi7wBr3dyX35X6

Of course, looks like with Inskape you can do much more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xACx0wsrnY