out2llunge Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 Anybody design with CAD? I want to create CAD drawings of baits that I've made. My problem is that I have digital pics (.jpgs), but need to change them into dwg's or dxf's. I have AutoCAD LT2000, but no time to learn all the details. Anybody know any easy ways to take a .jpg and make it into a CAD file? Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUTDOORSMAN Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 I work on auto cad every day. I got with a few people and we all came up with the same conclusion. You can copy and paste it in a drawing, but you can't work on it, it will be a picture. I'm currently on r14 cad. If I can help in any way just e-mail here at work at john.wion@ludy.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamOso Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 This isn't how to convert and image into a drawing, but may serve your purposes. Import the image as a raster image (Insert, Raster Image). To turn off the border go (Modify, Object, Image, Frame (then type "off")). You can now trace lines over the image, dimension it, etc. When you are finished, move the lines you drew into some of the workspace and you have a drawing. If you want to leave the image as the background, you can do that also or delete it (turn the frame back on). I do much more precise drawings (without images) for my purposes, but for quick basic reference I used this method to make the following "sales blueprint". http://www.rivercitylures.50megs.com/lure/fibr/fibrloco/fibrloco375X.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
out2llunge Posted February 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 I'm going to look at some of those tips tonight and we'll see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUTDOORSMAN Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 What about accuracy though ? Is there room for fudging ? Or isn't that an issue ? I don't know cause I have never made a crank bait before to know. I just make jigs, spinnerbaits and a few other different type of baits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
out2llunge Posted February 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 Accuracy is important, but most times it's just to get a rough shape. The final shaping is done by hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicBob Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 No way to convert a raster image to a .dwg file. As previous poster said you can import and trace over. I use Acad 2002, but it really is only helpful as a rough drawing. In the end if you are hand carving the only reason to use Cad is if you are better and quicker with Cad than hand drawing. I've been using Acad for 15 years so its quicker and easier for me to use that than a pencil. The only real advantage other than that is keeping a record of changes you make. And last but not least there is no way to start using even Acad Lite without putting in some time learning how to use it. Otherwise you will probably find it a very frustrating experience. If you are planning to make a career out of lure design then the time you put in learning to use Cad will really pay off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUTDOORSMAN Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 I've been using cad ofr about 7 years. I'm starting to pick up on autocad2002. I wouldn't want to have to go back to drawing on the board for anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 AlamSo, cool pic. You know if a person knew CAD I think it would certainly make sense to draw up your lures in this way. For the rest of us tho I don't see the advantage. I have virtually no drawing skills whatsoever but can easily sketch out about any crankbait shape I want in just a few minutes with some graphing paper. Most of us here are working with wood or wood prototypes which by design include much margin of error. Now if you plan to take your design to patent or to be machined for an aluminum mold and high production then sure the CAD would be great. Jed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southeasttexas Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 A quick question. After you finished the design and plan to have it machined out of aluminum. Does anyone know the cost of the machine work. And what type of machine(that the machine shop needs) will be used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattman Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 You're approaching this wrong. Don't waste your time trying to convert a picture into a CAD drawing. Find someone with a 3-D scanner. And no, I don't have one. Wish I did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverMan Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 South, I looked into some production molds a few months back and was quoted 7-10k....this is just the cost of the mold. After that you must find someone with the injection machinery capable of producing the parts for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 At my "day job" I'm a CADD drafter for an architectural firm & have been using Autocad for 13 years. I don't know anything about molds, but for lure design I really like CADD. You can draw it in 3-D and rotate the views to really see what the finished product will look like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
out2llunge Posted February 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 Hey BS TAckle, Didn't want to say Hey BS... Any chance you could be convinced to do a short tutorial on how you design in 3D in Auto CAD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 I could give it a try. It might take me a little while to try and get every thing into the right words. I'll start brainstorming and then let Red know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volp1 Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 The other thing thats nice about autocad is after you trace the pic of the lure, there is a command called spline that takes all of your little uneven lines and makes them perfectly smooth. Also after you have the lure demensioned to the size you want, its very easy to increase and decrease the size of the lure to make all different sizes. Good Luck! Volp1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattman Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 For you guys that do design in AutoCAD here is a little company that might interest you. http://www.3darttopart.com/index.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
