Paper2Cad??

[Dustan]

Hi everybody was wondering if anybody out there has used the paper2 cad software advertized here on the forum I have talked to them about it but didnt really catch on to what the scoop was. So if anyone can tell me what its all about how it works and for what kind of things ? can I reproduce prototype parts that were origanaly made by hand(power tools) It sounds very usefull to me but I am unsure what its about thanks

[SignTorch Vector Art]

Digitizer tablets are fairly expensive and IMHO digitizing is not ideal for general purpose metal art applications. I'd imagine very few of us actually have compatible tablets or have actually tried the software.

[Dustan]

ok well here is my problem I had a farmer come to me wanting the simplest thing the world cut out and lots of them. it was fairly big say 24x24 inches and 3 sides are nice and square and the forth side has this crazy curve to it bolt holes ect. how do i reproduce the cuve that he made with his grinder for the pieces to fit for him . i tried so many times to recreate the origanal but just cant get it to be the same curve

[Dennis]

Mount a pen to your torch and run the table with out firing the torch, get some big pieces to paper and just keep adjusting your drawing.. If should only take a few tries and you will get the right curves..

[Dustan]

Mount a pen to your torch and run the table with out firing the torch, get some big pieces to paper and just keep adjusting your drawing.. If should only take a few tries and you will get the right curves..

theres got to be a better way to do that thats basicaly what i have been doin and its not what i am lookin to do theres got to be a tool or program or something , so whats the deal with that paper2 cad advertized on the forum how does that work what is it for ?

[redneckgateart]

I haven't used Paper2Cad so I don't know if it would do what you want it to. You could always go back to basic geometry. Lay your part down on a piece of graph paper and trace the outline of the part and any holes in it. (Your example is pretty large, so you might have to make your own graph paper) After tracing the part, you should easily be able to get the X-Y coordinates of the points along the curve. Enter those points into your CAD program and "fit a curve" to them. Do that and your first try should be money!

[SignTorch Vector Art]

Prop the part up perpendicular to your line of sight, and take a picture, stand back and use zoom to reduce perspective distortion, then trace over it, then scale to actual size.

[admin]

Dustan

I have not used Paper2Cad however I know that Jim at Ziatek offers a free trial version for you to review.

Here is the link http://www.ziatek.com/NEW/download/index.html

Hope this helps.

[srp]

I've used Sign Torches suggestion and have had very good results. Shooting at a distance and using zoom is very important. Sometimes I will include a ruler or yardstick in the picture for scaling later. Bring your picture into Corel or your Cad program - traceover your picture and it should be a piece of cake. - John

[Dustan]

Prop the part up perpendicular to your line of sight, and take a picture, stand back and use zoom to reduce perspective distortion, then trace over it, then scale to actual size.

wow that will really work cool but im not sure what you mean by zoom and perspective distortion and the trace part the only tracing i know how to do is what corelx4 (now I have x5) does automaticaly than I just clean it up best I can usaully resulting in lots of broken segments in sheetcam causing alot of clickity clicking going on to get it good is there any tutorials on youtube that are specificly geared towards tracing photos or the whole procedure of getting a specific part size, curve ect, to the program with accurate results.Thanks

[SignTorch Vector Art]

Perpsective distortion is where the center is closer and therefore magnified more than the edges creating a fish-eye effect (because distance from A to B is shorter than A to C). A close up photo of a rectangle looks like the one below with the sides bowed out.

The farther point A is away from B and C, then the less difference there is in the distance to B and C, so a far away photo (of a small object) will have little or no perspective distortion.

Zooming does not affect perspective distortion, it just helps you see the object better from farther away.

[Dustan]

ok so how about the tracing part in corel what tools am I supposed to use to do this properly thanks

[SignTorch Vector Art]

there are good videos out there, I don't look for them much, so not sure where to recommend

Here is a

short video (with no audio),

that shows basically how you can use corel to fit curves onto a shape.

I started with the freehand-tool, then double-clicked the node-edit tool (to select all nodes), then right-click a node and convert them all to curve nodes, then using the node-edit tool, click and drag the segments, click and drag the nodes and handles, double-click on the curve to add nodes, double click on nodes to remove them.

Closely tracing a high resolution photo can yield very accurate results (minus any perspective distortion).

[Dustan]

ok cool so I should be using that method to trace everything not use the auto trace?? it seems to be allright on some things but gives alot of jagged lines everywhere that need to be fixed up am I right?? but when i fix things for example fonts when i make say a letter A work so the center doesnt fall out i have been using the 3-point curve,bezier,and virtual segment delete tools to accomplish this but when i create it into a dxf using the dxf tool(that I purchased and added)into sheetcam it shows broken segments all over the place I zoom in and its either not fully conected or it overlaps itself then I dont get a proper cut path . So then I go back into corel and try and fix it up and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt if it does I move onto the next of many flaws in the drawing till its good even though when I look at it in corel it seems fine I hope I make sense of all this . theres just seems to be a few things in corel that I am not able to figure out causing me all my trouble

[srp]

Dustan - I hope you are young and have a full head of hair. Trying to get a handle on some of these issuse takes a toll on both! I now use a combination of Corel and a good cad program(General Cadd). When I am tracing over a photo I will import the bitmapped image into the cadd program and draw over the top of it using lines and arcs. Most cadd programs have a much higher degree of accuracy than graphic program. If what I am doing involves text I will do that part in Corel and then take it into the cad program for editing and then to the cutting table. All the modification to the text letters suchas holding in the centers is done in cad. Some parts of these learning curves are short - others long. If you are going to be serious about this work as a profession be prepared for the journey . John

[Dustan]

oh ya im still full of energy born in 82 and I love this stuff its always a new challange and the work is very rewarding to me and my gramps did it his whole life( the hard way no cnc tables n'such) and I am positive I will too . But with the drawing part its tough im kinda thinking everyone has there own way of gettin what they need judging by the mix of answers but it helps to learn it all in ways others not Thanks