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Scan2CAD raster to vector conversion software overview

Why Scan2CAD gives better results that save more time

Conversion results vary from one raster to vector converter to another. The best converter is the one that saves you the most redrawing time. Few converters give the same high level of useful results as Scan2CAD. Here are four reasons why it saves more time.

First, Scan2CAD recognizes more drawing entities than most converters:

  • Continuous lines
  • Dashed and dashed-dot lines
  • Polylines
  • Arcs
  • Circles
  • Bezier curves (which can be exported as splines, polylines or arcs)
  • Lined hatch patterns
  • Arrows
  • Text (OCR)

By recognizing all these drawing entities Scan2CAD saves you more time than converters that make drawings up out of hundreds of short lines or just lines and arcs, as many do.

Second, Scan2CAD resolves many of the difficult recogntion problems that produce poor and untidy results in other programs, the ones that take so long to tidy up in CAD.

Diagram (a) below shows a very simple raster image, one that is a lot less complicated than anything you will work with in a real life vectorization.

(a) 

We converted this image using Scan2CAD and 12 other converters.

(b)    (c) 

Diagram (b) shows the vectorization produced by one of the other converters. In our test 10 programs gave results like Diagram (b) - or worse!

Diagram (c) shows Scan2CAD's conversion. It produced straighter lines and neater joins and corners. Clearly, a result like this will save you more redrawing time.

Third, Scan2CAD works on the basis that every conversion must follow your paper drawing with absolute precision wherever possible.

Many low cost programs trace blindly over the image. Others try to make sense of this mess by post-processing the trace. In juggling it around they produce vectors that no longer follow the detail on your drawing. Scan2CAD stays true to the original detail.

Fourth, Scan2CAD converts quickly. In an independent test (CAD&CG Magazine, Japan, Feb 2005), Scan2CAD vectorized a drawing in 7 seconds with more accuracy than a rival "professional" program that took 1.03 minutes.

Programs that are slower than Scan2CAD waste more of your time. They waste more time again when you do a second or third conversion in an attempt to improve on the first results.

Works with ALL CAD programs, paper sizes and scanners

Scan2CAD's vector output can be read by ALL PC CAD, CNC, GIS and similar programs that read industry standard DXF files. The majority of Scan2CAD users are AutoCAD® users. Scan2CAD supports all releases of AutoCAD.

Some converters charge more for versions that convert large drawings. Scan2CAD has absolutely NO restrictions based on paper sizes.

  • It works with ALL PC CAD and DXF-reading programs.
  • It converts ANY size of scanned paper drawing up to A0 / E-size - or larger.
  • It can be used with ALL makes and sizes of scanner that save standard raster files.
  • It can be used with ALL scanners with standard TWAIN interfaces.

In addition, Scan2CAD is one of the very few raster to vector converters that allows you to scan large drawings using small scanners and "stitch" them together.

  1. Scan a large drawing on a small scanner as a series of "tiles".
  2. Assemble and merge the tiles inside Scan2CAD, then convert to vector.
  3. Save a vectorized image to the same size and scale as the original drawing.

Scan2CAD is a four-in-one conversion solution

Scan2CAD is a comprehensive raster to vector converter packed with practical tools to assist you through every step in the conversion process.

In any raster to vector conversion the four fundamental steps are:
1. Scan the drawing or load a previously scanned raster file.
2. Clean the raster image image before converting it.
3. Convert the scanned drawing from raster to vector.
4. Edit the vectors.

Some expensive programs sell the tools for each of these steps as separate modules. Scan2CAD gives you ALL the tools in one professional program.

1. Scan the drawing or load a previously scanned raster file

You can bring scanned images and raster files into Scan2CAD in three ways.

  • Scan directly from a TWAIN-compliant scanner.
  • Load standard raster file formats (TIFF, BMP, CALS, PNG, JPG, etc. - also raster PDF in Scan2CAD Pro).
  • Cut and Paste from another application.

If you have a TWAIN scanner - most desktop scanners are TWAIN-compliant - you can scan from inside Scan2CAD using its Acquire command to capture the image. TWAIN is a standard image acquisition protocol for communication between software applications and scanners. Scan2CAD supports it fully.

Scan2CAD loads popular raster file formats, like BMP (bitmap), CALS, MIL, GP4, CG4, GIF, IMG, JPG, PCX, raster PDF (Scan2CAD Pro only) PNG and TIFF (various). Simply use the software supplied with your scannner to scan and save your drawings as scanned images, then load them in Scan2CAD. We recommend TIFF Group 4 because it is reliable and compressed to save space.

2. Clean the raster image image before converting it

Scan2CAD has tools for editing both black and white and color raster images.

It takes only a few minutes - or less - to clean a raster image with Scan2CAD but it is time well spent. A cleaned raster image gives you a better, neater vectorization that is quicker to edit. It also gives you a sharper raster image to print out.

Among the handy things Scan2CAD does to tidy up dirty raster images are:

  • Draw and erase raster lines, arcs, circles, text, etc.
  • Automatically clean (despeckle) dirty images.
  • Manually block delete selected areas.
  • Automatically rotate skewed images.
  • Automatically smooth rough and jagged lines.
  • Automatically thicken/thin lines, etc.
  • Automatically fill lines that are full of holes.
  • Mirror, Crop, Cut, Paste, Move, etc.

3. Convert the scanned drawing from raster to vector

Scan2CAD gives good, automatic results from supplied general settings.

Simply select the default setting that best describes your type of drawing, then click on the VEC Icon to vectorize it. The default settings are:

  • Architectural
  • Electrical
  • Mechanical
  • CNC Profile
  • Site Plan
  • Contour Map
  • Sketch
  • Outline
  • User (save your own settings)

As a general rule, the default settings are suitable for most conversions and require little or no adjustment. However, you can adjust the controls at any time to improve the results. Among the options you can select are:

  • Choose which entities you want recognized.
  • Allow the vectors to follow the raster image more closely or more loosely.
  • Set a Gap-jump value to join breaks in lines.
  • Force slightly deviant angled lines back to true.
  • Remove unwanted short perpendicular "hairs".
  • And more ...

You can vectorize the whole image or select a part or parts of it to vectorize.

4. Edit the vectors in CAD - or Scan2CAD

Some tidying up of raster to vector conversion results is always necessary.

Most CAD users will want to edit the results in their CAD program. You can edit the vector file in your CAD program or in Scan2CAD which has special vector editing tools.

Scan2CAD saves a CAD-standard DXF file that can be read by any PC CAD program, including all versions of AutoCAD. The DXF file can be saved to the same size and scale as the original paper drawing. Once in your CAD program you can edit it in the normal way and save it in your program's native file format, like DWG if you are using AutoCAD.

Scan2CAD includes its own SnapTidy vector editing tools. These are specially designed to make the editing of broken vectors quick and easy. With SnapTidy tools you can grab several disjointed and errant vectors within a defined box and snap them into alignment.

OCR text recognition and font training

If the text on your scanned drawing is clean and clear, Scan2CAD can convert it to editable vector text using OCR text recognition.

OCR'd text can be edited in Scan2CAD or your CAD program, just like normal text.

The Regular version of Scan2CAD recognizes basic fonts commonly found on drawings.

The Pro version of Scan2CAD adds the ability to:

  • Extend text recognition to other fonts by training a "neural network".
  • Edit OCR'd text using a Text Editor with Spellchecker and Dictionary.
  • Customize the Dictionary with words unique to your drawings.

Scan2CAD is the only low-cost converter to offer OCR text recognition and neural network font training. This is typically a feature of high-cost converters.

Flexible color conversion with Scan2CAD Pro

The Pro version of Scan2CAD is fully color-capable. It opens, edits and converts color drawings, maps and artwork which it saves as color DXF vectors.

Color vectorization is a less straightforward process than monochrome conversion. Generally, the first thing you do in a color conversion is reduce the number of colors, usually 16.7 million, down to something manageable, like 32, 16, 8 or 4. Scan2CAD Pro allows you to do the color reduction manually or automatically.

Once you have narrowed the many colors down to the ones you want, you can vectorize them and save them to a color DXF file.

Among the tools and commands that Scan2CAD Pro gives you for handling color images are:

  • Color palette dialog box.
  • Histogram to view dominant colors in the palette.
  • Sort colors by palette, hue and luminance.
  • Automatically reduce 16.7m colors to 256 or less.
  • Automatically or manually reduce colors from 256 to whatever you need.
  • Reduce off-white backgrounds to true white.
  • Select shades of the same raster color and unify them as one color.
  • Vectorize one, more or all the colours in a color drawing.
  • Save up to 256 colors in a DXF file.
  • Save one layer for each vector color.

Some converters create color DXF files by vectorizing color images as though they were black and white and applying color to the vectors afterwards. Scan2CAD Pro uses color information while vectorizing, which means it is able to create more accurate color DXF files.