Transfering three view drawing to a CAD system

[duane wallace]

Hi Folks

Have been building for couple of years now but am thinking of starting from scratch. Is it possible to transfer three view drawings to a CAD system. I know it's cheating but atleast I can make sure the outline is correct. Any info is greatly appreciated.

Duane

[Myron Beaumont]

Have you got a full size drawing board for sale ?

[David Simpson]

harrier jumpjet plans is it poss to build
a rc model ??

[Chris Collins]

I've been thinking about writing in to RCM&E asking about if they could do an article/series on designing your own planes using AutoCAD or whatever other applications their designers use.

Since a large percentage of the market now seems to be ARTF, it would be nice to have the design skills in hand to build and fly a completely unique model.

[Stephen Bennett]

Chris thats a great idea, i can use Autocad ,but as yet have not got the skills to design my own models.

One of the main reasons thats been holding me back is that i'm finding it very difficult to import 3 views into Autocad.

I think Tony Nijhuis designs in Autocad maybe the Ed might be able to convince him to write a few articles on the subject.

[Andrew Green]

I have to agree with Chris, a series of articles in the magazine about how to design your own model would be a fantastic idea. How about it Ed?

[Chris Collins]

Also, with articles like that, it would be probably be a good idea to be able to have the series permanently on this website, so that they can be referred to at a later date.

I would also like to see that done with the workshop hints. The number of times I can vaguely remember a good idea I saw in the magazine but cannot remember it months later when I need it....

[Sandy Wood]

Hi Duane,
It is very easy to scan a 3 view into a computer. I have done this over a long period of time. If it is an A4 page then scan at a high number of dots per inch say 300dpi. You are in luck if its a black and white drawing because you will have a smaller file size compared to colour.
Import this file into a cad / drawing package. I highly recommend Corel Draw.
You can then enlarge the drawing to a larger size. It is unlikely that you can go straight to the size of model you want to build but you can draw round the outlines you want to duplicate. If you expand to the full size you will find that you will be trying to draw a line round a series of blocks. Try it a few times to find what suits you.
If possible draw your plan to a scale of the full size. Say 5% or 10%.
Example Hawker Hurricane Full size wingspan 480 inches. Enlarge your scan to 24 inches or 48 inches wingspan.
Go over your tracing of outlines to smooth them out. If you use 5% or 10% you can then easily scale your outline to whatever size you want.
Hope this helps
Sandy

[Martin Roberts]

Hi Guys,

I have been using AutoCad since 1995, but tinkered with it in the late 80s, the first thing you need to do is forget about drawing to scale.

 When you are in "Model Space" you draw at 1:1 so scale is irrelevant. Yes you can import the scan, set it on a layer, lets say '3-view scan', then change to a layer named outline plan, and draw over the plan view, change to layer named outline side and trace over the side elevation etc.....note than to set the layers all in a 3d scenario should be set higher than the scan image so that you see the lines above the scan, otherwise you don't see what you draw... are you confused yet.

When you swap to paper space, you can set the viewport scale to say 1:10, 1:20 etc...now if you draw your dimensions in paper space with dimensions in mm you will get the exact measurement as scaled show up in the paper layer referencing the item drawn in the model layer......or you can copy the drawing in the model space and paste it away from the original drawing, then scale the pasted drawing components to what you want, that way you can dimension inside the model space 1:1, the dimensions stay attributed to what you draw, at the scale you draw.....Got a few months and a good computer and a high speed connection you can study online (LMAO)........maybe we should start an Acad Forum.

 By the way I used to tutor working drawings at the local Tertiary, whilst studying, most of my students modelled in 3d (wrap a skin around the carcass etc) in about 4-6 months class of 28 four lecturers and about 16 hrs a week including practice time.....ok whose next 

[duane wallace]

thanks for all the tips . Am now on way to designing my first kit.

Duane

[Bill Brown]

I found AutoCad too expensive so I use TurboCAd. The deLuxe version 14 is about £80.00. It is easy to import the 3-view.

Scan the 3-view in a program like Fireworks and save as a *.bmp image, then use wintopo (freeware) to open the *.bmp file and copy the vectors direct into TurboCAD. The file can then be saved and scaled to suit using the inbuild measurement and scale functions.

When sorted, add another layer to trace the outlines and work from there.

Like all CAD programs, it takes time to learn, so if you are starting out the first results will take quite a long time, prepare yourself for a steep learning curve!

[Guest]

I've found that vectorising an image, you get a humoungous amount of vectors which makes the cad program a bit slow

. I usually end up "tracing" on another layer to simplify and smooth etc and then delete the original vectored dwg. even with wintopo - the best freebie I've found so far for vectoring an image.

[Bill Brown]

Hi,

I just use a new layer and construct the outline direct without using the tracing fuction. It just takes a little practice to separate the wheat from the chaff, and saves much time.

[Tony Nijhuis]

Chris /Andrew,

 Design and build articles for RCM&E are on the to do list!

 Tony

[Brian Lambert]

Tony could you get them on to your done list ASAP? There are people out here waiting!

Do you do club talks on designing  and kit manufacture?

Brian 

[Tony Nijhuis]

Sure do Brian

Tony

[Danny Fenton]

Any news on the designing articles, or did I miss it?

 

Cheers

Danny

[Brian Lambert]

I'm still waiting.

[Martyn K]

The way I do it is to scan the 3-view to a JPG. I then import the JPG as an object in the CAD system. I set the 'world' size to suit the final size that I want the model. Even if the scan is the wrong size, it doesn't matter as the final drawing can be rescaled to suit. You can then 'draw' around the outline.

Ideally you need a bit of software that converts the scan (the rastered image) to a vectored image and then cleaned up (removing all the bits and dots you didn't really want). Once the vectored image is available it can be resized with ease without getting thick lines.

Martyn

[Martyn K]

Just realised the age of this thread.. All a bit irrelevant now I suppose.

M

[Stevo]

Well not for me it aint old!

Taught myself Corel Draw - High recommended.

Scanned all the relevant images in, and traced over them using CD's functions and tweaked the dimensions for accuracy. Plugged PC into a laser cutter and off I went... Big learning curve, but WELL worth it

[Ian Jones]

Looks like time for this subject to be revisited then .