Method to change 2d drawing into 3d model

[Mathew Workman]

Hey guys -
I have some 2d pdf format plans that are intended to be printed out and used to mark cut lines on styrene.

I got wondering if there maybe a way to somehow trace the plans and turn them into 3 dimensional models for printer.

Does anyone know of any software that will trace a simple picture or PDF and attempts to at least make a flat model or shape?

[Eighty]

If there is, I'd be highly surprised. I'm in construction for a living, and the Holy Grail of estimating would be a software platform that accepts PDF drawings and spits out Autocad polylines. But it doesn't exist - at least not to my knowledge.
You can import a PDF into Autocad and do the tracing yourself, but it's a lot of work.

[Mathew Workman]

Ok. Ill keep looking around. Apparently shapeways can convert a black and white jpg. That might be a start.

[David Celento]

Actually, if the PDF plans have linework that is vector format, you can easily extract these using Adobe Illustrator. Simply open the file, select the desired lines (you may have to do a lot of Ungrouping and Exploding to get this) and export as a .DWG into a 3D modeling environment. Then the fun begins, creating what you want in 3D.

If the linework in the PDf is in raster format (as an image) you can try Live Trace, in Illustrator, then export the polyline results in .DWG. These will likely have a number of irregularities, and you'll have to play with the Live Trace settings to get what you want, but it may be a whole lot easier than reconstructing the drawings from scratch. Then again... sometimes not!

[joe...@gmail.com]

It's not fully formed polylines, but I can often get lines in dxf format from PDF files by using Ghostview (Ghostscript).  I then use the chain polyline feature in TurboCAD to get polylines.  It works pretty well for me when I need to create 3d models of components for doing circuit designs.  

Ironically, while the docs say Do Not Scale, when working purely in digital workflow, the objects are usually perfect after you correct for scale.

-- Sent from my HP TouchPad

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On Mar 19, 2013 8:14 PM, Eighty <adun...@gmail.com> wrote:

If there is, I'd be highly surprised. I'm in construction for a living, and the Holy Grail of estimating would be a software platform that accepts PDF drawings and spits out Autocad polylines. But it doesn't exist - at least not to my knowledge.
You can import a PDF into Autocad and do the tracing yourself, but it's a lot of work.

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[neoteric]

open in coreldraw.   save as dxf.  If it works great, if not:

open in coreldraw.  Select all.  convert to bitmap.  Autotrace.  save as dxf.

[bart jonkers]

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:25036
http://geisel.ba-bautzen.de/bmp2iges.htm

Op 20/03/13 13:54, neoteric schreef:

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[Richard Berwick]

I built a web app for this very situation - check it out:

http://www.dreamboxdev.com/

MakeMe takes a 2d image, either drawn or uploaded, and converts it to an stl for printing.

I built this for use with Dreambox, our 3d printing vending machine.

Hope it works for you :)