Convert BMP to DXF or Gerber or HPGL?

[Justin]

Hello

Could anyone suggest a good utility for converting bitmap files into either
DXF format, Gerber format, or even HPGL format?

Once I have my bmp file in one of these other formats, I can then use it on
my PCB layouts.

Thank you in advance.

[Ian Wilson]

"Justin" <gat...@global.co.za> wrote:

>Hello

>Thank you in advance.

Justin,
To convert BMP (raster) to DXF, Geber or HPGL (raster) you need a line
tracing tool. Such things do exist. I have found some on the
Internet - one that comes to mind is PCX2DXF (from memory). And I
think TurboCad has line tracing built in - I may be wrong ont that.

By the way, I had very little success with any of these tools and gave
up.

Ian Wilson.

[Kim Carter]

In article <6kbies$mbt$1...@reader1.reader.news.ozemail.net>,

I've had some success with CorelTrace (used to be part of the CorelDraw
package, don't know if it still is?). It is heavily dependant on the
source file and also the CorelTrace settings. That will generate a .CDR
file which can be converted to .DXF .
However all these bitmap to vector converters are very 'hit and miss'
sometimes they work, more commonly they don't. Some only work on line
art (b/w), some work better on grey scale (anti-aliased). The problem
often is that the optimum settings for the 'diagram' are usually pathetic
for 'text' - There may be mileage in trying to separate them into separate
input files if you can easily.
Good luck
Kim

[Bill Fuhrmann]

>Could anyone suggest a good utility for converting bitmap files into
either
>DXF format, Gerber format, or even HPGL format?
>
>Once I have my bmp file in one of these other formats, I can then use
it on
>my PCB layouts.

You really cannot do it in a good way.

The files you want are VECTOR files. They are a collection of
entities (lines, circles, etc). Your BITMAP files are basicly a
photograph of the entities, there is no way for a program to know what
entity a particular dot on the photograph belongs to.

There are some programs (Corel trace) that try to create a vector file
from bitmaps, but the attempts I have made have come out pretty
pathetic.

If the circuits are not too complex, I would recommend using your
vector program to recreate the vector image by hand.

[cra...@amtelcom.com]

Justin wrote:
> Could anyone suggest a good utility for converting bitmap files into either
> DXF format, Gerber format, or even HPGL format?

I have recently started using HiJaak and it works great!
It is ***NOT*** simply a utility though, and I am fortunate
that a colleague here let me install his own personal software.

Craig Cullum, Engineering Technologist, Amtelco
cra...@amtelcom.com