[TheForge] DXF FILES

[theforge@mailman.qth.net]

In a message dated 5/9/02 9:17:39 PM Eastern Daylight Time, mwolfe@bigcat.net 
writes:


> An I not understanding the conversion process, is  the process of taking
> a raster line drawing and converting it to a vector drawing is far more
> complicated then I think????
> 

YES! and when the resulting vector file has to control a real world devise it 
becomes even more complicated. The best way to get from a raster image (which 
is NOT a line drawing at all, just a field of dots, some one color, some 
another) to a good vector drawing is for a knowledgeable person to use a 
program that allows you to see the raster file on one layer and draw a vector 
file in a separate layer over top of it. Basically tracing the image by hand. 
then you delete the raster layer and Robert's your mother's brother. 
The human eye can easily see things that a computer can't. It's obvious to us 
that this set of dots is one line, even though it's crossed by several other 
lines(sets of dots), whereas even the best raster-to-vector conversion 
program is likely to draw a set of disconnected lines separated where the 
lines overlap. These then have to be tediously reconnected by hand, often 
it's easier to just trace the thing by hand in the first place. 
Also the vector file has to be constructed in such a way that the real world 
devise, be it a pen plotter or a plasma cutter can - A. make sense of it and  
- B. execute it. Real world stuff has limitations as to length of cut, radius 
of turn, how close parallel cuts can be placed to each other, etc., etc., 
that don't apply to computer drawings. In short, it's easy to draw stuff you 
can't make.


Chris Doherty
Who has spent many sleepless nights editing badly converted vector files. 


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