Paper drawings to software? whats easiest..

I have some old paper drawings I want to put into a modern software package. What is easiest software package to do this in?

I have the drawings on the computer as jpegs. Can I import this somehow into like Rhino for example?

Thanks
Jose

 

Hi Jose,
See the help in Rhino for the BackgroundBitmap command. There is also a online video for tracing background bitmaps here:
http://en.wiki.mcneel.com/default.aspx/McNeel/tracing_image.html

Thanks,
-Steve

 

If that's a lines plan, Maxsurf is the easiest sofware. It wouldn't take 8 hours to do a hull shape out of that data.

If that's a structural plan, you can insert it into Autocad, scale it, and trace it. Simple.

 

I will prefer rhino to make the hull shape.

 

Easy to do in TouchCAD. It also allows you to import corresponding images for the Front Top and side views and only see the respective image in the respective view. Demo movies here: http://www.touchcad.com/tc3training.html

 

Touchcad and bulkheads

Can Touchcad generate the bulkheads outlines that follow the interior contour of a boat hull? With doorframe cutouts?

If you can specify the hull thickness, can the bulkhead outlines be offset by the thickness of boat hull?

Thank you.

 

No problem. Here is a screen dump example form a project currently in the works. At present, the project contains about 250 NURBS surfaces.

 

We've done a lot of plan conversion from old paper lines plans. Photographing them and correcting the lense distortion works well, then import as a background image. Rhino has some very good surface controls to drag the surface around till it fits the lines. I check the fit by running the "Section" command at each station on the hull surface and checking against the scanned lines.

 

Same with Maxsurf. Import background image, and adjust control points to fit the scanned lines at each section. I've been using this software for 4 years.

 

John
Maxsurf is an excellent bit of kit but having used both Rhino and Maxsurf I find Rhino is an excellent tool for this, then you can open the native rhino model in Maxsurf.
I find that Rhino has more powerful and intuitive surface editing tools, you can also be a little sloppy on the initial surfaces and still analyze the hydrostatics with gaps in the hull (with RhinoMarine). It's worth learning Rhino as it's becoming a standard package in many NA design offices.

Cheers

 

I have maxsurf and rhino and agree with mike.

Far easier to model in rhino since it is a cad program and then if necessary import to maxsurf if you need it there.

I find using the sweep 2 rails command is great for modeling hull panels as you can use the chines/sheer/keel etc and blend through each of the section shapes along the hull with good accuracy.

 

How do I do a screen dump?
Thanks

 

Mac:
Command + Shift + 3 = Full screen screen dump, which is saved on the desktop as "Image1", "Image2", etc.
Command + Shift + 4 = Draw a selection box, which is saved on the desktop
desktop as "Image1", "Image2", etc.

Windows:
Press Print Screen, open an image processing program, and select Paste.

 

Ahh! Thank you! I'm on PC here at work, Mac at home....
Thanks again!

 

Hi!!

Excuse me, just one stupid question: Is Rhino able to generate a lines plan?

Thanks a lot