| Summary |
Excellent tool for quickly and easily convert scanned drawings
into accurate DXF for fast and efficient editing in CAD.
Vectorization quality that is substantially better than
the vectorization quality of most other raster to vector converters.
It matches the vectorization quality produced by the best.
Includes dashed and dotted line style, arc, circle, Bezier
curve, arrow and lined hatch pattern recognition.
Includes OCR text recognition, raster and vector editing
tools.
Includes tiling facility for scanning large drawings on
desktop scanners.
Works with all CAD programs including all versions of AutoCAD.
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Click here
for a list of what's new in version 7.
Features marked 
in the list below are available in the Pro version of Scan2CAD only.
Scan
| Scan from inside Scan2CAD using TWAIN (Acquire). |
| Use any TWAIN-compliant scanner of any size. |
| Use any scanner of any size whose software saves
standard raster files. |
If you have a desktop scanner, you can scan large
drawings as a series of "tiles" that you can assemble, merge
and vectorize inside Scan2CAD:
- Use Acquire to grab scanner-sized "tiles" from large drawings.
- Alternatively, load tiles that have been saved as separate
raster files.
- Re-assemble the drawing using accurate move, deskew and
merge tools.
- Tidy up and vectorize the drawing in the normal way.
- Save As DXF to the same size and scale as the original
drawing.
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Load and save raster images
Load and save:
- BMP
- CALS (Type 1 - .CAL, .CALS, .GP4, .CG4, .MIL)
- GIF (not recommended)
- IMG
- JPEG (not recommended)
- PCX
- PNG
- TIFF
- GeoTIFF
Scan2CAD does not support
multi-layer/page TIFF files.
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| In theory the maximum raster image size that Scan2CAD
will handle is 32,000 x 32,000 pixels.
This equates approximately
to a 13.3 foot x 13.3 foot or 4m x 4m drawing scanned at 200
dpi or an 8.8 foot x 8.8 foot or 2.7m x 2.7m drawing scanned
at 300 dpi. For most drawings 200 or 300 dpi is optimal.
In practice the maximum
raster image size that Scan2CAD will handle is determined
by your PC's system resources - for example the amount of
physical and virtual RAM it has.
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| Load black and white, grayscale and color raster
images - 1 Bit, 4 Bit, 8 Bit and 24 Bit. |
| Convert between raster file types - e.g. load
a raster image as a BMP file and save it as a compressed TIFF
file to save disk space. |
View raster images
| Zoom into a selected area; zoom about the cursor
position; zoom about the screen center; zoom extents; step back
through the last ten views. |
| Pan. |
| Display a grid of raster pixels. |
| View the image's color palette, the colors that
are used in the palette and a histogram of the colors that are
used in the palette. |
| View raster image statistics - file size, color
depth, dpi. |
Edit raster images - raster effects and
clean up tools
| Most raster effects and clean up tools are color aware and
can be restricted to work on a single color. |
Before |
After |
| Automatically remove speckles caused by dirt, stains etc.
(despeckle) or quickly erase dirty areas using area erase and
flood fill. |
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| Fill holes. |
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| Thin lines. |
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| Thicken lines. |
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| Thicken pixels - useful for filling dithered lines. |
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| Smooth - removes "hairs" from "hairy-looking" images. |
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| Outline solid raster areas. |
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| Remove speckles of color to make colors more uniform. |
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| Detect edges between different colors. |
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| Negate or invert images to make black areas white
and white areas black. |
| Mirror images vertically or horizontally. |
| Rotate images through 90, 180 or 270 degrees,
by user-defined degrees or by fraction of a degree. |
| Automatically straighten images to a reference
line (deskew). |
| Scale images in the X and or Y directions to make
them larger or smaller. |
| Increase or decrease brightness and contrast. |
| Crop. |
| Warp images to user-defined control points (rubber-sheeting). |
Edit raster images - raster draw and erase
tools
| Set pen / eraser thickness and pen color. |
| Three cursor options - Graphic, Pointer or Guide Line (cross-hairs).
Cursor visually shows pen thickness. |
| Draw or erase pixels (points), lines, ortho lines, rectangles,
circles, arcs, Bezier curves, solid filled areas and freehand
sketches. |
| Flood fill. |
| Enter TrueType font raster text - select font, size, embolden,
italicize, move text into logo layouts. |
Edit raster images - cut, copy, move and
paste
| Move areas of the raster image. |
| Cut, copy and paste within Scan2CAD. |
| Paste raster images from other applications. |
Edit raster images - color palette editing
tools
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Before |
After |
| Automatically reduce the number of colors used on the image
- makes colors more uniform for color vectorization. |
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| Manually reduce the number of colors used on the image. Display
a histogram of colors to help choose which colors to reduce
to. |
| Decrease color depth. |
| Change one color on the raster image to another. |
| Change the palette so that it matches the palette
in your CAD program. |
Vectorization - vector recognition
| Identifies continuous lines, dash and dash dot
lines, arrow lines, hatch lines, polylines, circles, arcs or
Bezier curves and text. |
Choose from ten supplied default conversion types
for quick and easy results - use the one that best describes
your drawing:
- Architectural.
- Electrical.
- Mechanical.
- CNC Profile.
- Site Plan.
- Contour Map.
- Sketch (traces every detail of a raster image using many
short lines).
- Outline (outlines solid areas of black or color).
- Scanline (creates an exact vector copy of the raster original.
The vector image is made up of many closely spaced parallel
horizontal lines).
- User (your own user-defined settings).
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| Default conversion types give good results on
most drawings but easy to use settings let you control the conversion
process if you want to. Settings include:
| Center line tracking, outline tracking
or both.
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Center line
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Outline
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| Control whether vectors follow the raster
image loosely (produces less vectors) or closely (produces
more vectors).
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Loose
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Close
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| Specify a Gap Jump Distance - Scan2CAD
jumps over any gaps in the raster image that are smaller
than the value you specify, allowing continuous vectors
to be produced over broken raster lines.
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Gaps
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Gaps jumped
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| Specify a Loose Ends Length - Scan2CAD
removes "loose end" vectors shorter than the value you
specify.
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Loose ends
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Loose ends removed
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| Choose to have vectors join or pass at
intersections.
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Join
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Pass
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| Align the vectors to a grid.
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Not aligned
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Aligned
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Snap angled lines that deviate slightly
from 0 or 90 degrees to 0 or 90 degrees.
Snap angled lines that deviate slightly from 30 or 120
degrees to 30 or 120 degrees.
Snap angled lines that deviate slightly from 45 or 135
degrees to 45 or 135 degrees.
Snap angled lines that deviate slightly from 60 or 150
degrees to 60 or 150 degrees.
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0 and 90 degree snap off
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0 and 90 degree snap on
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| Optionally identify dash and dash dot lines,
arrow lines, hatch lines, polylines, circles, arcs and
Bezier curves.
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Dash line identification off
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Dash line identification on
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In the illustrations
above the raster image is shown in gray and vectors are superimposed
in black. Where relevant vector ends are enclosed in small
squares.
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| Save your own conversion settings as default. |
| Convert the whole raster image, or just part of
it. Convert different parts of the image using different conversion
settings. |
| Convert vectors separately or at the same time
as text. |
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Convert one, some or all the colors in a color raster image. |
Raster |
Vector |
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or
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Vectorization - OCR text recognition and
font training
| Convert text using OCR - turns text into editable vector
text rather than text made up of small lines. |
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Raster |
Vector |
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OCR conversion settings include:
- Set Character Rotation so text is recognized the right
way up.
- Choose Character Set - Standard recognizes all characters,
Number recognizes numbers and symbols only.
- Split touching characters - may improve text recognition
where raster characters have bled into each other.
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| Convert text on the whole raster image, or just part of it.
Convert text on different parts of the image using different
OCR conversion settings. |
| Convert text separately or at the same time as other drawing
elements. |
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Train Scan2CAD to recognize a wider range of fonts, including
your own non-standard (e.g. hand drawn, stencilled) fonts. |
Vectorization - batch vectorization
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Specify multiple raster images for conversion at a convenient
time - like during lunch or overnight when you are not using
your PC. |
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Batch process includes pre-conversion raster tidy up options
- Speckle Removal, Hole Removal, Thicken Line, Thicken Pixels,
Smooth. |
Create vector TrueType font outlines
- Select a font.
- Write some text.
- The text is converted to 100% accuracte vector outlines
that you can export to your CAD or CNC program as DXF.
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View vectors
| Zoom into a selected area; zoom about the cursor position;
zoom about the screen center; zoom extents; step back through
your last ten views. |
| Pan. |
| Display a grid. |
| A single key or icon click displays the raster image only,
vectors only or the vectors superimposed over the raster image
(raster overlay). |
| Fade the raster image so you can see the superimposed vectors
more clearly. |
| View vectors by color or by type. When viewed by type vectors
are shown in different colors depending on what they are - continuous
lines, dash or dash dot lines, arrow lines, hatch lines, polylines,
circles, arcs, Bezier curves or text. |
| View vector extents by turning on grab points at vector ends
or by highlighting an individual vector. |
| View vector ghosts - see the old position of vectors after
you've edited them. |
| View vector statistics - number of vectors, time taken to
do the vectorization. |
Edit vectors
| Vector editing tools are color aware and can be restricted
to work on a single color. |
| Guide Line cursor - large, screen-wide cursor with cross hairs
helps to align vectors to each other accurately. |
| Snap vectors to a grid. |
| Stretch vectors by dragging grab points at vector ends and
arc mid points. |
| Reshape Bezier curves by dragging Bezier control points. |
| Click to snap together all the vector end points within a
user-defined snap distance. |
| Split a line into two by clicking on it. |
| Join two vectors together by clicking on the node point between
them. |
Quickly convert vectors from one type to another by clicking
on them:
- Convert arcs to lines and lines to arcs.
- Convert Bezier curves to lines and lines to Bezier curves
- Convert polylines to lines and lines to polylines.
- Convert continuous lines to dash, dash dot or arrow lines.
- Convert dash or dash dot lines to continuous or arrow
lines.
- Convert arrow lines to continuous, dash or dash dot lines.
- Convert hatch lines to continuous, dash or dash dot lines.
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Edit vector colors. |
Edit vector text
Spellcheck vectorized text for quick and easy editing.
- Includes a 30,000 word UK and US Design Dictionary.
- Add words common to your drawings to the Dictionary.
- Create your own Dictionary in any language.
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| Simply click on vector text to edit or delete it. |
| Edit text content, angle, size, origin, color. |
| Make all the text on the drawing or in a selected area the
same height. |
| Move text. |
Draw and erase vectors
| Draw on new sheet or trace over raster image (raster overlay). |
| Set pen color. |
| Snap to grid. |
| Drawing tools include point, line, ortho line, rectangle,
circle, arc, Bezier curve, freehand and text. |
| Erase vectors individually or in a block. |
Save vectors
| Output DXF files that you can read into any PC CAD, CNC or
GIS program including all versions of AutoCAD and LT - no known
compatability problems with any PC CAD program. |
| DXF can be saved to the same size and scale as the original
paper drawing. |
| DXF can be saved with coordinates assigned to a known point. |
| Bezier curves can be saved in the DXF file as splines, arcs
or polylines. |
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Save color DXF files. Each color can be saved on a separate
layer. Layers can be matched to your CAD program's palette. |
| Export HPGL plot files. |
| Save text as an ASCII text file. |
Printing
| Print all or part of a raster or vector image to fit paper
or to scale. |
Command line
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Automate virtually any sequence of Scan2CAD commands. |
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Run Scan2CAD from other applications. |
Technical
support and documentation
| Optionally supplied on CD with a comprehensive printed manual.
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| Interactive video tutorials that run on your PC let you learn
Scan2CAD in minutes. |
| Fast, free email and telephone technical support. |
System requirements
| Any PC running Windows '95, '98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP. |
| Minimum 32Mb RAM, but if you are going to be converting large
or color raster files, the more RAM your PC has the better. |
| We recommend a minimum screen resolution of 800 x 600. |
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