Scan2CAD raster to vector eNewsletter - March 2007

"You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?'" - George Bernard Shaw.

What's in this Newsletter

Current version

The current version of Scan2CAD is v7.5g.

If you are a registered user of Scan2CAD v7, you can upgrade to v7.5g free of charge - click here for more information.

If you are a registered user of Scan2CAD v6.1 or earlier, you can upgrade to v7.5g at the upgrade price - click here for more information.

You can see which version of Scan2CAD you have by going to the Help Menu then choosing About Scan2CAD.

Who's using it? - Scan2CAD aids in building a model of the African Queen

Engineer Steve Roberts is using Scan2CAD to help build a model of the steam boat African Queen from the movie of the same name. Steve has also used Scan2CAD on cranes for the Airbus 350 engine test bed.

Read more ...

If you are a Scan2CAD user and would like to showcase your business in our newsletter and on our web site please email us.

Scan2CAD reviewed in Desktop Engineering Magazine

Scan2CAD was reviewed by Henrik Vestermark in the January 2007 issue of Desktop Engineering Magazine as part of a system with the GTCO Calcomp ScanPlus 6 LF542 scanner. Vestermark concluded that "Scan2CAD is rich in features and matches considerably more expensive packages on the market".

To read the full review, click here.

New scanners lower the benchmark for large format scanner price and performance

Three exciting new large format scanners have lowered the benchmark for large format scanner price and performance.

1]. Image Access WideTEK - an OS independent network scanner

In this day and age, most of us are used to printing directly to a network printer from any networked computer and would not consider buying a non network printer. Yet network scanning is something that few scanners do.

The new Image Access WideTEK 36 is a true network scanner. Simply plug it in, assign an IP address and scan to any computer on your network or to an FTP site! Better, (if indeed it can get better than an affordable network scanning solution!), the WideTEK is operating system independent i.e. it works equally well on PCs (including Windows Vista), Macs and Unix systems.

The WideTEK is a 36" CCD scanner with an optical resolution of 1200 x 600 dpi, suitable for artwork and graphics as well as maps and technical drawings. You can scan directly from the scanner's touch screen ("walk-up scanning") to any computer or you can run the WideTEK from any computer using just a web browser to access the WideTEK's Scan2Net scan, print and copy software, which is hosted on the scanner itself.

The WideTEK transforms network scanning in the way that the motor car made the horse and cart redundant. Built into every WideTEK is an ATX motherboard, 2 Gb of DDR2 RAM, a 2.8GHz Pentium 4, a 1 Gbit network interface, built in web server, mail server, FTP server and the ability to scan without a host PC. Using this dedicated scanning power a 36 inch (A0) document scanned at 300 x 300 dpi in 24 bit colour is churned out at an impressive 4.2 inch/sec (6.4 m/min).

This speed includes A0 image cleanup, gamma correction, white and black point normalisation, sharpening, rotation, on-the-fly compression AND output over the network to an FTP server, a local or remote disk (PC), a USB stick or to Email.

Best, the WideTEK is available at an introductory special offer price of £6995 + VAT (Euro 9.999, US$ to be announced) including floorstand, software and accessories.

Click here for more information.

2]. Colortac SmartLF Gx 25 - an A1 scanner

Colortrac have released a 25" (A1) version of their SmartLF Gx 1200 x 600 dpi scanner. As it uses CCD technology the Gx 25 is suited to artwork and graphics as well as maps and technical drawings. The Gx 25 is the lowest priced large format scanner available today and is ideal if the largest size of drawing you want to scan is A1.

Click here for more information.

3]. Graphtec ScanPrint - a compact scan, print and copy solution

This new multi-function device combines two standalone, large format fast productivity devices: An A0 scanner and an A1 printer. The two devices sit snugly within one compact, space-saving footprint. The ScanPrint offers AEC, CAD, GIS, office document and office graphics users a quick and easy colour, greyscale and monochrome scan, print and copy system.

The new ScanPrint is full of innovation. It is:

  • The lightest A0 scanner
  • The smallest A0 scanner
  • The fastest A0 CIS scanner
  • The lowest priced A0 colour scanner
  • The lowest priced scan, print and copy system

In addition, the price includes a stand and a Two Year On-Site Warranty.

Click here for more information.

Quick tip

As well as its raster editing and raster to vector conversion tools, Scan2CAD includes a facility for tiling or stitching separate raster images together into one complete file. Scan2CAD user F Suchanek has the following tip:

"If you're adding a tile, and you mis-place it, even if you drop it so part of the image is off the edge, you can "move tile" and center it correctly. No need to undo and start the whole "add tile" process over."

Once you've placed a tile, use the short cut Shift+M to access the Move Tile function.

And finally, for the architects among you ...

Snuggled up to the main railway line out of St Pancras station in London is a treasure trove for architects - the St Pancras Old Cemetery.

The church in the cemetery is said to be the oldest surviving church in London. Although it was restored in 1847 and is now essentially Victorian, it still has Norman traces and it's thought that the church has existed in one form or another since around AD 313.

London's oldest church
London's oldest church.

In the cemetery there's an ash tree growing out of a jumble of headstones. The headstones were piled there in the 1860s when British author Thomas Hardy (Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d'Urbervilles etc.) was supervising the clearance of part of the graveyard for the building of the Midlands Railway out of St Pancras station. It's thought the experience led him to write a poem called the The Levelled Churchyard, the second verse of which reads:

We late lamented, resting here
Are mixed to human jam
And each to each exclaims in fear
I know not which I am!

The architectural point about this is that at the time, Hardy was actually studying architecture.

The Hardy Tree
The Hardy Tree.

A domed mausoleum marks the self-designed resting place of the architect Sir John Soane, who died in 1837. As well as designing his own mausoleum, Soane designed his home in London's Lincoln's Inn Fields, partly to live in and partly to house his collection of art and antiquities. As Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, Soane opened up his collection to his students and before his death he arranged for it to be preserved for the benefit of "amateurs and students" in architecture, painting and sculpture. Now known as the Soane Museum, the collection includes over 30,000 architectural drawings. These include original sketches by Piranesi, after whom Cambridge-based Informatix's 3-D paint program for architects is named.

Sir John Soane's mausoleum  Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's K2 telephone box
Sir John Soane's mausoleum and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's K2 telephone box.

In 1924 another architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, was invited to design a telephone box. Scott - then a trustee of the Soane Museum - took inspiration from Soane's domed mausoleum, and the result was Britain's famous red domed K2 telephone box. Among many well known buildings designed by Scott are Bankside Power Station, now home to London's Tate Modern art gallery, and the power station like University Library here in Cambridge.

Now a final piece of trivia about St Pancras Old Cemetery which has nothing to do with architecture: The Beatles were photographed there in 1968!