Scan2CAD raster to vector eNewsletter - August 2004

"Every path to a new understanding begins in confusion." - Mason Cooley.

What's in this Newsletter:

Current version

The current version of Scan2CAD is v7.2c.

If you are a registered user of Scan2CAD v7, you can upgrade to v7.2c free of charge - click here for more information.

If you are a registered user of Scan2CAD v6.1 or earlier, you can upgrade to v7.2c 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.

Scan2CAD in Model Engineers' Workshop

Stan Bray has examined Scan2CAD v7 in the August/September 2004 issue of Model Engineers' Workshop Magazine. He concludes that

"Scan2CAD is a program where it is very easy to learn the basics ... it is highly recommended for anyone who wishes to convert scanned drawings to CAD format. For example if one wishes to use a works drawing to build a locomotive, it can easily be converted and scaled far more quickly than by other methods such as tracing or, heaven forbid, actually copying the original".

Thanks Stan!

Avoiding eyestrain at your PC

Your eyes were not designed to stare at a screen for hours and hours, so if you spend a lot of time sitting at your PC, you may find yourself getting eyestrain. Here are two exercises to help combat it.

  1. Do the following every hour:

    Stand up, walk to the nearest window and look out. Gaze into the horizon. Find something to look at that pleases you. A cloud, a tree, leaves moving in the wind, colours, light, whatever. You don't need to take a long time. Just a few moments. You will find that your eyes are refreshed ... and your brain too.

  2. Close your eyes.

    Imagine, far away in the distance, a horizon - maybe the sea, mountains, a forest, the desert - whatever.

    Now pick out something special in that horizon, something that interests you -perhaps a boat, an animal, a cloud, a tree, a person - and focus on it. See the details, even though they are a long way away.

    Now return to look at the whole horizon again without focus just gazing ... then focus on something once more and see all the details ...

    Alternate between focussing and non-focussing.

    Now stop looking into the horizon. With your eyes still closed imagine something very close by - maybe a tree trunk, a flower, a leaf, a person, whatever. Imagine seeing it in great detail.

    Hopefully when you open your eyes, they will feel better!

Quick tip - successful logo conversion

We've added a new tip - using Scan2CAD to convert logos - to our Hints and Tips pages. You can find it here.

In a nutshell:

  • Don't try to convert GIF or JPEG logos designed for web use - it won't work.
  • Start with the biggest original artwork you can. If you only have small artwork, scan it at a high resolution - perhaps 1200 dpi.
  • Don't save your scanned logo in JPEG format as this will almost certainly reduce its quality. Save it as TIFF or BMP.

And finally ...

A group of inspectors are asked to measure the height of a flagpole. So they go out to the flagpole with ladders and tape measures, and they're falling off the ladders, dropping the tape measures - the whole thing is just a mess.

An engineer comes along and sees what they're trying to do, walks over, pulls the flagpole out of the ground, lays it flat, measures it from end to end, gives the measurement to one of the inspectors and walks away.

After the engineer has gone, one inspector turns to another and laughs. "Isn't that just like an engineer. We're looking for the height and he gives us the length."