Help, Dave - photo to drawing?

Carol Reed

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Coolidge, AZ
Hi Dave,

There is a fellow on WoodCentral asking the following:

The need: Download picture into software along with one of more known dimensions (say height or width) and by mousing around get dimensions of other features, for example drawer height, and be able to print 1:1 copies of features like the curve of a skirt or a foot flair.

Do you know for sure that Sketch-up can do these tasks? I am looking for a guarantee from someone that does it.


Could you drop in and help him out. It's Bill Tindall.

I recommended he register here and post. He said he registered, got the confirming e-mail but still couldn't post. His frustration level is too high to sort that out right now. :D
 
His registration got a bit hung up. When Carol posted her message, it was still in the queue needing a space between the names. ;)
 
Well, we don't know yet. I just got a message a bit ago indicating his spam blocker might also be getting in the way. :rolleyes:
 
Carol, until he gets things sorted out here, you can tell him that yes, it is possible to do what he wants in SketchUp. There are a few caveats but it can be done.
 
reproduction drawing question

I do some reproduction furniture and I had a demo this weekend that left me inspired. A friend imported a picture I had taken of a piece , along with a height dimension, into AutoCAD and within minutes produced a picture with all the critical parts dimensioned. And, he then printed 1:1 prints of the curved parts ready to be pasted on the wood and cut out. WOW That saved hours of drawing, scaling etc. I want that capability. What is the least painful (money and time) way to get it?

I have learned that Sketchup may do it. But when I see software and caveats in the same sentence I get wary.
 
Bill, first, welcome to Family Woodworking.

Second, SketchUp can do what you want. By caveats I meant that it depends upon the photograph you are starting with and how you use the program. Basically, as with most everything, it is garbage in garbage out.

SketchUp will cost you considerably less than AutoCAD and it has a much shallower and shorter learning curve. You'll still have to learn how to use the program.

Here's an example of a chair I drew from a photograph. It is a chair designed by Jared Rusten whose work I admire very much.

rustenchair.jpg


In the background of this next image you can see the photo I started with and the drawing in mid process.

chair-1.jpg


FWIW, I didn't have any solid dimensions for this one but after completing it had an e-mail conversation with Jared. I relayed the dimensions I came up with for it and he told me I was very close.

Take a look at posts here in the Design forum for more info about SketchUp. Also look at the Design. Click. Build. blog on the Fine Woodworking site. My co-collaborator there makes frequent use of 1:1 templates for projects he does. I have use the same idea to make and print labels for one-off medical devices. You're only really liimited by the size of the printer.
 
I have a very basic cad program. I change the format of the picture file to a format the cad program will accept; import the file. If I know 1 dimension on the object of interest in the picture I can rescale the photo until that one dimension measures the correct length and then the others measure correctly too.
 
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