tracing a pattern

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Aerostatic
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon May 29, 2023 7:33 pm

tracing a pattern

Post by Aerostatic »

Hello everybody,
I am very new to Freecad. If someone could answer this question I would know if I should pursue learning Freecad.
I work for an upholstery company and all our patterns are made out of cardboard templates. We would like to digitize the patterns. Instead of going the more common route ( taking pictures, importing them scaling them etc) I was wondering if it is possible to use a pen mouse to trace the cardboard pattern? The problem i am having is a one inch line in the real world is 8 inches long in the digital world. Is there a way to get the drawing scale to be 1:1?
I would really appreciate any input on this problem. Thanks.
chrisb
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Re: tracing a pattern

Post by chrisb »

Aerostatic wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 7:01 pmI was wondering if it is possible to use a pen mouse to trace the cardboard pattern?
You can import an image, scale it and trace over it. Depending on the image it can be sensible to use Inkscapes Tracing function plus simplification for a start, which automates the tracing.
It would be sensible if you upload an example, so that we can better imagine what you are talking about.
The problem i am having is a one inch line in the real world is 8 inches long in the digital world. Is there a way to get the drawing scale to be 1:1?
If you derive a TechDraw drawing from your model, you can scale and print 1:1.
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Shalmeneser
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Re: tracing a pattern

Post by Shalmeneser »

* scanning function of a printer -> Image -> Inkscape + graphic tablet
Why do you need FreeCad ?
freedman
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Re: tracing a pattern

Post by freedman »

If you could take a picture (jpg) from a perpendicular then you could trace the object in FreeCAD, many folks start projects that way.
GeneFC
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Re: tracing a pattern

Post by GeneFC »

Aerostatic wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 7:01 pm I was wondering if it is possible to use a pen mouse to trace the cardboard pattern?
FreeCAD does not have any support for driving external data capture devices.

However, the "pen mouse" should have such support or at least links to drivers. If you can get a good digital representation then there could be several ways to import the captured data into FreeCAD for further processing.

Gene
Aerostatic
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Joined: Mon May 29, 2023 7:33 pm

Re: tracing a pattern

Post by Aerostatic »

Thank you for all your helpful insights!
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