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Yogesh.T
14-Alexandrite
Aug 28, 2025 4:23 PM UTC
Solved

How to Trace image to Drawing easily, accurately and quickly.

My AutoCAD human resource is taking 50hrs to trace the outline of something vehicle as seen in attached file. Our client has tons of vehicle images to be converted to .drg, bypassing 3D model. I was wondering if someone has a software that can convert image to as if drawn by a engineering drafting pen. .2mm / .4mm / 1mm sharpie.

 

Thanks for all your brainstorming. This may save us a tons. Thanks in ADVANCE!

 

So much of Creo.. So little time.!

Michael
MichaelAnswer
16-Pearl
Sep 14, 2025 12:57 PM UTC

Michael_0-1757854662583.png

 


black-and-white technical line drawing

 

Task

Convert the attached photo into a black-and-white technical line drawing suitable for a USPTO patent figure.

 

Framing & scale

• Present a wide shot of the entire object, centered on a pure-white background.

• The object must occupy no more than 60 % of the canvas in both width and height, leaving at least 20 % blank white margin on every side for future annotations.

• Keep the object’s flat front view orthographic and proportions exactly as in the photo—do not rotate, skew, or alter its geometry.

 

Style & execution

• Clean, minimal, vector-style line art only.

• Uniform stroke weight; high-contrast black lines on white; absolutely no shading, color, textures, or background elements.

 

Detail fidelity

• Reproduce every visible mechanical or structural feature: edges, contours, holes, fasteners, seams, surface transitions, etc.

• If any portion is obscured or out of frame, terminate the geometry cleanly—do not invent or infer unseen details.

 

Negative constraints

• No close-ups, cropping, zoom-ins, or artistic reinterpretation.

• No added features, embellishments, or background objects.

 

Output requirement

A single high-resolution image that reads like a traditional cad drawing view: crisp lines, consistent stroke thickness, generous white space, ready for annotation.

Michael Bourque

12 replies

StephenW
23-Emerald III
Aug 28, 2025 5:31 PM UTC

Is that a Stewart and Stevenson FMTV/LMTV?

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Yogesh.T
Yogesh.T14-AlexandriteAuthor
14-Alexandrite
Aug 28, 2025 5:48 PM UTC

This is not a confidential. So YES! They are solid old Provens, getting facelift and work for upgrades.

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Yogesh
StephenW
23-Emerald III
Aug 28, 2025 5:54 PM UTC

I worked on a few projects on that truck and some other variants. I have a lot of buddies who worked a good portion of their career on that truck

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StephenW
23-Emerald III
Aug 28, 2025 5:35 PM UTC

I've never seen anything that will take an actual product image and make a drawing from the image.

I have used a few programs to take an old paper drawing and generate a somewhat decent vector file from a scan of the drawing.

 

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Yogesh.T
Yogesh.T14-AlexandriteAuthor
14-Alexandrite
Aug 28, 2025 5:49 PM UTC

Exactly. Me neither. The reason I ask. Want to see how advanced the AI boys are out there. ANYONE, Anybody with some thoughts?

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Yogesh
Michael
Michael16-PearlAnswer
16-Pearl
Sep 14, 2025 12:57 PM UTC

Michael_0-1757854662583.png

 


black-and-white technical line drawing

 

Task

Convert the attached photo into a black-and-white technical line drawing suitable for a USPTO patent figure.

 

Framing & scale

• Present a wide shot of the entire object, centered on a pure-white background.

• The object must occupy no more than 60 % of the canvas in both width and height, leaving at least 20 % blank white margin on every side for future annotations.

• Keep the object’s flat front view orthographic and proportions exactly as in the photo—do not rotate, skew, or alter its geometry.

 

Style & execution

• Clean, minimal, vector-style line art only.

• Uniform stroke weight; high-contrast black lines on white; absolutely no shading, color, textures, or background elements.

 

Detail fidelity

• Reproduce every visible mechanical or structural feature: edges, contours, holes, fasteners, seams, surface transitions, etc.

• If any portion is obscured or out of frame, terminate the geometry cleanly—do not invent or infer unseen details.

 

Negative constraints

• No close-ups, cropping, zoom-ins, or artistic reinterpretation.

• No added features, embellishments, or background objects.

 

Output requirement

A single high-resolution image that reads like a traditional cad drawing view: crisp lines, consistent stroke thickness, generous white space, ready for annotation.

Translate
Michael Bourque
Yogesh.T
Yogesh.T14-AlexandriteAuthor
14-Alexandrite
Sep 15, 2025 1:58 PM UTC

Interestingly this is close. Can you guide step-by-step to get to this?

Is this the note as an instruction to a program or done by someone with sketch with bringing image?

Need more clarity.

 

Thanks

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Yogesh
Michael
16-Pearl
Sep 15, 2025 4:42 PM UTC

Use ChatGPT with this prompt and your photo. 

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Michael Bourque