Raster to Vector Conversion

1. What makes VP software my best choice for raster to vector
2. Which VPHybridCAD software product is best for raster to vector conversion (R2V)?
3. When using VPHybridCAD software how much time can I expect to save?
4. How does a vectorizing procedure look like?

1.What makes VP software my best choice for raster to vector conversion (R2V)?

Speed, reliability, stand-alone, or AutoCAD/BricsCAD/ZWCAD-based, productivity, cost efficiency, and ease of use.
VP software provides all the editing tools needed to take your scanned drawings to a finished CAD file with a minimum amount of post-editing. Sometimes VP software is noted for being a bit more pricey than cheap $ 500 tools, but take a look at long term productivity, software quality, available options - does cheaper software really solves your problem? Cheaper software mostly fails to optimize your workflow - the results of your conversion or editing issues are deterrent.

For "MicroStation" users VP products can convert scanned drawings directly into DGN with much more productivity and cost savings than MicroStation add-on products. Regardless of your CAD software, VP products can convert drawings into the universal DXF or IGES format.

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2. Which VPHybridCAD software product is best for raster to vector conversion (R2V)?

This will depend on your conversion application. First, identify how many drawings, which paper sizes and formats, and whether monochrome or color.
Occasional conversion requirements (less than 5 per month) could be done by a service bureau that uses VPHybridCAD.
For small format conversions (A2 max. or A - C size) you may consider VPlite.
For advanced raster and vector editing, including direct scanner support and vector outputs that support DXF, DWG, DGN, and IGS you should look at VPstudio, or at VPstudio mono for monochrome drawings.
Product Specifications give a more detailed description.

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3. When using VPHybridCAD software how much time can I expect to save?

One of the largest VPstudio installations (within the US Government) has reported an 80% increase in raster to vector conversion productivity over traditional overlay CAD-based re-drawing methods. Still, the time saving ratio depends on drawing quality, scanning know-how, training, and experience in using the available VPHybridCAD software features.
Actually, severely damaged or faded drawings are more difficult to process. In comparative testing with the DoD (US Dept. of Defense), VPHybridCAD yielded a 30%-95% range of productivity gains over manual conversion and other "trace-over" software.

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4. How does a vectorizing procedure look like?

First of all, these VP products do perform Automatic Vectorization:
VPstudio, VPstudio mono, VPlite, and VPmap pro.
Lower priced products have, of course, less features and functions.
In common, they all have raster editing, which is quite important to clean-up dirty/noisy raster files, prior to the automatic process of vectorization. Otherwise, this "dirt" also gets vectorized. Raster editing basically means despeckling, rotation, deskewing, scaling, rubber sheeting, and adding new raster data or removing unwanted image data.
Then, automatic vectorization is a breeze! The softelec Vectorization Wizard guides you though the setting of parameters by prompting simple entry options. Once this is done, completed settings can be saved for future conversions of similar drawings. These parameters provide advanced vector results, like performing line sorting to different layers, depending on the width of the raster line. In GIS applications, this e.g. allows for separating elevation contours. Other parameters enable polyline, spline, circle, arc, and text (OCR) recognition, as well as separation of arrowheads, hatch patterns, etc. You can create blocks (even with attributes) or perform a symbol search and replacement. For damaged drawings, a full set of smart editing/repair tools provide joining of fragmented lines, arcs, circles, text, etc. with a mouse click. After you're finished, you simply export the vector data to DXF, DWG, DGN, CGM, or IGS. If you have VP installed with AutoCAD/BricsCAD/ZWCAD, you will have all raster and vector data available in AutoCAD/BricsCAD/ZWCAD. All VP products offer to save documents in RasterDWG format which allows for keeping raster and vector together in one single DWG file.
The VP Tutorial Manual walks you through the entire process.

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