Can I convert a logo from BMP or JPG to a DWG with Raster Design?

[jgratton]

Can I convert a logo from bmp or jpg to a dwg with Raster Design?
I am a neophyte about which format to use. Here is one of our toughest examples.

[Railrose]

Can I convert a logo from bmp or jpg to a dwg with Raster Design?
I am a neophyte about which format to use. Here is one of our toughest examples.

Line work can be converted one at a time, but those are only if the image is black & white. Color or greyscale have to be traced. You might be able to outline it & use a close shaded hatch pattern for part of it. For more info, you might check this thread.

[CGM]

Can I convert a logo from bmp or jpg to a dwg with Raster Design?

I am a neophyte about which format to use. Here is one of our toughest examples.

Hello jgratton,
A company I worked for, back in 1995, solved this problem by buying a TrueType font of their logo. Nowadays one can turn almost any logo into a scalable TrueType font that you can use directly from any Windows or Macintosh program.

The only restrictions of this solution are that a font character can only display in the one colour you select for it - multicolour logos are only achievable with a string of characters (and are generally more trouble to use than an appropriate PNG, WMF or EMF file - we're happy to take a look and offer our suggestions) and that if you distribute a document electronically you must also send the font to the recipient.

You will find plenty of offers on-line ; I include this one only because I’ve taken the liberty to quote them above.

[jgratton]

Line work can be converted one at a time, but those are only if the image is black & white. Color or greyscale have to be traced. You might be able to outline it & use a close shaded hatch pattern for part of it. For more info, you might check this thread.

This does not sound like a very time efficient method. As you can see, I had Rico working on it in that other thread. It's not the perfect match I was hoping for, but these types of tough logos hopefully will not pop up very often.

[mikewokc]

You can reference a bmp, jpeg or other formatted image into Raster Design or plain vanilla AutoCAD and convert it to the dwg file. It will require some work. Here is my suggestion if you plan to take care of this task in-house.

For this type of logo I would:

obtain a higher resolution color scan (400 dpi)
insert it into AutoCAD with the IMAGE command
create enough layers to separate outlines from hatch patterns
scale the image to match the original logo dimensions
create closed polylines to outline each letter's interior and exterior
create solid black and dark tan non-associative hatches for the text
create a closed polyline to outline the castle
create a non-associative gradient hatch for the castle area
freeze the outline layer(s)
make a color print of your work
use the HATCHEDIT command to tweak the gradient hatch color as required

It's been a while, but I know this method does work -- it just takes patience and attention to detail to match the original.

I hope this will be helpful.

Mike Warren
CAD Technician
City of Edmond

[arshiel88]

I haven't tried Raster Design but you might want to consider Adobe Illustrator if its available. It can Trace an Image automatically and lineworks can be exported to AutoCAD dwg but I do not guarantee it to be 100% accurate.

[jgratton]

I left that job over a year ago! Thanks for contributing to the knowledge though. I am sure others will benefit.