Changes to Scan2CAD for Version 8.2.F

Problem with dual monitor displays resolved.

Details:-
When Scan2CAD was displayed at full screen size on the second monitor, the Scan2CAD window was not drawn correctly with only partial details being displayed.

New PDF import option

Details:-

New option to include/exclude PDF Text added to PDF Import options Menu:-

PDF > Import Options…

Scan2CAD by default will load all vector entities found in the PDF file.
Where text is provided in the PDF file for the purpose of utilising the Adobe Reader ‘Search’ option then it may not be required for loading as part of the vector image.
Setting Load PDF Text OFF (i.e. no tick) will result in no text being loaded from the PDF file.

PDF image import enhanced to deal with 16bpp Gray images:-

Details:-
Scan2CAD did not previously handle 16 bits per pixel Gray scale images – now enhanced to do so.

New vector scaling option added to Menu:- Vector Edit > Scale…

Details:-
The currently loaded vectors can be scaled in either/both of the X and Y directions.
If a raster file is currently loaded then the current image extents will not be changed and
therefore those vectors which have been scaled beyond the raster image extents will not be visible.
If no raster file is loaded then the image extents will be scaled by the new X and Y scale factors.

Problem with command line file directory names containing a dot resolved.

Details:-
If a specified directory name contained a dot then the associated command would fail.

Scan2CAD now supports the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.

SVG format files are built using the Extensible Markup Language (XML).

SVG vector images are scalable to the size of the viewing window and will adjust in size and resolution according to the window in which it is displayed without distortion or loss of definition.

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) has recently been released which now directly supports the SVG format. Chrome and FireFox browsers also support SVG.

Free Download A SVG Converter & Much More – Scan2CAD

Download Scan2CAD for free now and see why Scan2CAD is a market leading SVG converter, raster to vector converter and PDF to vector converter.

Changes to Scan2CAD for Version 8.2.E

Additional PDF support.

Details:-
Support added for Nitro PrimoPDF palette encoding scheme.

New OCR Option – Split Strings on Space

Details:-
OCR Strings will be split into words/numbers whenever a space is encountered following a word/number.

Usage From GUI.
OCR > Split Strings on Space – click menu to toggle option ON/OFF

Usage From Command Line File.
OCRSPLITSTRINGSONSPACE
1    [1=ON, 0=OFF]

New Toggle Solid/Non-Solid Polygons.

Details:-
This option will toggle all Solid Polygons to Non-Solid Polygons and Non-Solid Polygons to Solid Polygons.

Usage From GUI.
Action toggled by usage of the following 4 key combination:
Ctrl +Shift + Alt + R

AnchorPoint Solutions, LLC, based in Tacoma, WA, is a public safety technology consulting company whose expertise and focus is on E-911 Fire/EMS (Emergency Medical Services) agencies.

In offering end-to-end solutions for Fire Service pre-incident planning, AnchorPoint Solutions now includes Scan2CAD v8 professional raster-to-vector and PDF-to-CAD conversion software in their product line-up. The company also uses Scan2CAD in-house for paper to CAD conversion.

AnchorPoint Solution’s customers are fire agencies who provide fire suppression, prevention and emergency medical services within their response areas. In order to have useful information available on potential emergency locations, fire agencies take the precaution of preparing and storing pre-incident plans of high risk buildings, complexes and institutions within their area.

Fire pre-incident planning is vital to successfully minimizing the loss of life and property. While complete information is seldom available to fire fighters during the first crucial minutes on scene, many factors affecting time critical decisions can be known in advance. Failing to use these factors in pre-planning a response means that fire agencies are forced to make strategic decisions based on incomplete information, often placing their response at a disadvantage.

Ideally, the pre-incident plan should be easy to read and contain pertinent information needed by fire agencies, e.g. the building’s location, exit points and any specific hazards, etc. For large facilities, pre-incident plans should contain several drawings in addition to one that clearly shows the overall building layout in relation to its street location with fire hydrants, assembly points, etc.

Many drawings are provided by the building’s owners. These are often cluttered with unnecessary details, such as lighting fixtures, plumbing and even furniture. Diagrams that are cluttered with other than the most important details such as alarm panel locations and sprinkler connections can be rendered more or less useless due to the time needed to decipher or sift through the drawing detail.

Intelligent Raster To Vector

As modern building drawings created in CAD software are invariably layered, it is possible to add and delete layers when printing or copying from a file. Many building owners are willing to work with fire departments to customize drawings so that they show only the information that the fire department needs. Some are even willing to help by adding the fire department’s own symbols to their drawings.

However, there are times when no CAD file is available, when a building drawings exist only on paper. These still need to be captured in an electronic format for pre-incident planning. This is where Scan2CAD provides a handy solution to fire agencies. As the industry leading raster-to-vector converter, it automatically converts scanned paper drawings into a AutoCAD and similar PC CAD-compatible DXF file format. In this process, it is a relatively simple matter to extract only the detail that is needed.

“AnchorPoint Solutions is committed to helping public safety agencies solve the problem of managing a wide array of pre-incident building survey information needed to mitigate emergency situations. Scan2CAD fits well into the overall end-to-end solution for fire service pre-incident planning. Scan2CAD has the potential to fill a big gap in the process of completing pre-fire plans. It addresses an issue that can be a big stumbling block to the overall project success,” says Craig N. Coulson, President, AnchorPoint Solutions, LLC.

AnchorPoint Solution’s consultants offer years of practical experience with Fire Service Information Systems, Fire Operations and Fire Administration as well as project management for multiple system implementations, including Pre-Incident Planning, Computer Aided Dispatch, Records Management, Staffing, Medical Information, Building Inspections, etc. Its staff are experienced in implementing both custom and vendor information systems and in developing custom applications and systems that meet individual business needs.

AnchorPoint Solutions is also an authorized reseller of The Cad Zone’s The Fire Zone and First Look Pro, two dedicated software solutions for fire services. The Fire Zone is a CAD program tailored to meet the needs of firefighters and fire investigators. According to Craig, “The Fire Zone provides accurate, easy-to-read, pre-incident plans that save lives and property. It is the best software available for creating pre-incident plans, training diagrams, post-incident critique diagrams, and even courtroom-ready investigation diagrams. With Scan2CAD, we have a way to quickly import paper-based building plans into The Fire Zone as a DXF file for editing, thereby saving a lot of redrawing or tracing time.”

Scan2CAD’s intelligent raster to vector conversions are no stranger to use in fire and life safety services. One of its biggest US users is SimplexGrinnell and its parent, Tyco International. SimplexGrinnell is a long and historic leader in life safety and property protection. Over the years, these two companies and their approved agents, as well as building service engineers, estate and facilities managers, etc., have purchased hundreds of copies of Scan2CAD. It allows them to quickly convert scanned drawings of houses, offices, factories, education institutions, etc., into a DXF CAD floor plan for the fitting of SimplexGrinnell’s fire alarm, fire sprinkler, fire suppression, integrated security, sound and healthcare communications systems.

For further information, please contact:

Craig N. Coulson
President
AnchorPoint Solutions, LLC
www.anchorpts.com
coulsoc@anchorpts.com
425-770-4270

Changes to Scan2CAD for Version 8.2.D

Various PDF enhancements

Enhancemens to import and export abilities.

Minor update of help system

Help System found in ‘help’ > ‘Contents’ in the Scan2CAD menu updated to reflect added functionality.

After many successful years of marketing Scan2CAD, Softcover International Ltd passed the reigns to AVIA.
This has allowed AVIA to seize the opportunity to market, support, and drive an enhanced development program that will ensure that Scan2CAD remains a market leader in Raster (and PDF) to Vector conversion software.

George Kennedy, Head of Development at Scan2CAD said “I’m extremely pleased with AVIA’s decision to market Scan2CAD. It brings new energy to the progress of Scan2CAD, already a market leader”

AVIA has made a long term commitment to Scan2CAD and looks forward to establishing Scan2CAD as the prime product in its range for quality, affordability and excellence of support.

Customer support is a key requisite to the future success of Scan2CAD and AVIA welcomes old and new Scan2CAD customers alike to participate in driving their future vision for Scan2CAD.

Changes to Scan2CAD for Version 8.2.C

Various enhancements to the PDF support.

Added support of more variations PDF encoded formats.

New – ColorTrac Scanners Ethernet support added.

Support added for the communication to ColorTrac Scanners via Ethernet

New – SVG vector export option

New SVG export option added to coincide with Internet Explore v9 SVG support. See this post for more information.

Raster Text Quality Check-list for OCR text recognition

Scan2CAD has a capability for converting raster text to vector text using OCR. When you convert raster text using OCR, the vector text is proper editable text rather than a series of uneditable lines and arcs.

Scan2CAD’s OCR recognizes raster text where the following conditions are met:

• The raster text is easily legible.
• The raster text characters do not touch each other.
• The raster text characters do not touch other drawing elements.
• The raster text characters are not at different orientations.
• The raster text characters are in a font that Scan2CAD can recognize.

To ensure that your text meets these conditions, work through the following Raster Text Quality Checklist.

First, place your cursor over a piece of text on your image. Press M to Magnify. Press M again and again until your image is highly magnified. Or, zoom in by scrolling your mouse wheel forward. To zoom out again, click .

Is the text easily legible?

If you cannot read the text easily, as in the examples below, Scan2CAD won’t be able to read it either.

If the text is not easily legible, the only remedy is to start off with a better quality raster image.

If this is not possible, you will have to retype the text manually. You can either do this in Scan2CAD or in your CAD program after you have imported the converted file into it.

You may want to erase areas of very poor quality text from the raster image so that these areas are not vectorized to lines and arcs.

Are the characters touching?

Scan2CAD cannot recognize characters that touch other characters, even if the characters are only connected by a few pixels:

If the characters touch, try selecting OCR > Settings > Split before doing OCR recognition. When this option is selected Scan2CAD will attempt to split and identify touching characters.

This will improve text recognition on some raster images, however on others it may result in a lot of “junk characters” being recognized. This is because characters that touch are often very poor quality and are unrecognizable even after splitting. For example, the characters in the example above have “bled”. Not only has this caused them to touch each other but it has also filled in the “A”. This means that the “A” is no longer typical of an “A” and Scan2CAD may have difficulty recognizing it even if it is not touching other characters.

You can often improve the quality of an image that has bled by rescanning it in grayscale and thresholding it (see the Scanning Checklist).

Is the text written over other drawing elements?

If text is written over drawing elements or is attached to underlining or boxes as in the examples below, Scan2CAD won’t be able to recognize it.

Is the text at more than one orientation?

Where text at one orientation is intermingled with text at another orientation it is virtually impossible to recognize all the text.

Can Scan2CAD recognize the font?

By default, Scan2CAD can only recognize text that has been written using a standard font such as the font in the example below.

It may not recognize other fonts well. It may also fail to recognize standard fonts that are narrower or wider than normal or that are italicized.

If Scan2CAD’s default text recognition cannot recognize a font well and you have a lot of images containing that font, you can train Scan2CAD to recognize the font (Pro version only). You can do this if the font characters are consistent and do not touch. For example:

Scan2CAD’s default text recognition will recognize this font but it will not recognize it optimally because the font is narrower than normal. You could train Scan2CAD to recognize this font well.

Scan2CAD’s default text recognition will recognize this font very poorly because it is italicized and hand written. However, because the characters are clear and do not touch you could train Scan2CAD to recognize it.

Scan2CAD’s default text recognition will recognize this font very poorly because it is hand written and because the characters touch each other. You could not train Scan2CAD to recognize this font because the characters touch.

Despite the fact that the quality of this text is poor you could train Scan2CAD to recognize it because the characters are consistent and do not touch each other.

It takes a few hours to train Scan2CAD to recognize a font but it can significantly improve text recognition.

Raster Quality Checklist for raster to vector conversion

The most common reason for poor raster to vector conversion results is an unsuitable raster image.

Scan2CAD can only give results as good as the raster image you give it to vectorize. Nowhere is the saying “Garbage In, Garbage Out” truer than in raster to vector conversion!

To make sure that your image is suitable for raster to vector conversion, go through the Raster Quality Checklist below.

Do this even if your scanned image looks perfect when viewed full screen. Poor quality raster images often look fine when viewed full screen – it’s only when you zoom in that you can see there’s a problem.

Alternatively, work through Andrea’s Real World Guide to Vectorization, a PDF document written by Softcover’s Andrea Tribe. Andrea has used Scan2CAD to vectorize hundreds of images of different types and quality. The Real World Guide tells you how to handle less than perfect scans and how to tweak vectorization settings. It will help you to get the best possible vectorization from any vectorizable image.

The Real World Guide can be accessed by going to Scan2CAD’s Help Menu, then selecting Real World Guide.

Is your image negative (white lines on a black background)?

Negative image	Positive image

Scan2CAD converts positive images (black or colored lines on white paper).

If your image is negative you need to click (Negate) to convert it to positive.

Is your image skew?

Skew image	After deskew

If your image is slightly skew, deskew it by clicking (Auto Deskew – black and white images only) or (Rotate by Line – any image).

Deskewing a very skew image can cause significant deterioration in image quality. If your image is very skew, the best thing to do is to rescan your drawing taking care to get the drawing straight on the scanner.

Is your image dirty?

If your image is very dirty, you may not be able to clean it well enough to produce a meaningful vectorization or cleaning it might take too long to be worthwhile.

For example, there is no point trying to clean an image that looks like the one below because there are solid black dirty areas obscuring the drawing.

However if speckles and dirty areas do not interfere with the drawing itself you will be able to clean the image quickly and easily.

To despeckle an image, click (Remove Speckles).

You can erase dirty areas using Scan2CAD’s raster erase tools, particularly the rectangular area erase (select ) and the irregular area erase (select ).

There are often dirty areas around the edges of raster images. You can delete these by cropping the image using Raster Effects > Crop.

Now, zoom into your raster image …

Zoom into your raster image by placing your cursor over the image and pressing M on your keyboard. Keep pressing M until the lines are highly magnified. You can also zoom in by scrolling your mouse wheel forwards.

What do you see?

Good quality lines

The lines above are clean and strong and distinct. If the lines on your image look like this you will be able to get good raster to vector conversion results.

Hairy lines

If the lines on your image have “hairs” like the top line above, click (Smooth) to smooth them (bottom line above).

Dithered lines

If the lines on your image are dithered (made up of black speckles like the lines above), the best thing to do is to rescan your drawing. Experiment with your scanner’s settings until you get a scan that has solid, continuous lines and is not dithered.

If rescanning is not an option, try using (Thicken Pixels).

You may need to use Thicken Pixels several times to improve the quality of a dithered image to the point where it can be vectorized successfully. However, Thicken Pixels should be used with care as it can deteriorate the quality of the image by thickening lines too much and allowing lines that are close to each other to become joined.

Lines with holes

If the lines on your image contain small holes you can remove them using (Remove Holes). To remove large holes use Scan2CAD’s Flood Fill command (see the Scan2CAD Help).

If your image has holes it may have been scanned at too high a resolution. You may want to try scanning your drawing again at a lower resolution.

Broken lines

If the lines on your image are slightly broken you may be able to mend them automatically using one of or a combination of the following methods:

• (Thicken Lines).
• (Thicken Pixels).
• Gap jumping. Before you vectorize the image:
  1. Select a Type from the Type Menu.
  2. Go to Type > Settings.
  3. Set a Gap Jump Distance.

  When you vectorize the image Scan2CAD will jump over breaks that are smaller than the distance you have specified, allowing it to produce continuous vectors despite the gaps.

If the lines on your image are very broken you will not be able to mend them automatically or jump over the gaps using gap jumping. The only way to mend a very broken image is to draw new raster lines and arcs over the broken ones.

If your entire image is very broken it will take too long to improve its quality to the point where it can be successfully vectorized and there is probably no point trying. Your best bet is to rescan the drawing using our Scanning Checklist.

Small details

An image that has been scanned at a resolution that is optimal for most of the drawing may contain some small details that are made up of too few pixels to be sufficiently defined for raster to vector conversion.

Such details will vectorize to a mess of vectors. There is nothing you can do about this.

Dot and other non linear hatch patterns

Dot-type hatch patterns like the one in the drawing below will not vectorize well.

It is better to replace hatches like these in your CAD program than to try to vectorize them. If your drawing contains dot-type hatch patterns, remove them by clicking (Remove Speckles).

Hatch patterns like the one below where non-linear hatch components are joined to each other and to the surrounding boundary cannot easily be removed and will vectorize to a mess of vectors.

There is nothing you can do about this.

Touching parallel or concentric entities

You will not get a good vectorization on parts of the image where parallel or concentric entities touch.

There is nothing you can do about this except rescan the drawing using our Scanning Checklist.

Merged entities

If the entities on your raster image are merged together the raster image is too poor quality for vectorization.

There is nothing you can do about this except rescan the drawing using our Scanning Checklist.

Blurry lines

If the lines on your raster image are blurry as in the image above, the raster image is too poor quality for vectorization.

There is nothing you can do about this except rescan the drawing using our Scanning Checklist.

Blurriness is most common in JPEG images, so take care not to save your image in JPEG format.

Low resolution lines

If shapes in your image are defined by only a few pixels and look jagged, as in the image above, your image is too low resolution. This is particularly common in logos and drawings that contain fine detail.

The drawing needs to be rescanned at a considerably higher resolution – aim for lines that are about 5 pixels thick.

Overlaid information

The drawings above contain a lot of overlaid information.

Unfortunately, Scan2CAD is not human. It doesn’t know that it is looking at (for example) text and a wiring schedule overlaid on a building plan. All it sees are black patterns on a white background and it is not going to be able to unscramble the different components.

You are not going to get a sensible raster to vector conversion from an image with overlaid information. There is nothing you can do about this.

How to scan a drawing for raster to vector conversion

Not all drawings can be scanned to create a raster image that can be used for raster to vector conversion. For example:

• Some drawings are so faint or so dirty that whatever you do you will not be able to create a clean enough scan for conversion.
• Some drawings or drawing details are too small to scan well enough for vectorization, regardless of the scanning resolution you use.
• Some drawings contain so many overlapping details – for example text written over drawing lines – that even if you get a perfect scan no raster to vector converter will be able to unscramble the information.

However, given a suitable drawing in good enough condition to scan well, you can eliminate many raster to vector conversion problems by being aware of the information on this page.

Color, grayscale or monochrome?

Most scanners give you the option of scanning in color, grayscale or monochrome. These options have different names depending on the make of scanner you have.

Color

Your scanner’s color option will normally create a raster image that contains 16.7 million colors.

You should only use this option if you are scanning a color drawing with a view to converting it to a color DXF file. Do not use your scanner’s color option if you are scanning a black and white drawing – it is easy to do this by accident as most scanners default to color.

If you are scanning a color drawing with a view to converting it to a color DXF file, experiment with your scanner’s settings until the colors on the raster image are as high contrast, vibrant and saturated as possible.

Warning: Color images can be very large. An E/A0 size drawing scanned in color at 300 dpi will take up about 385Mb of memory.

Grayscale

Your scanner’s grayscale option (often called black and white photo) will normally create an image that contains 256 shades of gray.

Grayscale images are not normally suitable for raster to vector conversion. You should only select grayscale if you are going to convert the grayscale image to black and white after scanning using Scan2CAD’s Threshold functions.

See the Scan2CAD Help for more information on Simple and Adaptive Thresholds.

Warning: Grayscale images can be very large. An E/A0 size drawing scanned in grayscale at 300 dpi will take up about 128Mb of memory.

Monochrome

Your scanner’s monochrome option (often called line art, black and white drawing or 1 bit) will create a much smaller image that contains two colors – black and white. This is the option you should normally choose when scanning a drawing for raster to vector conversion.

Thresholding

When you scan a drawing in monochrome your scanner or scanning software has to make a decision about which parts of the drawing to set to black in the raster image and which to set to white. This is called thresholding.

If your drawing is clean and sharp this is not normally a problem. However if your drawing has faint lines or a dirty or tinted background you will have to experiment with your scanner’s settings until you get a raster image where, as far as possible, the parts of the raster image that are supposed to be black are black and the parts that are supposed to be white are white.

If your scanner or scanning software sets too much of the drawing to white, it may contain breaks and holes and faint parts may be lost. If your scanner or scanning software sets too much of the drawing to black, text characters may “bleed” so that white spaces within them or between them become filled and speckles and dirt may appear in the background.

Too much white	Too much black
Optimal

While some scanners have good automatic thresholding and / or have software that makes setting an appropriate threshold easy, getting the best threshold on other scanners requires endless rescans.

If this is the case with your scanner, you may find it easier to scan your drawing in grayscale. You can then use Scan2CAD’s Threshold functions to create a black and white image after scanning. This will allow you to experiment with different levels of black and white without having to rescan the drawing.

Resolution

It is not true that “the higher the scanner resolution, the better the vectorization results”. In fact, a high resolution scan can sometimes give you worse results than a low resolution scan!

That said, you should be aware that while you can decrease the resolution of an image after scanning you cannot increase it. Increasing resolution after scanning will not regain any lost detail. It will simply exacerbate “steps” in the image that will decrease the quality of any raster to vector conversion.

Therefore, it is better to err on the side of too high resolution rather than too low resolution when scanning. If you find your scan resolution is too high you can always decrease it after the fact using Scan2CAD’s File Menu > Raster > Statistics dialog.

For most drawings, a scan resolution of 200 to 400 dpi is optimal. However, if a drawing is small (e.g. a logo) or has fine detail, you may need a higher resolution.

Here are some pointers for choosing the right resolution:

• If you are scanning a line drawing aim for lines about 5 pixels thick.
• Lines and outlines should look smooth, not stepped:
  

  Smooth – GOOD	Stepped – BAD

• Text characters and entities that are close together should be separated by clean white space:
  

  Completely separated - GOOD	Incompletely separated - BAD	Completely unseparated - BAD

  Note that the separation of close together entities is dependent on selecting an appropriate threshold (see above) as well as on selecting an appropriate resolution.

Saving raster images

We recommend that you save your scanned drawings as TIFF files. If your scanned drawing is black and white, save it as a Group 4 TIFF file. This will compress the file without causing a loss in its quality.

Do not save your scans as multi layer/page TIFF files, which Scan2CAD does not support.

DO NOT save your images as JPEG. JPEG uses “lossy compression”, which means that it discards data it thinks you can do without. This causes it to decrease the quality of scanned drawings by blurring the details and adding speckle artifacts.

The smudging and gray “clouds” surrounding the lines in the image below are typical artifacts caused by saving a drawing as JPEG.

Once you have damaged an image by saving it as JPEG, you cannot undo the damage by simply converting the JPEG image to TIFF. You will need to rescan the drawing.

VERY IMPORTANT: CHECK YOUR SCAN!

After scanning, check your scan.

• Make sure that the full extents of the drawing have been captured.
• Make sure the scan is not skew.If the scan is skew, rescan the drawing straight. While Scan2CAD can deskew scans, deskewing can decrease the quality of the scan, particularly if the scan is very skew.
• Make sure that any text is legible.
• Make sure that text characters and entities that are close together are separated by clean white space.
  If they touch partially or completely, you need to experiment with your threshold settings and or scanning resolution.
• Make sure that the drawing lines are solid, not broken.
  
  
  
  
  
  If they are broken, you need to experiment with your threshold settings and or scanning resolution.