How to scan a physical part for raster to vector conversion
Scanning a physical part like a gasket or similar for profiling can be problematic. Because parts have a thickness they produce shadows when you scan them in. Once in Scan2CAD it can be difficult to tell where the part ends and the shadow begins. Here are two suggestions to help get around the problem.
Suggestion 1
- Lay the part on a piece of white paper.
- Carefully trace around it with a fine, sharp pen to get a tight fitting profile.
- Scan the trace and vectorize it.
Suggestion 2
To reduce shadowing, put a black sheet of paper or card over the part in the scanner. You may also want to try spray painting the part white. When you scan, the shadows will simply become part of the black background.
This will give you a reversed image with a white part on a black background.
In Scan2CAD, click 
to switch the image so you end
up with a black part on a white background.
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HINTS & TIPS
If your image is monochrome, you can deskew it automatically by clicking 
.
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