I have a paper & pencil sketch of my robotic design and I was wondering if there is anyway to easily create a CAD model by scanning my sketch into the computer. I user Google SketchUp and Alibre Xpress (yeah I'm cheap) and I can't afford anything "more advanced". If there's anyway to do this, I would love to know, or if you could point me to a tutorial, that would be greatly appreciated.
nope 
you probably have
nope
you probably have to just redo all the dimensions in CAD form… this or this MIGHT help
**Recommendation? **
Does anyone have a recommendation on CAD software that is easier and more intuitive to learn than SketchUp or Alibre?
Hi Thomas, The problem in
Hi Thomas,
The problem in asking about ‘easier and more intuitive’ is that what is easy and intuitive to me isn’t maybe for you. However, being a draftsman by trade, here are MY feelings.
Autocad (which I use day to day) is very expensive and a very steep learning curve. Same with Microstation.
I believe there is a version of Turbocad that is free. This is probably what I would suggest, even though I don’t use it myself. There will still be a steep learning curve initially however. You cannot really compare sketching tools with CAD
I know that many hobbyists however have successfully made the transistion to Turbocad, which is the main reason I recommend it.
Hope this helps
Pete
Thanks!
Thanks! I understand what you’re saying. Well any suggestion helps, I’ll have to look into it then.
Try Trace it with Adobe Illustrator
may be you can trace your drawing into path using Adobe llustrator and Export it with .dwg format…
before that scann your drawing into jpeg file…and you can use that drawing stright away using autocad…
I’m not into robotic yet… try to make my robot… i’m graphic designer
