For example a wing rib. I have used the pline command and picked points along the curve and then splined the line. This works but is tedious. I have also used the spline command which need a lot less points and looks very good.
I take the plans to work and scan them as a PDF I can import them into a drawing as a PDF or save the file as a Tiff and import that. I have found that the plans were drawn by hand and parts may not be very accurately consistent as we can do now with Autocad. For example, the wing rib length in the rib details does not equal the length in the wing layout. Using cad I can correct this by redrawing the ribs or the wing layout.
So back to the original question, what is the easiest way to trace the curves?
One of the younger engineers at work said there is a way to import a scan as a line drawing but he could not do it.
Thanks
Hi Al -
I use SolidWorks, but the initial sketches are done in 2D.
You and I do it similarly, and I've found it's the best way for me.
I scan the rib into a jpg or pdf and then lay that image down in the CAD drawing as a "layer".
I then scale that layer to match reality (in SolidWorks, pasting in a jpg or pdf doesn't guarantee scale).
Then, as you describe, I trace the curves with splines; sometimes just one is needed with a flex point at the apex; sometimes additional flex points are needed.
To convert a bitmap image (jpg, scanned pdf) to a vector file, I've tried CorellDraw and Adobe Illustrator in the past, and the converted vector drawings just have tons of points in them that make for more work than needed.