Image Scale for Sketch Picture in Solidworks

[55FRO]

I'm looking to take pencil drawn cross-sections, (like a boat hull
for example), bring
them into Solidworks using Sketch Picture, then use them as
patterns to trace them. I then trace them to create sketches,
each sketch on it's on plane. I then loft those sketches together
to create the complex body I need.

My question is this..... How can I go about making sure that
the images I bring in are at a 1:1 scale? (via scanning or photoshop, etc)

Thanks....

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

You can't. You will have to create known dimensioned geometry in the sketch and adjust the sketch picture to suit. Exact sizes will be controlled by dimensioning the traced geometry.

 

[Eltron]

Yep, I usually draw in a ruler (or lines of known length) and adjust the image to fit within those constraints.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[dragginthru]

what they said. Dimension a few known points on the print and use a sketch to scale them. I wish they would come up with a import 1:1 option.

 

[Theophilus]

I do this a lot in creating handles, etc. from strange geometry--or sketches. I scan the stuff (yeah, even clay models) with my scanner and put a scale on the glass with it. Perfect scaling, since I can see exactly how large the scale is. Good to within 0.015" or more, depending on the scan resolution.

Importing an image file at 1:1 is sort of an impossibility, since pixels have no absolute unit, and what the pixels represent don't either (consider a photo).



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[dragginthru]

72 pixels = 1" FWIW.

 

[Theophilus]

I think my monitor displays 96 pixels/inch. Some high-resolution (small) monitors, such as some of the more compact business laptops can pack in even more. The problem isn't so much relating pixels to an inch of screen space as relating pixels to an image's true dimensional space (such as with a photo). Photos are particularly difficult in that perspective is always distorting true space. (Back up really far, then zoom in for best results.)



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[55FRO]

Thanks everyone...... I don't feel so bad now, cause I was beating my head trying to figure out a way. It's interesting that I notice the solidworks freeform demo on their site, talking and showing how to create a boat hull, but they just say, "Bring in the image using Sketch Picture" and they show how they do it, but they never tell you anything about how they brought the images in at the correct scale.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Check this one out. The scaling is covered in the first minute or so.

http://www.archive.org/details/BenEadieBoatHullLOftinginSolidWorks