The files can be sent in virtually any graphic file format, such as TIFF. For color JPEG / GIF formats are better.

2. In what DPI should the paper original be scanned?

The paper if scanned at 150 DPI, is able to display almost the entire information visible on the sheet.

3. Can I mail the paper originals?

Yes, you can mail or courier your paper originals/copies to our ShangHai office.

4. What kind of turnaround time is expected?

Single sheet jobs often are ready next day. Larger jobs include agreed upon deadlines. Our large-capacity production site allows clients to complete their development projects much faster than would be possible 'in-house'.

5. Do you follow your own CAD standards or those which we prescribe?

We set up CAD standards as furnished by the client.

6. How can I send the original if an in-house scanner is not available?

You can either utilise the services of a blueprint shop who normally have a scanner, or mail the originals by courier/post to our office. We will scan the drawings and return the originals to you.

7. Can I use fax machine to send the originals?

Yes you can. Cut the original sheet into long strips of 8.5"size and fax it to us. The width may be increased or decreased so that important information like text and dimensions are clear. This works in 80% of the drawings.

8. How can payment be made?

Payment can be made in US Dollar, or Pound Sterling via check mailed directly to us, or by wire transfer to our bankers.

9. Do you spell-check your drawings?

We not only spell-check but also proof read the drawing.

There is a pretty clear relationship between price and quality in bureau conversion. We recommend starting with a pilot project comprising two stages. In the first stage establish that the bureau can deliver to your required quality for a small sample of drawings, say five or ten.
From this limited experiment set the parameters for a second stage test with a much larger sample of your drawings (maybe 5% of your stock). The second stage determines how your bureau will perform under a real load.
You and your bureau can establish a solid relationship during this test and sort out potential problems. And most important, involve your end users in the test. Have them check that the quality meets their needs. Some users may need help in defining their needs. You might want to think about an alternative to vectorizing all of your drawings. That is to scan all of your drawings and vectorize later as required.

11. What are my options when considering how to get from paper to CAD? >>top

There are several methods that will help you take a paper drawing or print into CAD. You could simply redraw from scratch in a CAD program, you could create a vector file from the drawing on a digitizing tablet, you could scan the drawing, open it in a 'Head-up' digitizing program on your monitor and digitize to vectors with a mouse much like the digitizing tablet or you can use an automatic raster-to-vector program.

Tablet and head-up digitizing is subject to the skill and eye-hand coordination of the operator. Studies have shown that as digitizing operators tend to wander off the original lines by as much as 1/32 of an inch as they progress through a days work. Automatic raster-to-vector conversion will provide you with editable vectors in a fraction of the time of other methods.

12. What is the difference between accuracy and precision in vectorizing

Repeating the point above: Scanning paper to create a raster image does not improve the quality in any way. As a matter of fact the scan is a less perfect than the original. Vectorizing software of any type can only vectorize that which it can 'see', the pixels in the raster image. The resultant vectors are no more perfect than the raster.
Vectorizing is accurate to the extent that the vectors are an accurate representation of the raster image. Is this 'accuracy' good enough for your application? Perhaps. But if it isn't, the vectors can be edited to make the vector file as precise as you require. Remember, vectors can be made to be mathematically perfect, rasters cannot.

13. Horizontal and vertical vector lines on screen do not appear to be straight, but they were in the original drawing. Why? >>top

What you see on screen is only a visual display of the actual stored CAD file and does not represent what the file will create on a plotter or printer. The vector points, also seen on screen, more accurately depict the vectors as they will be plotted. What you are seeing is the result of a slightly askew scan.
When a computer depicts straight lines on screen they will appear straight, without a jagged appearance, only when they are absolutely square to the screen's matrix. That is if they are perfectly parallel to or at right angles to the horizontal scan of the monitor
If they are slightly off square the computer tells the screen to depict the straight line as a Cathode Ray Tube scan series which might be: Fill 100 pixels horizontally, go down 1 pixel, fill 100 pixels horizontally, etc.
It is this small one or two pixel step down which makes straight lines appear to have a jog or appear jagged on screen. The underlying vector which it is representing is a single point-to-point line.
Consider the jogs to be an optical aberration on the monitor screen and not representative of the actual vector. In TracTrix, one can see the actual vector points at each end of the line by clicking on the line.

14. How come some vector files are bigger than raster files of the same image?

The raster image size is based upon the resolution (dpi) and the physical size of the image. The vector file size is based upon the number of vector entities required to represent the raster file. The relationship between the two varies with the content of the drawings, the entity types in the vector file, the raster format used and whether there is compression in the raster format.

15. How can I publish engineering drawings on the Internet?

The simplest method is to rasterize completed CAD designs from DWG or DXF to a raster format that can be viewed by a Web Browser. These formats are PNG, JPEG or GIF. These can be published using the regular IMG tag in HTML. TracTrix and Trix RasterServer produce the PNG format for this purpose. The user needs nothing more than a recent Web Browsing software.

If you have large, complex, files and/or you want to do more than just view a drawing through a Browser you should look at adding a viewer plug-in to the users' Browsers. Plug-ins add functionality to a Browser. When this is installed a user can view DXF. DWG, HPGL and many raster file formats. The publisher does not have to convert these to PNG, JPEG or GIF. In addition to viewing the plug-in provides annotation, measuring tools, printing and saving controls. The user can add additional information to a copy of drawing and save it at the local workstation.

There are advantages and drawbacks for methods using fully automatic conversion or interactive tracking. A good package should support all methods, including fully automatic vectorization, interactive tracing and easy-to-use heads up digitizing, in order to handle a wide variety of maps and drawings.

17. Pricing? >>top

All work is quoted upfront at no charge and is based on hourly rates. Volume discounts apply. Typical engineering or architectural drawings (D-Sized) range from $ 50 to $ 80 per sheet. Click here for a real time quote.