RE: (ET) elec-trak CD, LONG

["Elie, Larry (L.D.)" <lelie ford com>]

An update on some details of what might be done....

Remember this post?  In it I mensioned that D size prints take up scads of 
space when scanned....  Well I checked on another forum about that 
problem, 
and got some replies.  There are software packages that convert scanned
TIFFS 
or the equivilants vector formats compatable with CAD.  The whole thing
MIGHT 
fit on a single CD.  Below is my post, my question to the other forum, and
the 
replies.

"
Back to the CD, has anyone talked to Bill Gunn yet?  I vote for Acrobat
because 
it is easy way out.  DXF or DWG (real CAD) are better but I very much doubt
the 
prints were on electronic media.  I'm sure they didn't use GDT very well in
those 
days either.  I have scanners here to D (or even E) size, so prints are 
are not a problem OTHER than in file size.  Folks, a D size in Acrobat even
in 
black and white is tens of mega-bytes!  I don't have time to do DXF's from
original 
prints but that's what it would take to get these down to manageable size.
Now, 
if only one or two prints were required, sure, I could do them, but Bill 
has
so many 
prints that when I was there he had never even had a chance to file them
all!  
Like I said on my earlier post, I suspect there should be two versions of
the media; 
one, a simple combination of the Owner's Service Manuel (includes
schematics) and 
Instruction manuals with perhaps a color flyer on a CD for something like
$10 or $20, 
with Bill making a few bucks on each (I think he makes less on the printed
manual at 
$25 each) of the 50 or so that would sell in the next 10 years.  There
really isn't 
that big of a market for this, but charging more will just let people
justify piracy.  
I have all the tools to make this except the instruction manuals and color
brochures 
right now.  Sure, Wheel Horse and New Idea would have to be included, and 
to
make this 
a good resource, probably a comparison article on the tractors and brands 
by
Bill Gunn 
himself, and perhaps an article on batteries, chargers etc.  I'm not afraid
to contact 
some of the original design engineers (assuming they are still alive) from
GE myself, 
but don't have a list of names.  Their design input would make another nice
article for 
the CD.  I would ALSO like to see I found one assembly person retired in
Ohio and have 
talked with him by phone in the past, but he didn't have too much to 
relate.
A DVD or CD 
combination for say $50 or more that has the REAL service manual and the
prints would make 
a SECOND tier of resource.  I doubt more than half a dozen would sell in 
the
next ten years.  
But I don't want to see the prints lost.  


That's my best guess of managing this.
"

______________________________________-

I recently needed some info off of old D-size hand drawn prints. Not the
first time, but it brings to light a problem. Yes, I have scanned copies of
D-size, as (big) TIFFS. Not that unusual. Look at a section, then re-draw
it. Bummer . Old prints don't usually have much GDT on them, so it really 
is
mostly a matter of lines and dimensions.
What would be nice is if someone had a add-on that generated even primitave
2-D CAD drawings  . I have tried 'vectorizing' programs (things like HiJack
Pro); they don't do much and don't even do that well. I know this is asking
for the world, but really, I have scanner software that can scan a
doccument, fairly accurately, and even tell me what font was used in each
area! That has to be nearly as hard as converting line drawings to CAD.
Sure, the utility would have to be interactive, but so are the doccument
converters. When you need to make a cad drawing from an old print such a
utility would be worth it's weight in gold!

Any thoughts or hopes for such a product someday?

Larry

-----------------------------------------------

Hi Larry,
You might try this site: www.softcover.com or this one
www.rastertovector.com 
This is a UK company and they even have a demo to try.
 
bart hays
Member 
Posts: 18
Registered: Jul 99 
  posted 02-03-2000 10:03 AM               
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CorelDraw (9.0) has a pretty good raster to vector program bundled with it.
It has options to trace the centerlines of objects and pretty specific
settings to control output. Vector drawings can be saved as DXF and brought
into Cadkey. The precision is only as good as the original scanned image.
AFIK you can not buy just the Trace program but the whole package is a
great, cheap alternative to a whole graphics package. 
------------------
Bart Hays
Science Museum of Minnesota
Gateway PII 400, 128Mb, ATI Rage Pro 8Mb, Win98
CK99r1.0

 
James McInerney
Member 
Posts: 225
Registered: 
  posted 02-03-2000 10:27 AM               
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Take a look at http://www.arborimage.com/dmp32web.htm  




So, I guess it just might work.

Larry Elie