My experience is that, if you use the fine trace pen they provided, the SVG was excellent. If I used the long nib felt tip pen that left a line about 1mm thick, then the rendering wasn’t as good. However, in any case, it is significantly better than tracing a photo, especially if the piece was thicker than 3mm or the contrast wasn’t perfect.
For those stadium seat feet I purchased a pack of all the logos for Utah State. The files were not great. Almost like there were extra layers. I printed the logo on paper and scanned. What I got wasn’t perfect but was actually easier to use without the extra layers.
I also scanned a printout of the logo i did for my dad and it turned out great.
I would have taken a pic of the sketch and traced that.
I can see where the pen could make a difference.
Be glad to see others thoughts
I guess I should have said my sketch was of a wrench so it had to be pretty close on size.
That is where I see it excelling, or thought it would.
If you had a gasket, you could trace it and get a quick drawing for a reasonably good fitting flange. I am expecting to encounter something like a bracket. That would be a great use but that application would not need to be as precise as a wrench.
Hello @DonP
How is this device working for you so far? Do you find it useful?
I just stumbled on this thread and find this device very interesting and I trust your opinion
Thank you
So I haven’t did much with it. I do feel the device is priced right and does what it says. It’s very easy to change an image to a SVG. It’s not perfect for 3D items like tools or thick metal. You get shadows and the thickness of the lines even can throw off your measurements. I can see value in custom letters but you could do with a picture and Inkscape but this makes it much easier.
I am getting slow…it took me two days to finally get the reference to ‘boss’ as meaning our dog.
I would never imagine cutting out an image of my ex-boss to “cherish for years.”
You should pay as much attention to your own posts as I do!
LOL! If only you knew the ribbing I got from my daughter just this morning. I was looking on the forum and showing her a photo I shared. She started reading my words and told me, as she was laughing, “You write like a foreign person who just learned English as a second language.”
So maybe you are right…I should pay a little more attention to what I write. Daughters are wonderful instruments to keep one humble.
And Happy! Very true!
I thought he was referring to your wife!
That’s my Boss
My daughter is only two and she is already doing this.
Just checking in on you guys using Shaper Trace. I have not purchased one just wondering Pros and Cons
Thanks
I have used it a few times. I really HATE that they need you connected to the 'verse to use the app. Also, I am puzzled why I have everything set to inches (app and Fusion 360) and when I import, it is not to scale. It is off some odd amount like 45% so it is not an inches to mm thing.
On the whole, I think it could be useful but really annoyed with needing to be logged in to use the app. And, it is an abbreviated form of the app so it is not full featured. You have to pay extra with a subscription for the full featured app, I believe.
I have used it a couple of times to convert a printed image to an SVG. It works pretty well. It produces better results than the trace Bitmap function in Inkscape. I don’t use it as much as I thought I would, but when I have used it, it has been a time saver. It is a good tool to have in the quiver.
I haven’t made any chisels yet.
I’m with @72Pony, I don’t use it often, but when I used it properly it was a time saver. Still, it’s best on uncomplicated outlines and for most of those, they’re easy enough to sketch in Fusion and you don’t have to go through any scaling or rotation hoops.
On that note, @ChelanJim, importing SVGs into Fusion is a game of guessing how Autodesk thinks. They do NOT think in DPI or even pay attention to the version of the SVG file. Hence, a 92 DPI file (old format) will be less screwed up than a 96 DPI file (new format). However, most likely you have a 96DPI file (if it was generated in the last 4 years) in which case, the scale factor is:
S = 3.937 x 92/96 = 3.772958333333333333333…
Good to know. I will try that. Thanks Tom!
I can’t be too terribly annoyed with the product since I used this tracing device and then drew the curve on a piece of paper along with the size of the tray that I expected:
The results were perfect:
What is that orange thing? Is that a curve follower?