AutoCad raster images

Using raster images like sketches can be very useful as a reference to start drawing an AutoCad drawing. The image can be traced with polylines or arcs. This small tutorial shows the steps for implementing this technique.

Either open an existing drawing or create a new one in AutoCad. Choose Insert > Raster Image Reference.

Select the desired image from your harddrive. Make sure it is a raster image (i.e. jpeg, bmp, etc.)

Confirm the next screen with the following settings.

Place the image by clicking an insertion point.

The image is now placed on the drawing. To make overlapping lines more easily visible the image can be faded down. Select the image, click the right mouse button and choose properties.

Adjust the fade property to a higher value to fade down the image.

To make sure we can draw in the right scale we have to scale the image to a known size. In this case the image will be scaled so that 1 unit is 1 meter. Draw a line over a part of the image with a known lenght.

Select both the image and the line and type SCALE in the command bar and hit ENTER. Assign the base point by clicking one end of the line (make sure end point snap is enabled). Type R in the command bar and hit ENTER to do a reference scale. Click once on the start point of the line and click once on the end point of the line. Now we can scale the line (and the image) to a new lenght. Type the desired lenght in the command bar and hit ENTER. Now the image is scaled to the correct scale.

Start tracing the image with lines and arcs using all familiar drawing tools.