Converting a Picture to a Sketch

You can convert an inserted picture into a 2D sketch. On generating the preview of the picture, a set of temporary graphics are created which you can edit to get better results. You can improve the initial preview of the geometry by converting entities from one type to another or by deleting them. If there are any poorly fit curves in the graphics, you can click Refine to initiate a process which regenerates the curve to better align with the edges of the object of interest.

Before you begin: Insert the picture you want to convert to a sketch into the work area using the Insert Picture command. The supported file types include .jpg and .png.
  1. From the Tools section of the action bar, click Convert to Sketch .

    Note: You can insert a picture and change its resolution using the Insert Picture command. When you convert the same picture to a sketch using the Convert to Sketch command, the original picture is considered for conversion and not the scaled version.

  2. In the Convert to Sketch dialog box, under Picture, select an inserted picture from the graphics area or the design tree.
  3. Optional: Under Sketch Plane, select a plane or a face for the placement of the converted sketch.

    Note: If you do not select a plane, the sketch is placed on the same plane as that of the inserted picture including any offset from the picture's placement plane.

  4. Optional: Select Crop conversion area to crop the region of the picture that is used to convert to sketch. It reduces the area of the selected picture to only that you want to generate preview geometry.
  5. Click Generate Preview to generate the preview of the image. The image is processed. A temporary set of graphics is created that suggests potential sketch entities. You can edit the entities in the graphics area to get better results.

    If the graphics contain some entities that are too small to be converted, a pop-up message appears stating that, “Some items were too small to convert. Try using a larger picture to capture the smaller details.” The quality of conversion highly depends on the quality (resolution, size, contrast, clean) of the image inserted.

  6. Hover over an entity in the preview in the graphics area and the entity gets highlighted. Click any entity to select it.

    Note: You can select only one entity at a time.

  7. You can convert an entity to another entity type (a line to an arc, circle to an ellipse) before creating the actual sketch. After selecting an entity, the minibar is displayed. Based on the entity selected, the minibar displays the associated commands.

    • If you select a line, the following options appear in the minibar :

      Option Description
      Convert to arc. Converts the selected entity to an arc.
      Note: You can convert a line to an arc and vice versa.


      		Refine. Regenerates the selection to better align with the image.


      		Delete the entity. Deletes the selected entity.
      Notes:
      • When you delete an entity, the corners associated with that entity are also deleted if no other entities are attached to them.
      • When you delete a free corner with an entity attached to it, the entity is also deleted if it is the only entity attached to the corner.
    • If you select a circle, the following options appear in the minibar:

      Option Description


      		Convert To Ellipse. Converts the selected entity into an ellipse.
      Note: You can convert a circle to an ellipse and vice versa.


      		Delete the entity. Deletes the selected entity.
      Notes:
      • When you delete an entity, the corners associated with that entity are also deleted if no other entities are attached to them.
      • When you delete a free corner with an entity attached to it, the entity is also deleted if it is the only entity attached to the corner.

  8. Click Undo in Command to reverse the last 10 actions within the command. You can also click Redo in Command to recover the last 10 actions within the command.

    Note: You can reverse or recover the actions you performed, one action at a time.

    If you click once the final sketch is created, it will remove the sketch completely and return you to the point before you launched the Convert to Sketch command.

  9. Click OK. The picture is converted to a sketch and is displayed in the sketch edit mode.