Dimensioning software question

[Bill Carey]

Anyone know of a program into which I can import a jpg or png file and then dimension it? I can do it with Planswift, but it's limited. I would like to be able to rotate the image, and maybe save it as a file I can use in sketchup. And speaking of sketchup, I have not used it for years and now it seems to be entirely web based. Am I missing something?

[Dave Richards]

What sort of dimensions are you trying to get from the photo? How much does it need to be rotated?

If you just want to pick a few major dimensions, you can just import the photo into SketchUp, size the image and then use it as a reference.

Another option would be to use the Match Photo feature.

As for SketchUp, there is SketchUp Free which is browser based and SketchUp 2017 Make. Both are available for hobbyist use and there's SketchUp 2018 Pro.

At this time SU Free doesn't have the Match Photo feature enabled.

SketchUp 2017 Make is available from this link .

[Art Mann]

What you are wanting is software to convert unscaled raster based imagery into scaled vector based imagery. That is a very tall order indeed. You would probably be better off to just redraw in sketch up or some other cad software.

[Bill Carey]

thx Art. I guess I'll stick with Planswift. I've tried SU several times and never really got the hang of it. Maybe one more time.

[Lee Schierer]

Bill, I often use photos of things that I've seen to design pieces that I am building. If you know the height, width and depth, you can easily measure the photo to determine the real world dimensions using ratios. If the literature says the piece is 32" tall you can measure the photo with a scale and see what the photo measures to the nearest 32nd. Let's say it measures 5-11/32. Then measure the feature you are interested in, say the height of a drawer. If that measurement is 1-5/16" on your scale, then the real height of that drawer is 32/(5-11/32) x (1-5/16) = 7-7/8"

You need to measure each dimension as they appear in the photo using the given dimension for width or depth and the measurement from your scale.

It sounds complicated, but it works pretty well once you get the hang of it.

[William Adams]

I just import the image into a photo editor, draw in some guides and adjust the image to square it up if need be, then set the DPI to make the image size 100% --- then I place the adjusted image in a vector editor, adjust if need be and just directly re-draw and measure.