Scanning hard copy drawings into TIFF files
Scanning hard copy drawings into TIFF files
& Conversion to AutoCAD Drawings & Printing
Many old historic drawings are fading to the point of being unreadable or the originals are disintegrating. In some cases only blue line prints or old blue background prints exist, the originals have been lost or destroyed. This paper discuss how to convert to an electronic format and preserve these historic files and be able to easily copy and print them and also convert them into an editable AutoCAD drawing. These electronic files can be archived to backup existing hard copy drawings. Also included in the cost table at the end are printing costs from original drawings for contract copies.
Existing hard copy drawings or 35 mm microfilm copies of historic drawings (non CAD, hand drawn) can be scanned into an electronic format (TIFF tagged image file format bit mapped graphic) that can be viewed on any PC easily and also converted to and AutoCAD format for editing and printing if changes to these drawings are needed for renovation projects. If you have lost an AutoCAD File but have a hard copy print this can also be scanned.
The drawing scanning into TIFF format may be all that is needed for most purposes, as this allows viewing and printing, easy storage on a server or CD-ROM and can easily be copied and distributed. High quality CD-ROMS have estimated lives of over 25 years. I recommend Kodak Gold disks. By putting these TIFF files on a server, any person with access to that server can remotely view these drawings such as SO and district offices.
The hardcopy drawings or 35mm microfilm copies are scanned on a large format high resolution scanner at 400 DPI (dots per inch) into a TIFF file format and stored on CD-ROMS. About 300-400 drawings can be scanned and stored on one CD-ROM. This process does not damage the original drawing or microfilm.
This bit mapped file format (TIFF) can be viewed and printed on any PC with Microsoft office which has Microsoft photo editor or any other program which can read a bit mapped TIFF file. These scanned files will allow the user to zoom in and see the smallest detail on the drawings. Printing can be done to laser printers, inkjet printers, or large-scale inkjet plotters.
I recommend ACDC file viewer, which is an inexpensive file viewer, which can very quickly view these files. This program will bring up a typical 2MB TIFF scanned drawing in about 5 seconds, compared to about 30 seconds for Microsoft Photo Editor. This program will also automatically print all drawings from the CD-ROM in one subdirectory. These drawings can be printed out on an 11”x17” laser printer and are very legible.
The file sizes of the TIF files for 24”x36” drawings or microfilm scans are about 1-2 MB depending on the information on the sheet and any shading present.
The cost for scanning a 24”x36” hard copy drawings which can be mylar, paper, blue line, sepia, old white line on blue background drawings is about $1.50 per sheet. Scanning microfilms is about $1.25 per image. There is also a fixed cost setup charge for each separate group of drawings processed plus a CD-ROM copy charge.
The scanning is done by either of two firms in Portland by professional personal trained in historic drawing conversion. Costs for conversions are listed below.
The scanning companies will take the drawings scan them and put them on a CD-ROM in project subdirectories and label the CD with project names. These CD-ROMs can then be copied for about $.50 ea. and distributed to anyone who has a need to view or print these drawings.
An index spreadsheet of all projects should be prepared with project names, sheet tiles sheet numbers, original dates which can be posted on the fsweb for anyone to see what drawings are available, and what the file names are for viewing. Below is a link to the RO Electronic drawing index of about 1,000 drawings, which have been scanned from hard copy drawings in 2000.
AutoCAD Drawings Conversions.
Any of the scanned TIFF files made from original drawings or microfilm copies can be converted into an AutoCAD format for editing and cleanup if the drawing needs to be changed for updates. Some poor quality original drawings have background “noise” in the scanning process. The quality of the scanned image converted into an AutoCAD drawing is not as good as redrawing each drawing but if the original scan is cleaned up, the result is acceptable for use in projects, and a lot less cost. About 20 minutes on most drawings converted in to a CAD format is enough time to insert a new border and clean up lettering and lines. The converted drawings are all vectors, no text entities are made. If text is not legible it is reinserted.
By converting existing drawings into an AutoCAD format they can be used for remodeling projects as base drawings for any changes. The RO has converted about 1500 drawings since 1989 for use in remodel projects, mostly electrical drawings.
Draftsman 2000 scan file conversion program
The RO facilities group has a program called Draftsman 2000, which will batch convert the scanned TIFF drawings into AutoCAD DXF format. This program is quite expensive, about $2500, but it is available for forest personnel to come in and bring their CD-ROMs of TIFF files to convert at no cost other than time. The conversion takes about 3-5 minutes per drawing. This program can take any number of drawings and convert them in a batch process with no user input. It takes about 5 minutes to copy a CD-ROM to PC hard disk and set the program up for conversion. The system will process about 20 drawings per hour from TIFF format to AutoCAD DXF format. A much faster PC is planned to replace the existing unit to speed up this process.
When the TIFF files are converted into AutoCAD DXF format they are then opened up in AutoCAD and saved as a standard .DWG format in AutoCAD 2000. The files are then copied to a CD-ROM for the user to take back to the home office.
TIS also offers this conversions service of TIFF files into Autocad. Costs are shown below.
Process for scanning of Drawings into TIFF format and conversion to AutoCAd DXF format.
The drawings need to have names put on them for the companies to scan into TIFF format and identify each drawing and created a file name on the CD-ROM. This is done usually in the lower right of each drawing about the title block in uppercase lettering ¼” high. Typical names use the forest designation a project name and the last characters are the sheet number. Example: 01LAVAWSE01 Which is Deschutes NF Lava Lands VIS center Water system sheet number E01. The scanning company put this file name on the scanned file on the CD-ROM.
A project index spreadsheet with project names and sheet names should be provided to the scanning companies to allow the scanned drawings to be put in a project directory on the final CD-ROM. Link to sample directory here.
A sample requisition is included and technical specification for the conversion process at the end of this document.
The following two firms have both printing and scanning capabilities. Printing is usually used for contracting projects where large numbers 20-60 sets of multiple drawings are required to be copied for bid purposes. Many other firms also can do these scanning and conversion activities. This paper only lists these two firms.
The two firms we have worked with are:
1. DAPS (Defense A,utomated Printing Service, A government agency) Located in the Regional office can do this work and the method of ordering this work is a task order form or a requisition form with a Management Code and over ride code. DAPS can also plot drawings can make multiple copies for contracts. There is no GPO limit on DAPS services. Individual forest management code can be used.
DAPS
David Thoreson
333 SW 1st Ave. 2nd. floor
503-808-5130
david.n.thorson@usace.army.mil
2. TIS (Technical Imaging System, Portland commercial firm) 333 SW 3rd Ave. Portland OR 503-244-3567 email. A sample requisition for a purchase order is included. They will accept a Government bank card for payment. $1000 limit per order, see below.
TIS technical imaging systems
Joel Zak, Brian Asher
315 SW 4th Ave.
503-222-4229
brianasher@
Printing and Conversion scan costs into TIFF files on CD-ROM are as follows from these two firms.
Note: There is a $1000 limit from GPO on scanning with out GPO approval if not using DAPS.
Costs below are for scanning 24”x36” drawings into TIFF bit mapped file format, microfilm conversion costs from TIS are also shown. Drawings can be FED-EXED to either firm. Sample forms are for scanning only printing is not shown but unit costs are in table below.
Printing and Scanning & AutoCAD Conversion Costs
| Scan Task, Autocad Conversion or Printing |DAPS |TIS |RO |
| |No order limit |$1000max/order | |
|Scan Original 24”x36” drawings per dwg |$3.00 |$1.50 |NA |
|Scan 35mm Microfilm of 24”x36” drawing per dwg |Cant do |$1.25 |NA |
|Cost to copy to CD-ROM up to 300 dwgs/CD-ROM |$1.00 |$8.00 |NA |
|Setup Charge per project delivery any # of drawings |none |$16.00 |NA |
|Cost for scanning 10 drawings |$31.00 |$39.00 |NA |
|Cost for scanning 50 drawings |$151.00 |$99.00 |NA |
|Cost for scanning 100 drawings |$301.00 |$174.00 |NA |
|Cost for scanning 500 drawings |$1502.00 |$774.00 |NA |
|Cost for scanning 1000 drawings |$3005.00 |$1525.00 |NA |
|Printing 24”x36” drawing to bond per dwg from TIFF file |$0.90 |$1.08 |NA |
|Printing 11”x17” drawing to bond per dwg from TIFF file |$.10 |$.162 |NA |
|Convert TIFF to AutoCAD files per drawing |Cant do |$8.50 |Free (Your |
| | | |Labor) |
Note: RO conversion of small quantities ................
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