Raster to Vector (Especially Text Recognition - OCR) Recommendations

[ILoveMadoka]

Many times bringing in a PDF will do a proper conversion but if a drawing was scanned, Autocad only brings in the image.

I've messed with the Autodesk Raster Tools and it does a decent job when you go through all the steps.

It's a bit tedious and slow but I have had good success for the most part.

 

I've found 13 different programs online that "say" they can do this type conversion but can they really?

 

Funny thing... On one of the potential programs web sites I found this buried:

" Do not purchase this application expecting it to do vector character recognition or vectorization of raster images! "

 

I am looking to see if anyone would recommend anything different (better?) in their experience.

 

Please advise.

[SLW210]

I really haven't used Raster Tools much, mostly playing around. You may find Illustrator/Inkscape better and/or easier and Photoshop/GIMP have filters and tools to improve the images.

 

Other products are hit and miss, I'll see if I can remember any decent ones, though pretty sure I ended up using Illustrator due to many not being that great. 

 

In the end, the quality of the scan will have as much to do with converting as anything, then getting some experience will make it quicker.

[BIGAL]

Its a often asked question and the answer for reliability is to draw over it. Like others OCR can be good or terrible, if a very slight angle in image often multiple lines where 1 would do,, a lot of text becomes just lines not text. The Junior or a student wanting work experience can get a better result at a reasonable price.

[SLW210]

11 hours ago, BIGAL said:

Its a often asked question and the answer for reliability is to draw over it. Like others OCR can be good or terrible, if a very slight angle in image often multiple lines where 1 would do,, a lot of text becomes just lines not text. The Junior or a student wanting work experience can get a better result at a reasonable price.

So true. I still just trace or if enough information is given, just redraw. Raster Tools show promise, if I have the time, next time I have the need, I'll try to invest more time learning it.

 

Being close to retirement (I hope), maybe I can get a trainee or two. 

[BIGAL]

SLW210 we had about 4, 3rd or 4th year degree students every year for at least 8 weeks a requirement for their degree, they learn so much in that 8 weeks, usually they find  a permanent job for all of them as it was recognised we trained them well. They get paid a proper wage, but at a lower level than a qualified person 1st year. We save up stuff even boring paper shuffling jobs. They become the other person for field visits.

[ILoveMadoka]

I was wondering if anyone would recommend something over the Autodesk product.

(in their experience..)

 

For the most part it has been a good application to use.

I'm being asked "Is something better?"

[f700es]

As I've said it many times before, raster to vector is the 'Holly Grail' in the CAD world. You'll never find it!

[tombu]

AutoCAD's version is the only one I've tried and it works well enough if you can find the right fonts for the conversion.

This site is helpful for identifying fonts from clipped images of text: https://www.fontsquirrel.com/matcherator?token=ohd8q2l7ylb75dti

The Text Styles that are difficult are fit text or text with a defined width other than 1.

Edited July 15, 2021 by tombu

[f700es]

Yes AutoCAD's Raster tools are not bad at all. There will never, in our life times, be a one click raster-2-vector. I just don't see it.