Business context
Manufacturers, AEC firms and asset owners hold many legacy drawings only as images, scans or PDFs. That data cannot flow into CAD or downstream systems until someone redraws it. VectraXD™ Vectorization serves these teams and the software vendors who build tools for them.
The challenge
Engineering drawings often exist only as images or PDFs. Converting them to editable SVG and DXF by hand takes a long time. Automation is hard: scans are noisy, text overlaps line work, and curves must become clean geometry, not pixel traces.
Our solution
We developed a web and Android SaaS tool, plus a command-line utility for Windows and Linux, that vectorizes drawing images automatically. It runs on our in-house 2D geometry kernel with OCR and outputs open formats, SVG and DXF.
- Loading of PNG, JPG or PDF drawings, or a photo taken with an Android phone camera
- Automatic vectorization, with skeletonization of lines and curves
- Optical character recognition (OCR)
- Overlay comparison of the input and the vectorized output
- Export to SVG and DXF files
- Full integration with Onshape, and single sign-on for Autodesk Forge and Onshape users
- Dark and light themes, and a payment gateway for advanced features
- Raster images to GIS vectors (GeoJSON, GeoPackage, Shapefile) with reprojection
Business impact
Accurate conversion of drawing images into vectors.
- Engineers reuse legacy drawings in CAD instead of redrawing them
- Onshape users bring drawing images into their CAD workflow directly
- Field staff can capture a drawing with a phone and get editable output
- Software vendors can add vectorization to their own products instead of building it
Availability
Vectorization is offered through the VectraXD™ Spatial API, in private beta with early access on request. Software vendors can license it for their own products, and Enterprise customers can run it on-prem or in a private cloud. Drawing intelligence built on this vectorization is in development.
