macmub wrote:your better off learning basic 3d modelling.
thats essentially what your asking for.
I can do some 3d modeling, but some shapes I'm just not going to spend the time trying to get them right, when what I need is an outline of an existing part I could just trace onto paper.
This is not what I'm building, but imagine you have something with a unique shape, like the side view of a set of measuring calipers. You would like to create a case for these where you have a solid and then a cutout that perfectly fits around the object.
You set the calipers on a block of foam 1/2" thick, and cut it out with an exacto knife. Done. That was easy.
What I'm proposing is to trace that unique shape on to a piece of paper with a pencil, and scan that in to get a base shape. Then extrude that shape 1/2" cut into a solid in the model and get my outline. Sure I could do a bunch of measurements and try to get all of the curves and everything proper, but I'm not going for 100% accuracy or full 3d replication, I just need the outline so it rests nicely in around an existing object.
I'm more interested in getting this process down because I see myself using it a lot for creating custom trays and holders for interesting shaped parts or household items. When things are round or square it's easy to take a couple measurements, but then they contain a lot of curves , or curves that change it becomes much harder. The effect I'm going for is from real world part to printing a mating part with very little time spend modeling.
I don't have solidworks or autocad. I'm still in the process of deciding what software to use. I'm thinking alibre is out of the question because the sales person rubbed me the wrong way. I hate not being able to speak and getting interrupted when trying to explain my needs.
I'll play around with img2cad and see if it make sense for me. It looks promising to get a scan to a 2d shape. From there I'll just need a workflow to import that and extrude, I imagine many packages can do that.