Old blueprint to DWG: a paper drawing into CAD

Old drawings live on paper, and paper fades. Scan one at the highest resolution you can and Horezmi follows every line of it into a DWG. We tried it on a hard one: the side plan of the Titanic from 1911, with rigging, lifeboats, dashed decks and hundreds of portholes.

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How it works

01
Scan it large
Send the scan as it is, PNG or TIFF if you have it. The more pixels, the more small detail survives: on the Titanic the portholes only came through from the full 3800 pixel file.
02
Say what the scale is
Tell Horezmi the scale bar or one known size. The whole drawing is then set to real units.
03
Open it in CAD
Download the DWG or DXF. Lines are polylines, small round marks are circles, and you can measure and edit them.

A real example

The side plan of the Titanic, 1911: hull, four funnels, rigging, lifeboats and rows of portholes — A real run on the 1911 side plan (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons): 7,229 elements, 315 of them circles, length 270.9 m against about 269 m on the real ship.

The same ship traced into a DWG, with an overall length of 270.9 metres — A real run on the 1911 side plan (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons): 7,229 elements, 315 of them circles, length 270.9 m against about 269 m on the real ship.

What you get

DWG and DXF with the lines of the drawing
Small round marks as real circles
Real units, set from the scale on the sheet
A PDF sheet to print

What Horezmi does not do

This is a trace of the lines, not a model. Parts of the ship are not separate objects, and it all sits on one layer.
Words on the drawing come through as strokes, not as editable text.
A side view has no width, so it gives no true 3D. For that you need the deck plans too.
Very fine windows can run together. Check the sizes before you rely on them.

Questions

Should it be traced or redrawn?

Trace it when you want every line as drawn: ships, machines, schemes, maps. For a building plan, ask for a drawing instead, and you get walls, openings and dimensions as a real plan.

What scan resolution do I need?

As high as you can get. A file over 2400 pixels is traced from the original, so small details stay.

What does it cost?

The drawing, the 3D and the fixes are free. The first file is free, after that $3–10 per object, depending on your country. No subscription.

Try it on your own drawing

The drawing is free, the first file too. No card, no subscription.