toy264

I'm at a loss importing a bitmap image into Rhino 3D V2 so I can trace over it in a second layer. Can't paste from the clipboard, and Import/Merge doesn't work on .wmf files, regardless of what the help files say. After three hours, I'm about ready to go back to AutoCad. and the wife is hinting that yelling at the laptop is scaring the dog. Any help would be appreciated.
John

Pelle Gris

Simple... Just convert the imagefile to a different format... tiff, jpg, bmp,tga etc... That should take care of the problem.
Good luck.

SoCal GliderGuider

You will lose the vectors in the WMF if you convert it to a raster file. What CAD format files can you take into Rino?

Try taking the WMF into Acad, saving it as a DXF then opening it with Rino. Be sure to save as the earliest version DXF that you can.

If you can't get the WMF into your Acad send me the file and I can try it on Acad 2002.

toy264

The dfx,dwg, etc files import fine--it's the bitmap files (including wmf) that I can't get to import. I can set a bitmap as wallpaper, but you can't scale, rotate, etc. I'm going to try to import a file into AutoCad and save it as a dwg. Film at eleven.

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

What may have happened is that there is a difference in technology of file types to which you are fighting. Just because a file has a .WMF extension, does not mean it will open up. I think there are three different formats with the same file extension. What you are looking for is something to go along with the old Windows 3.1 format of WMF that was used in the Microsoft DRAW (Not Corel) software. Go into Windows Notepad and view the file. Look on the first page, and the words Draw, Microsoft or Windows ought to show up someplace. If not, then it is a picture file which only graphic software will understand, and nothing a CAD program can import.

Best thing is to convert the file into a TIF or a BMP file. If it is intricate save-as a TIF. The BMP format has good contrast compared to other formats. JPG types will not often scale if need be, they usually run on a set pixtels per inch ratio and are geared for internet. The more you fiddle with a JPG, the poorer it come out too.

Simpliest thing is to pull the image into a graphic software, size and rotate it there. Then, pull it into CAD. Most CAD software rely on other system loaded software to do the rotations and resizing. Thus is best to do it beforehand. And most image files imported into CAD do not understand compressed formats. Just because you can see it in Kodak Imaging, don't mean it will go into CAD.

Wm.

toy264

Thanks Wm. -- the wmf file indeed didn't have any text. I had always thought the metafile format was straight ASCII but I guess Microsoft changed that with the switch to a 32 bit O.S. Okay I'll try importing a properly scaled TIF file into acad 2000, save it as a V12 dwg, and see if that flies.
Regards,
John

SoCal GliderGuider

Again I must protest that you should NOT convert the WMF file in to a raster or bit mapped file. You will loose the vector information that is necessary for CAD. Some WMF file generators will put a preview image in the header. This will show up when the file is listed as Thumbnails. This is not the actual data inside the file.

I've had no problems converting WMF's with Acad 2002. Yes there is some text information that is translated to poly lines or to a wrong font but most can be corrected with in Acad. I'm a bit miffed that Acad dropped the ability to import EPS files. These too are vector.

If you want a decent conversion program get Hijack Pro. Not the one for your browser.