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Bitmap import into schematic

Former Member

This is not at all urgent but maybe someone has an idea. Yesterday I had

a situation that happens a lot. I received a schematic that was in need

of some minor redesign. Only in PDF, like usual. So this time I wanted

to see if Eagle can do the redlines by importing a black&white bitmap

snapshot out of the PDF file. Then I wanted to draw the extra stuff in red.

 

Long story short in a graphics program the bitmap looked crisp and

clear. After importing it into an Eagle schematics window it was all

blurry like I had ten beers and with a bright yellow background. Useless

for any redline work, so I did it as usual with a red pen and my

scanner. Why is that rendering so badly in Eagle?

 

--

Regards, Joerg

 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

 

Parents

  • Warren Brayshaw wrote:

    Joerg wrote:

    >> Morten Leikvoll wrote:

    >>> "Joerg" <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in message

    >>> news:iqegru$583$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

    >>>> That's actually what I had done initially to reduce the colors to

    >>>> 16. There were other reviewers before me so a little color left in

    >>>> there would have been nice. Eagle ate it but the results were not

    >>>> good.

    >>> Maybe you could post the final bitmap (raw) before importing, so we

    >>> can have a look at that?

    >>>

    >> Can't post the schematic because that would violate confidentiality

    >> with my client. But the same happened when I tried to import a random

    >> graph from an NXP datasheet. The Cadsoft server limits attachments to

    >> 50k so I posted a snippet of that in my response to Tilman. Have

    >> attached it again.

    >>

    >> I can import that when selecting only one color (black) but it doesn't

    >> look very good and makes Eagle behave like molasses.

    >>

    >> --

    >> Regards, Joerg

    >>

    >> http://www.analogconsultants.com/

     

    Hi Joerg

     

    The import.bmp ULP was built as a middle solution. It is a tool to get a

    representaion of your bitmap into a layer which you then trace over using

    polygons etc. as descibed in the opening dialog of the ULP  . Some people do

    use it as a final solution and  create logos for their board designs using

    the thousands of rectangles that now make up the image. By tracing over

    polygons etc. the number of objects is significantly reduced and thus the

    molasses effect disappears. In cases like yours it is impractical to craft

    so many polygons so this confirms this is not the tool for the job. I

    believe it is possible that a second ULP could  convert these rectangle

    areas into a smaller number of polygons. Maybe this has been already done by

    someone and they would care to offer it up.

     

     

    I think in general this would be practical. Not so much for my case but

    if people want to include analyzer or scope plots in a schematic for

    illustration. For example, for educational purposes.

     

     

    You have not said explicitly whether you have the original schematic as an

    eagle schematic, anyway I feel I would not try your approach with a

    schematic.  I would for a board layout to replicate track and positioning

    when cloning a design.

     

     

    In this case it was the usual: A bitmap lifted off of a PDF. I could

    have gotten it in Altium as well but that wouldn't have helped because I

    only have a viewer for that.

     

    Anyhow, I just wanted to see whether Eagle could do this stuff. Seems

    like it can't (yet). So I'll keep doing it in MS-Paint. Works but sure

    doesn't feel high-tech image

     

    --

    Regards, Joerg

     

    http://www.analogconsultants.com/

     

Reply

  • Warren Brayshaw wrote:

    Joerg wrote:

    >> Morten Leikvoll wrote:

    >>> "Joerg" <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in message

    >>> news:iqegru$583$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

    >>>> That's actually what I had done initially to reduce the colors to

    >>>> 16. There were other reviewers before me so a little color left in

    >>>> there would have been nice. Eagle ate it but the results were not

    >>>> good.

    >>> Maybe you could post the final bitmap (raw) before importing, so we

    >>> can have a look at that?

    >>>

    >> Can't post the schematic because that would violate confidentiality

    >> with my client. But the same happened when I tried to import a random

    >> graph from an NXP datasheet. The Cadsoft server limits attachments to

    >> 50k so I posted a snippet of that in my response to Tilman. Have

    >> attached it again.

    >>

    >> I can import that when selecting only one color (black) but it doesn't

    >> look very good and makes Eagle behave like molasses.

    >>

    >> --

    >> Regards, Joerg

    >>

    >> http://www.analogconsultants.com/

     

    Hi Joerg

     

    The import.bmp ULP was built as a middle solution. It is a tool to get a

    representaion of your bitmap into a layer which you then trace over using

    polygons etc. as descibed in the opening dialog of the ULP  . Some people do

    use it as a final solution and  create logos for their board designs using

    the thousands of rectangles that now make up the image. By tracing over

    polygons etc. the number of objects is significantly reduced and thus the

    molasses effect disappears. In cases like yours it is impractical to craft

    so many polygons so this confirms this is not the tool for the job. I

    believe it is possible that a second ULP could  convert these rectangle

    areas into a smaller number of polygons. Maybe this has been already done by

    someone and they would care to offer it up.

     

     

    I think in general this would be practical. Not so much for my case but

    if people want to include analyzer or scope plots in a schematic for

    illustration. For example, for educational purposes.

     

     

    You have not said explicitly whether you have the original schematic as an

    eagle schematic, anyway I feel I would not try your approach with a

    schematic.  I would for a board layout to replicate track and positioning

    when cloning a design.

     

     

    In this case it was the usual: A bitmap lifted off of a PDF. I could

    have gotten it in Altium as well but that wouldn't have helped because I

    only have a viewer for that.

     

    Anyhow, I just wanted to see whether Eagle could do this stuff. Seems

    like it can't (yet). So I'll keep doing it in MS-Paint. Works but sure

    doesn't feel high-tech image

     

    --

    Regards, Joerg

     

    http://www.analogconsultants.com/

     

Children
  • in reply to Former Member

    Warren Brayshaw wrote:

    Joerg wrote:

    >> Morten Leikvoll wrote:

    >>> "Joerg" <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in message

    >>> news:iqegru$583$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

    >>>> That's actually what I had done initially to reduce the colors to

    >>>> 16. There were other reviewers before me so a little color left in

    >>>> there would have been nice. Eagle ate it but the results were not

    >>>> good.

    >>> Maybe you could post the final bitmap (raw) before importing, so we

    >>> can have a look at that?

    >>>

    >> Can't post the schematic because that would violate confidentiality

    >> with my client. But the same happened when I tried to import a random

    >> graph from an NXP datasheet. The Cadsoft server limits attachments to

    >> 50k so I posted a snippet of that in my response to Tilman. Have

    >> attached it again.

    >>

    >> I can import that when selecting only one color (black) but it doesn't

    >> look very good and makes Eagle behave like molasses.

    >>

    >> --

    >> Regards, Joerg

    >>

    >> http://www.analogconsultants.com/

     

    Hi Joerg

     

    The import.bmp ULP was built as a middle solution. It is a tool to get a

    representaion of your bitmap into a layer which you then trace over using

    polygons etc. as descibed in the opening dialog of the ULP  . Some people do

    use it as a final solution and  create logos for their board designs using

    the thousands of rectangles that now make up the image. By tracing over

    polygons etc. the number of objects is significantly reduced and thus the

    molasses effect disappears. In cases like yours it is impractical to craft

    so many polygons so this confirms this is not the tool for the job. I

    believe it is possible that a second ULP could  convert these rectangle

    areas into a smaller number of polygons. Maybe this has been already done by

    someone and they would care to offer it up.

     

     

    I think in general this would be practical. Not so much for my case but

    if people want to include analyzer or scope plots in a schematic for

    illustration. For example, for educational purposes.

     

     

    You have not said explicitly whether you have the original schematic as an

    eagle schematic, anyway I feel I would not try your approach with a

    schematic.  I would for a board layout to replicate track and positioning

    when cloning a design.

     

     

    In this case it was the usual: A bitmap lifted off of a PDF. I could

    have gotten it in Altium as well but that wouldn't have helped because I

    only have a viewer for that.

     

    Anyhow, I just wanted to see whether Eagle could do this stuff. Seems

    like it can't (yet). So I'll keep doing it in MS-Paint. Works but sure

    doesn't feel high-tech image

     

    --

    Regards, Joerg

     

    http://www.analogconsultants.com/