SW as measuring tool

I would like to use Solidworks as a precision measuring device for small parts. What I have done so far is this:


1. Take a photo of a component under a microscope. 2. Import the photo to a sketch. 3. Use sketch tools to trace outlines of circles, lines, radii, etc from the photo. 4. Use the sketch dimensioning to get measurments.


My questions are this:


1. Has anyone attempted (and perfected) this technique? 2. Is there an easy way to import jpegs to make this possible (sounds stupid, but I forgot how I did this before and it wasn't *obvioulsy* very intuitive. 3. Assuming I need to also take a picture of something of a known dimension for a scaling reference (i.e. a penny in the picture), is there a way to tell Solidworks that this object/dimension of object is XX so the rest of the measurements are to scale?


Thanks. I am running SW 2006.


-Paul

Hi Paul


I havedone what you are proposing but on a much larger scale. Some months ago we designed and built soundproofing structures for two huge industrial fans. During the design process, I didnt have all the dimensions, but I did have a lot of good photographs of the fans in the existing location. I also knew the exact sizes of some features in the photographs and from that I was able to make a reasonable guess at the dimensions I didnt know by measuring off the photographs.


But with the understanding that the measurements were probably +/- 1/2". That was good enough to help me design around obstructions. With your microscope, you are likely to get a much better accuracy, but there will always be some inaccuracy due to parallax error and scaling. You have to determine how much inaccuracy you are willing to allow and still come up with a useable design.


You would also benefit like I did, from having some reference features in your photos which are of known sizes. That way you could calibrate the scale of your photo.


All the best
Edited by: adriand

To import a picture in SW, first open a sketch (like usualy: NEW PART - Sketch). Now, in the SKETCH toolbar you must find an icon SKETCH PICTURE. If it is not there, add this icon where you want.


I can not think a solution for 2 different picture (one from microscop andother from apenny) to scale both picture. But, if you have in the same picture 1 object with certain dimenssion, you can scale the picture.


For that, draw a line from one point to other in the kown object and dimmension this line. Make the dimenssion DRIVEN. Scale the picture and reposition your line. The driven dimenssion will be updated. In the end you can obtain the line length equal with your known dimension.


Now you can use SW like a measurement tool. Draw lines between points in your picture and SW ghive you the dimenssion of this lines.


Hope you understand the idea because my english is not very good.


Good luck !
Edited by: Mihail

Thanks Mihail and Adrian,


Sounds like I do need to have a reference object in the picture, and Mihail suggests scaling the photo, not SW itself. I can try that.


And yes, I work with objects much smaller than your industrial fans! Thanks for the tips though.