Insert image

Insert image traces a picture into outlines. The dark parts of the picture become closed shapes in your sketch, and the light parts are left out. Use it for a logo on a sign, an emblem engraved into a box lid, or your own drawing cut out on the laser.

It also brings in drawings exactly, with no tracing: an SVG from Inkscape, Illustrator or a logo website, or a DXF from a drawing program or a template your teacher gives you (Onshape calls this Insert DXF).

How to use it#

1. In a sketch, click Insert image, or press I.
2. Click where the picture goes. The picture is centred on this point.
3. Choose a picture file (such as a PNG or JPG), or an SVG or DXF drawing.
4. For a picture or an SVG, type how wide it should be in mm, and press Enter. SchoolCAD says how many outlines it made, such as Picture traced into 12 outlines. A DXF comes in at its real size straight away.
5. Finish the sketch and extrude the shapes: Add to raise them, Remove to engrave them.

SVG and DXF drawings#

• SVG: the shapes come in at the size the file says (its width is filled in for you), as outlines kept together like text, centred where you clicked. Filled shapes become outlines; a line with no fill is left out, because it cannot be made solid.
• DXF: lines, arcs, circles, polylines, ellipses and splines come in at their real size, in the file's units (inches are changed to mm for you), centred where you clicked. A DXF of up to 1500 pieces comes in as ordinary sketch lines, arcs and circles, so you can dimension, trim and move them. A bigger one comes in as outlines kept together.
• Text, dimensions and hatching in the file are left out, and SchoolCAD says so: Left out: 1 text.
• Save a DXF as ASCII DXF. Old programs sometimes save binary DXF, which cannot be read.

Pictures that work well#

• A dark drawing on a white or see-through background. Anything darker than mid-grey becomes part of the shape.
• Bold, simple shapes and thick lines. Very thin lines and tiny details can break up or disappear.
• Photos do not trace well: they have too many shades.

Tips#

• Drag the picture with Select to move it. To change its size, delete it and insert it again with a new width.
• Big pictures are made smaller before they are traced, so very fine detail is lost.
• When you extrude, click a traced shape in the view to leave it out.

If it does not work#

• No dark shapes found. Use a dark drawing on a light background.
• That file is not a picture this browser can open. Save it as a PNG or JPG and try again.
• The lines in that drawing do not join up into closed shapes, so there is nothing to make solid. Close the shapes in your drawing program (in Inkscape: Path → Combine, then close the path), or use a DXF with fewer pieces, which comes in as lines you can join yourself.
• This is a binary DXF. Save it as an ASCII DXF and try again.
• The file does not say its units, so it was taken as millimetres. If it comes in 25.4 times too small, it was drawn in inches: scale it in your drawing program, or draw it again in mm.