CNC template from a photo

Photograph the part, get a profile your CAM can follow.

Profile cutting is the bread and butter of a small shop: a plate, a gasket, a bracket, a fixture plate. The geometry is 2D, the job is quick, and the bottleneck is almost never the machine. It is that the customer sent a photo instead of a drawing.

This closes that gap. A photograph becomes a true-scale DXF of real arcs, circles and lines, which is exactly what CAM software wants to see. Arcs matter more here than anywhere else: a curve delivered as a thousand tiny line segments produces a toolpath that stutters, a finish that shows it, and a file your CAM chews through slowly.

Who this is for

  • Small CNC and fabrication shops

    Customer photos arrive daily. Quoting and cutting from them beats redrawing them.

  • Router and plasma operators

    Profile work where a true-scale outline is essentially the whole job.

  • Anyone making a fixture or jig from an existing part

    The jig has to match a part that exists, and the part is the most reliable drawing of itself.

Try it on your own image

Converting is free and unlimited, no account needed, and no charge for retuning until the result is right. You only pay when you download.

Output format

What are you converting?

Redraws rather than measures, so detail can shift. Check the preview.

Drop an image here or click to browse

PNG, JPG, or WebP · Max 10 MB

How to do it

  1. 1

    Shoot the part flat and square

    On a contrasting background, lit evenly, camera directly overhead. For profile work an angled photo is a scrap part waiting to happen.

  2. 2

    Calibrate against a measured dimension

    Use callipers on the longest dimension you can and enter that. Scale error is proportional, so calibrating against a long edge rather than a small hole keeps the error small everywhere.

  3. 3

    Import into CAM and add your offsets

    The DXF is the true outline. Tool radius compensation, lead-ins and tabs are CAM's job, where they can be tuned per material and per tool.

  4. 4

    Cut a test piece in scrap first

    Worth saying plainly: this is derived from a photograph, so verify a critical fit in cheap material before committing to stock.

Which format to take

DXF is what CAM software expects, and it carries true arcs and circles that keep toolpaths smooth. Take the SVG as well if you also run a laser, one conversion, one credit, both files.

Image to DXFImage to SVG

What to check before you rely on it

  • Outlines are true edges with no tool radius compensation. That belongs in CAM.
  • You get a 2D profile only. Pockets at depth, chamfers and anything on the far face are not in a flat photo.
  • Scale is user-set. Measure with callipers, use the longest dimension, and check the result against the real part before cutting stock.
  • Perspective error from an angled photo directly becomes a wrong profile.
  • Fine detail below the effective resolution of the photograph is simplified, not reconstructed.

Common questions

Does it apply tool radius compensation?
No. The DXF is the true outline of the part. Compensation depends on the tool you are actually going to use, so it belongs in CAM where you can change it without re-exporting anything.
Are curves real arcs or lots of little lines?
Real arcs where the geometry genuinely is an arc. Paths are fitted and tested against circles, arcs and rectangles, and anything that fits is exported as a true ARC or CIRCLE entity, which is what keeps toolpaths smooth and CAM files small.
Accurate enough to cut from directly?
For profile work with normal tolerances, generally yes, but it derives from a photograph and a scale you typed, so treat the first cut as a check. Run a test piece in scrap before committing expensive stock, particularly where something has to fit.

Read next

Photograph the part, get a profile your CAM can follow.

Convert an image