Sketch to DXF

Napkin drawing in, single-line CAD geometry out.

A hand sketch is the worst case for an ordinary vectoriser and the best case for this one. Pencil lines are grey, uneven and broken; pen lines have real width. Trace the boundary of any of that and you get every stroke returned as a closed loop around its own edges, the double-line problem, at its most severe, on the input people most want to convert.

Two things fix it. AI Drawing mode redraws the sketch as clean, even linework first, which removes the noise that makes tracing unreliable. Then skeletonization thins every stroke to a single-pixel centerline before any tracing happens, so a drawn line becomes one line rather than a hollow outline of itself.

Who this is for

  • Designers sketching before they model

    The fastest way from an idea on paper to a sketch plane with real geometry on it.

  • Shops receiving customer drawings

    Hand-dimensioned drawings arrive by phone photo constantly. This turns them into something you can quote and cut from.

  • Teachers and students

    Getting from paper to CAD without spending the lesson tracing over an image by hand.

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

    Photograph or scan the sketch

    Flat, evenly lit, no shadow across the page. A scan is ideal; a straight-on phone photo in decent light works well.

  2. 2

    Use AI Drawing mode

    This is the mode sketches want. It redraws the linework cleanly before tracing, which matters far more for pencil and biro than any tracing parameter does.

  3. 3

    Set the scale

    If the sketch is dimensioned, drag across a dimensioned feature and type that value. If it is not, pick the dimension you intend the real part to have. A sketch has no inherent size, so this is where it acquires one.

  4. 4

    Review before downloading

    Sketches vary enormously in how well they convert. Convert freely, compare, and only spend a credit once the result is right.

Which format to take

DXF drops straight into a CAD sketch plane, which is usually where a sketch is headed. Take the SVG if it is going to a cutter or a vector editor instead, the same conversion produces both.

Image to DXFImage to SVG

What to check before you rely on it

  • AI Drawing redraws your sketch, so it interprets. Check the preview against what you actually drew, particularly on ambiguous or overlapping linework.
  • Written dimensions and notes are traced as shapes, not read as numbers. The scale still comes from you.
  • Shading, hatching and construction lines are traced like anything else. Erase them first, or expect them in the output.
  • Very faint pencil on textured paper may not separate from the background reliably.
  • The result is geometry, not a constrained parametric sketch.

Common questions

Will it read dimensions written on my sketch?
No. Numbers and notes are traced as shapes rather than read as values, so the scale still comes from the calibration step. Drag a line across a feature you dimensioned and type that number in.
My sketch is in pencil and quite faint, will that work?
Usually, in AI Drawing mode, which redraws the linework before tracing. Photograph it in even light without shadow across the page, and increase contrast if your phone offers it. Very faint pencil on textured paper is the hardest case.
Does it keep my drawing style?
No, and that is the point. AI Drawing produces clean, even linework suitable for CAD rather than reproducing the character of the original. If you want the sketch preserved as drawn, use Precise Outline instead and accept a noisier trace.

Read next

Napkin drawing in, single-line CAD geometry out.

Convert an image