How to Trace/Digitize Any Sketch or PDF in AutoCAD (The Smart Way)
Plus: a free AI design tool for AEC pros & my favorite AutoCAD tip this week.
Hey all,
TGIF!
Sorry this weeks email is a little later than usual, I thought I had it scheduled to go live this morning, along with this week’s new video, but must have forgot to hit the save button…
Oh well, better late than never :)
Ever been handed a scanned sketch, markup, or PDF with the dreaded request:
"Can you get this into CAD real quick?"
Yep. Me too, literally more times than I can count.
The good news? You don’t always have to redraw everything from scratch in AutoCAD. And even when we do, there are a ton of tricks to help speed up the process!
This week we are learning some tips on how to digitize or trace drawings from images and PDFs in AutoCAD, fast, cleanly, and without frustration.
Let’s jump right in, here’s a quick tip you can try right now:
Quick AutoCAD Tip
Use ALIGN to scale and position scanned images accurately
When importing a sketch or image, you can scale and align it perfectly using the ALIGN command with the “scale” option. It’s quick and super precise.
Here’s how:
Attach the image (
IMAGEATTACH) or import a vector PDF (PDFIMPORT)Draw a reference line in AutoCAD using a known length
Run
ALIGN, select the image, and click source and destination pointsWhen prompted, type
Yto let AutoCAD scale the image automatically
Bonus: Set the image’s transparency to 60–80% so your geometry stays visible while you trace!
AutoCAD Tricks to Digitize or Trace Drawings from Images & PDFs FAST!
This weeks video shows how to trace sketches, scanned plans, or PDFs the fast way in AutoCAD.
You'll learn:
How to bring in images/PDFs and scale them accurately
Which tools make tracing way faster (
PLINE,SPLINE,OSNAP,XLINE)Pro workflow tips for organizing layers, guides, and cleanup
Real-world examples from my own projects
AND a Trick to convert a pdf into AutoCAD LINEWORK!
Watch it now: AutoCAD Tricks to Digitize or Trace Drawings from Images & PDFs FAST!
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Tool of the Week (for AEC Designers)
Maket.ai – AI-Powered Schematic Design for Architects & Engineers
New app for early stage site design, concepts, or planning. Maket.ai uses AI to generate layout options and building forms based on your inputs and real-world zoning constraints.
You can:
Input your lot dimensions and design goals
Get instant layout options based on zoning & density
Export the results into DWG, DXF, or BIM software
It’s like having a planning assistant that knows code and can sketch.
That’s all for today, thanks again for reading!
If you try the tracing workflow from this week’s video, or if you’ve got your own method for importing and scaling drawings, hit reply and let me know here or on twitter,I love hearing from you.
Cheers and Happy Drafting,
Brandon
P.S. Know someone who’s still redrawing PDFs line by line?
Send this their way. You might just save them a whole afternoon