Measure tool

[shellb]

I am trying to convert a high quality Autocad drawing into PSE5 so that I can do some artistic detail. I can get the drawing in PSE5 but as a high quality drawing is another story. The tutorial that I am using is for regular photoshop. It requires the use of the measure tool. Does anyone know if there is an equivalent to the measure tool in PSE5? I basically need to measure the amount of pixels in a fixed area on my PSE5 drawing so that I can figure out the scale conversion? Anyone have any ideas?

Many thanks,

[Brob]

Hi Shell:
I have failed at this too and wind up printing the drawing then scanning it as a pdf or jpg. I print and compare the scanned image to one printed straight out of AC and so far the scanned images are to scale. Then I can open it in PSE and do whatever. I also have to do it this way when I email the file to someone who does not have autocad. Most of our drawings are under tabloid sizes so this works.

If there is a more proper way to do this I have not heard of it yet. I hope you get an answer that will allow you to do it. What about downloading a trial of CS3 and working on it with that?
Good Luck,
Bridget:)

[NickLewis]

Hi Shell,

I'm not really sure what you're trying to do. But if you open up the Image>Resize dialogue box, it will tell you how big your image is in pixels, in inches or cms, and what resolution that corresponds to.

Can you not use that information to get what you want?

E.g., the image I have open at the moment is 2336 pixels and 24.72cm wide. So if I use the ruler at the edge of the screen to measure a distance between two points of, say 10cm, it must be 10*2336/24.72= 945 pixels long.

Nick

[Chuck S.]

How about this:


Open Image
Turn on rulers (View>Rulers). If the units aren't what you want, right click directly on ruler and make new choice. (e.g., pixels, inches, mm)
Open Info Window (Window>Info)
Pick rectangular marquee tool; draw selection over area you want to measure.
In Info Window, look at segment with W: and H: Size of selected area will be given in ruler measurement units

[NickLewis]

I thought there must be a way to use the Info window.......

Nick

[Tom K]

Hi Shell,

It may be a little hokey, but, you should be able to get to the width of a line.

Open your CAD drawing - make a copy(ctrl J )
enlarge the area you want measure, select the rectangular marquee tool
on the top line where it says 'mode' change that to fixed size.. then
in the width field enter a trial number and then draw a rectangle, position
it along side of what your are trying to match.. You will have to play with the
trial number until it matches your drawing however it will be exact..

HTH Tom :)

[shellb]

Thanks everyone! Those are really good suggestions and I am going to try them all till one works for me. I just didn’t know how to approach the problem so I appreciate being given a starting point.

Many thanks!