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Paper and Film 2D Digitizing

Professional Outsourced Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services

A lot of engineering companies have old drawings on paper or film. Today, machine shops will ask you for a CAD drawing, and a lot don’t know what to do with paper drawings in the first place. This leaves you in a predicament: how do you turn your paper drawings into CAD files?

At CAD/CAM Services, we offer paper and film 2D digitization services. These services will take your old physical drawings, schematics, blueprints, etc., and transform them into functional 2D CAD files.

With our help, your entire backroom of physical drawings can be transferred into digital CAD files. This allows you to quickly pull up a drawing, share it, and make adjustments to it. So many people have chosen CAD/CAM Services for our CAD Perfect CAD Conversions®.

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Professional Outsourced Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services
What Are Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services? 

What Are Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services? 

Paper and film 2D digitization services involve taking your physical paper and film drawings, and then turning them into digital 2D CAD copies. At CAD/CAM Services, that typically means making 2D scans of the original drawings, and then drawing them from scratch in your CAD program of choice.

These services are unique, because it’s not just one step and one specific set of skills. Instead, you need a company that has extensive 2D scanning experience, expensive 2D scanner equipment, and then engineering experience to make sure every drawing is perfect. You’ll find that and more when you choose CAD/CAM Services.

Our team will take your pile of drawings and magically turn them into digital CAD files.

Why Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services Matters

The full process requires incredible attention to detail, commitment to quality, and patience. Sadly, a lot of other outsourced engineering companies don’t have those characteristics, but our team at CAD/CAM Services does. We will take the time needed, and give our full attention to your paper and film drawings. The result? Better reliability, better accuracy, and better overall precision for each digitized drawing.

This is why it’s so important to pick the right paper and film 2D digitization company. The wrong outsourced company will waste your time, waste your money, and potentially damage your legacy drawings.

At CAD/CAM Services, we have gentle 2D scanners that will never rip your drawings. Our engineers have a great commitment to quality, and we ensure every digitized drawing is perfect. You don’t have to worry about anything when you choose our team.

Why Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services Matters

So many people have chosen CAD/CAM Services for their paper and film 2D digitization projects in the past. When you choose us, you’ll notice a number of different benefits: 

Better overall quality.

We have access to expensive scanners, expensive software, and highly-trained engineers. As a result, every digitized drawing you get back will have a better overall quality as compared to other outsourced companies.

Leverage our expensive 2D scanners.

We own industry-leading 2D scanners that offer better quality and faster speeds. When you choose CAD/CAM Services, you can leverage our expensive inventory in order to get the best results.

We do it all under one roof.

We don’t subcontract any of this work out. All of the engineering, 2D scanning, digitization, quality checks, and communication with you are done through a single company, CAD/CAM Services. This makes things a lot easier for you, and leads to better qualities at lower costs.

Faster turnarounds at lower costs.

In a lot of cases, we can get your paper or film 2D digitization project finished within 48 hours. Even better, you never have to overpay for our services. This can work wonders when it comes to finishing projects early and under budget.

We can tackle your biggest project.

With over 100 engineers and draftsmen, we can tackle your biggest, most complicated projects. We’ve scanned millions of drawings over the years, so we know a thing or two about CAD Perfect CAD Conversions®.

What Goes into Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services from CAD/CAM Services?

What Goes into Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services from CAD/CAM Services?

Most of our services at CAD/CAM Services are custom, and they revolve around your needs. With our paper and film 2D digitization services, we like to start with a consultation. This is usually a phone call, and it’s pretty brief.

During this call, we want to learn what you’re looking for, what paper and film drawings you want to digitize, how big the project is, and what type of CAD program you’re using. From there, we can handle everything else.

We’ll collect your physical drawings and then run them all through our fancy 2D scanners. We check every scan for quality before moving to the next phase. The next phase really depends on your project — in some cases, it involves drawing every file from scratch on CAD with your scanned image as a reference. Other times, we simply need to arrange the digital files in a specific way before sending everything to you.

Our files get sent digitally through an encrypted filesharing application that the DoD uses. It keeps your data secure, and it’s really easy to use. If you see any issues or anything you don’t like, just let us know and we’ll fix the issue within 24 hours.

Our Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services Include: 

  • 2D Scanning
  • 2D and 3D Digitization
  • 2D and 3D CAD Conversions
  • CAD Perfect CAD Conversions®
  • Legacy 2D to 3D Conversion
  • Mylar to CAD Services
  • And Much More (Including Custom Services)
Our Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services Include: 
More About Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services

More About Paper and Film 2D Digitizing Services

We know that a lot of older paper drawings are fragile and irreplaceable. This is why we use industry-leading 2D scanners with very gentle feed mechanisms. What does that mean? The rollers grab your drawings gently and pull them through the machine, leading to fewer rips and tears.

Plus, our 2D scanning experts know how to take care of your old paper and film files. We don’t want to damage any of your drawings. With us, you can transform your old drawings into brand-new CAD files with fewer headaches and less room for error.

Get a Quote Today

Choose CAD/CAM Services if you want the best experience when it comes to converting paper and film 2D files into digital files. We have helped countless companies across every major industry, and we can help you, too. Our massive inventory of top-of-the-line 2D scanners will handle your project with ease, and our experienced 2D scanning experts will make it look easy. Trust us with your largest and most complicated project. 

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FAQ's

Digitizing FAQs
What is the average raster to vector (R2V) 2-D conversion price?

The typical AEC D & E size sheet is $135. There are possible discounts depending on the job size. The more you convert the less you pay.  The bulk of the files we produce are for AutoCAD.

Creating models and drawings over scanned analog documents seem so easy – why such a low price?

In order to make an accurate representation, you have to calibrate the original drawing, which may have deformed during its storage period. Non-dimensioned mediums need to be thoroughly calibrated before digitizing.

Parts of scanned data may be lost due to time and other factors. Because it is important to recreate the design intent,  we need to recreate lost data.

You ONLY receive  Cad Perfect™ files – as if you had drawn these by hand.

Do you support BIM modeling?

Using Revit, yes we do.  Think of BIM as an intelligent 3D model of your building.  We know exactly where all of the HVAC is, IT cabling, electrical, the cost of doors and windows, when mechanical systems need to be serviced, all the way to a room number with a phone number and IP in that room. In addition to our Ray Tracing technology to support some very life-like photo renderings.


What is DHS – Critical Infrastructure Products

The Department of Homeland Security protocol  PPD-21 requirement has deemed that sixteen (16) industries and services are critical to our US Nations security.

These industries  require additional security protocols when creating CAD files. CAD / CAM Services follows all of these requirements. Think of industries and info structures such as power, water, along with fourteen (14) other industries.  For a full list please see Critical Infrastructure Products.

What is a “Calibrated” Mylar image?

Mylar films can be stored in climate-controlled facilities. However, films get skewed and change sizes over time – ironically not linear. So what changes on one end, does not apply to what is in the middle, or the other end.  We have seen ‘J’ size Aerospace Mylars (about 48×180”), vary by a full inch.

CAD/CAM Services utilizes a proprietary process to make Mylar raster images dead on a 5” or 10” grid. Our process was developed in conjunction with, and approved by Boeing engineers.

CAD Conversion FAQs
What do you need to provide me with an accurate quote?

We need to know source CAD and target CAD software. Since large quantity orders can be discounted by us you can provide us with the number of parts you need to be converted.

If you tell us the desired purpose of the conversion we can offer you some conversion options. We can also convert your files into vendor-neutral file types (.STEP, .STL, etc,).

Please email us even cell phone photos, and the rough size of what you wish scanned and converted [email protected].

What do I get?

You get native Cad Perfect™ files with the full-featured model tree (where applicable, since some file types have no trees), and features can be fully parametric. It all depends on your goals.  We prefer to not translate any files. Our goal is to deliver to you a file that you do not have to touch. Our work is exactly as if you had reproduced that work in-house.

Which CAD file formats do you work with?

All the CAD file formats are listed on this page but bear in mind that we also work with exotic and legacy CAD systems.  After 31 years of providing CAD Services, we have run into almost any CAD file format.


Which CAD systems do you work with?

We support all the modern CAD systems including SolidWorks, Catia, Siemens NX, PTC Creo, Inventor, Revit, AutoCAD, and many others.

I have some weird CAD files from the previous century, can you help me?

Yes, absolutely. We can perform legacy CAD conversions.  Just send us some example files, and what CAD system we need to wind up in, and let us design the best solution for you.We have worked with old Computer Vision tapes, Anvil, and many other 1980’s systems.

General CAD Questions
How do I send a sample, in order to get a quote?

Fill out our quote form, attach your files, or simply send us an email. Tell everything about your project, like the model purpose.

For smaller files < 15 MB you can simply email them to us.  For something larger, just drop them in any number of drop boxes like Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and others.  Or if you would like, just contact us for a private, hardened link.

It is fine to use most any time of compression such as  *.zip, *.rar, *.tar, *.7z, *.arc, *.LBR, and even *.iso images.

A direct email is [email protected]

We also use a hardened OwnCloud web file sharing platform for unlimited file transfers. We provide unique and very private Web Storage Portals, this also supports file syncing for extreme convenience for you. Because so much of our work is DOD or weapons design work, Security – and confidentiality is very important to us.

Will CAD / CAM Services Sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)?

Yes. NDAs are a common part of our business. All data is yours – not ours, and treated as proprietary data and not for public consumption or use. Probably 70% of our work is under NDA agreements. We can generally get these signed within the day.

What is the estimated delivery time?

It depends on the scope of work:

  • 2D drawings – small quantity, normally 48 hours.  We have several customers where they contract to us, keeping 4-8 drafters busy full time.
  • 3D models – complexity dependent, but smaller jobs in 2-3 days. Some models we have spent months on.  Again, we have several customers where they contract to us, keeping 6-10 3D CAD designers busy full time.

Simple jobs have a lead time of 48 hours. Larger projects are delivered and invoiced weekly.

Did you really own the trademark Cad Perfect™, Cad Perfect CAD Conversions™ and Cad / Cam Services™?

Yes, we did back in 2008. We started using Cad Perfect™ back in the early 1990s because all of our customers wanted only real Cad Perfect™ work. Back then the buzz words were terms like machine ready, or DXF Traceover and others.

The problem is, nobody wanted that. They all wanted drawings and models that they did not have to touch. Everybody wanted drawings just as if they hand redrew the work themselves.

Thus, Cad / Cam Services™ was the first company to start offering ONLY Cad Perfect™ work.

Do you support the PPD-21 Directive?

Yes we do, and have now for several years. In addition, we also support the industry specific plans as well.