ImageCut CADTrace a JPG or JPEG photo or scan into closed DXF outlines and SVG paths, sized in millimeters. Preview free; export for 5 credits (about $0.02).
The workstation above is the converter: nothing to install and no sign-in until you export. Here is what one JPG goes through from upload to export. Only the last step costs credits: repeat the first two as often as you like until the outlines in the preview match the shape you want to cut, and starting over with another photo is free.
Drop a photo, a scan or a saved JPG into the workstation. .jpg and .jpeg are the same format and both work, up to 20 MB and 40 megapixels each. Phone photos are turned upright from their camera orientation, so there is no need to rotate them first. The image is processed in your browser only and is never uploaded.
JPG compression leaves specks of uneven shade along the edges of a shape. Drag the threshold until the part to cut is solid black, raise the minimum contour area to drop stray specks, and raise the curve tolerance when the edges are jagged, for smoother outlines with fewer nodes. Then check the outlines against the image in Overlay view.
Enter the canvas width, from 1 to 3000 mm; the height follows the image's proportions. An export costs 5 credits and one result holds both DXF and SVG: the DXF is R2000 with closed LWPOLYLINE outlines in millimeters on the CUT layer, and downloading it again from your account records is included.
First, a JPG has no transparent background. Whatever is behind the shape, white paper, a desk or a colored backdrop, is traced along with it. Dark artwork on white is the easiest case; when the design is lighter than its background, turn on Invert colors, or you get the outline of the background instead of the shape you want to cut.
Second, JPG compression is lossy. The more often an image is saved and the harder it is compressed, the more stray shades gather along its edges, and the traced outlines get burrs and many more nodes, which means more short moves for the machine. Use the original file or a PNG when you have one; with only a JPG, clean the outlines up with the threshold, the minimum contour area and the curve tolerance.
Third, sizes in a photo are not the sizes of the object. The canvas width covers the whole photo, margins and background included. For outlines as large as the real object, crop the photo to the object's edges first, then enter the object's measured width as the canvas width; the height follows proportionally.
A JPG is often the image closest at hand: a phone photo, a scan, a logo saved from the web. Each of these starts with one JPG.
Lay wrenches and pliers flat on white paper, take a photo from straight above, trace the outline and export the DXF to machine a foam or wood insert in your CAM software. Crop the photo to the tool's left and right edges and enter the tool's measured length so the size matches; check it once more before cutting.
Upload a tool photoFill the shape you want to cut solid with a marker on paper, take a photo and convert it to DXF. A sketch of lines only is traced as outlines along both sides of every line; a filled shape gives one clean outer outline that is ready to cut.
Upload a sketch photoScan or photograph a paper cut, a window decoration or a pattern sheet, convert it to closed outlines and send them to a laser or vinyl cutter. The cut-outs in the pattern stay as holes, so the result is hollow where the original is.
Upload a scanLogos saved from a web page or a chat are usually JPGs. Traced into closed outlines, they can become the shape of a laser-cut name plate, key ring or acrylic stand. Use only images you have the right to use.
Upload a logoThere are three common ways to convert JPG to DXF. The first is Trace Bitmap in a vector editor such as Inkscape, then Save As DXF: free, but you install the software, learn its settings and check the units and whether the paths are closed yourself.
The second is a general online file converter: upload and get a file, which is easy, but your image goes to someone else's server, and the result is often shapes split by color or sizes in pixels that need tidying before they can be cut.
The third is this page: your image is traced in your browser, every change shows the closed outlines and the holes kept, and the size is entered in millimeters. The preview costs nothing; once it looks right, an export is 5 credits and gives you the DXF and the SVG together. What it does not do is stated as plainly: no DWG, centerlines or toolpaths; machining settings stay in your CAM software.
Uploading, previewing, adjusting the threshold and setting the size are free, without signing in. An export costs 5 credits (about $0.02) per result, holds both DXF and SVG, and downloading it again is included. Credit top-ups are $5, $15 and $30, one-time with no subscription, and an export that definitely fails returns its 5 credits.
The conversion runs in your browser, so the image does not wait in an upload queue. The preview is traced again each time you change a setting; if tracing has not finished after 45 seconds, the page asks you to reduce the image's complexity and try again.
Not to preview or adjust. To export, you sign in with a FloatPass account on floatboat.ai; your credits and export records belong to that account, so after signing in on another computer you can download earlier exports again from your account records.
Yes, as long as what you want to cut is much darker or lighter than its background. Photos are turned upright from their camera orientation; photos over 20 MB or 40 megapixels need resizing first. In unevenly lit photos with heavy shadows, the traced outline takes in the shadows too.
They are specks left by JPG compression. Adjust the threshold for cleaner edges, raise the minimum contour area to drop fragments, and raise the curve tolerance for smoother outlines with fewer nodes. Vector view shows the result most clearly, and the path node count below drops as well. Compare the outlines with the photo in Overlay view before you export, since the preview costs nothing and an export is 5 credits.
No. A color image is split by a brightness threshold into the part to cut and the rest, and every outline is on the same CUT layer. To cut colored parts separately, save each color as its own black-and-white image in a photo editor and convert them one by one.
No. They are two extensions of the same format, and both .jpg and .jpeg files upload directly. PNG and WebP work too, with the transparent parts of a PNG treated as white.
No. The export is closed outlines as DXF and SVG, with no DWG and no centerline tracing. Thin lines in a scanned drawing become narrow closed shapes around both sides of each line: good for cutting, not for rebuilding a single-line CAD drawing.
The canvas width covers the whole image, margins included. Crop the image to the object's left and right edges, enter the object's width, and the height is calculated proportionally. Measure once more in your CAD/CAM software before cutting, and allow for the kerf.