Trace Image to SVG into Fusion 360 using Inkscape (free alternative to Illustrator!) 

Angus you are a genius, this video is so old, I am watching you for so long and I still learn or relearn something new every time with you. Having all those videos uploaded is such a treasure.

Absolutely perfect demonstration. I’ve had Inkscape on my computer and use fusion all the time and have frequently wondered how to do this. NOW I KNOW!!! THANK YOU!

Angus. This is exactly what I needed to be able to convert a drawing to an SVG. I have watched it 4 or 5 times and come back to it again and again. Many thanks.

When you were deciding the font I yelled “comic sans” at my computer and then you chose it my life is complete

I've been waiting for this video for years! Thank you!!!

Inkscape has some nice plugins for gcode generation as well, I helped my old man use it to cut vinyl and route pcbs on a 3dprinter

Been using it for over a year. Fantastic tool. Nice to see a video on it. The way I use it is with the Colors option. Because we can swap out filament during prints to get colors at different thicknesses, we can convert flat graphics with multiple colors into multiple, separate SVG files. Import in place into modeling software (such as TinkerCad) and simply adjust the heights. Works great.

This Saved my world!!!! I was having so many issue's with a specific font. Fusion 360 would not let me extrude for the life of me, no matter what I did. So I appreciate the video.

OMG! Very helpful video in so many ways!! After having worked with Autodesk software for almost 30 years, I was boggled to see that Fusion doesn't support text around a curve! This will help so much with this! This video helps open up a ton of possibilities, and I just downloaded Inkscape last week, definitely not regretting it now!! Thanks so much!!

This is awesome! I needed this a few days ago trying to create svg's for my wife's vinyl cutter for one of her projects. Thank you!

Woow ! :D I was not expecting that "Put on path" thing :D *Watching a Maker's muse Video* , Always pays back!

I can’t tell you how good the timing was on this. Thank you!

Thanks Angus for another great, easy tutorial. Now I can decorate my prints the way I want them.

Thank you so much for that, Angus. I can’t afford Illustrator so this looks a great free alternative. I’m getting to grips with Fusion slowly and enjoying using it.

thank you so very much I have been struggling with this issue when I bring in jpeg file into fusion 360 now that I seen this video my tracing will be so much easer this is why I watch your videos you are the best thank a ton

Thank you so much for sharing. I have come back several to watch this at times when things don't work out. It always helps.

Was unaware of this programme! Thanks for the tip, keep up the great content man. Love your vids!

Thanks Angus. This program would have saved me hours a few weeks back when I created a Freo Dockers emblem. I painstakingy traced out a JPEG in Fusion360 using lines. End result turned out OK, but I'll be using Inkscape for similar projects from now on 👍👍

Inkscape has the best trace edges functionality I've come across - use it a lot!

Yay! Another tool to add to the belt, this is going to come in very handy 😊

If we ever meet up, beers are on ME! Im a new Fusion user, and tracing things in Fusion is the bane of my existence. Im off to download inkscape. THANK YOU

Thanks Angus... another great vid! Really needed this advise regarding Inkscape to help update my work's logo. Cheers and all the best!

Great video Angus! Thank you so much for all you do!

You are a mind reader. This is EXACTLY what I needed. Thanks!!

So you mean to tell me I spent a few hours tracing out a green hornet logo from a jpeg in fusion 360 when I could have just used this beautiful magical program. You know what I'm not even mad I'm just happy I know this exists now.

Very timely indeed, I've been looking for a particular font for a printer name Borg, but now I can just look for an image of it. Thanks Angus

haha i could hug you you nailed it for me what took me 5 days searching online sudden your vid pops up once again and exactly what i was looking for o/

Great Topic Angus! Thanks!

Thanks so much for the tutorial. Was working on another tutorial to make a stamp. So haven't done much drawing for a long time. Was able to finish the stamp and just finished printing the stamp that has a neat handle todya. Almost three days to figure everything out. Without your tutorial it would ahve probably not been possible. New ot Fusion 360. New to Inkscape. On paper I can draw well. On computer , not. Just not able to get the mouse to move the way I want. I'm pencil based. Being able to draw on the computer is one hurdle, i havee absolutely no idea, how to resolve. Thanks again !

I like to add a shape (same as the target face of your model) around the SVG artwork so it's easier to place/scale. That outer shape can then easily be deleted with the right click > unfix technique!

Oh wow ...thanks man 😊... just been struggling with some text in fusion... Perfect timing!

This was a great video. Thanks very much. I spent a few hours trying to get text in fusion in a curve the other day. You Tha Man.

I just got what i was looking for. Thanks :)

brilliant as always ... big help thanks

This will be a fantastic resource as a 'how-to'. Thanks Angus!

Thank you I have been taking the image into fusion as a decal and actually tracing it using the line and arc tools to get an outline then giving it thickness. What a pain But I never thought about doing it this way you just saved me hours & hours of prep time. RIGHT

Thanks alot, this opens a new world of possibilities for me..

Perfect timing, thanks for the vid!

Thanks for doing this tutorial, I figured this neat trick out by myself (Specifically using Inkscape to trace whatever you want and then exporting it out and pulling it back into CAD). I use Inkscape, but I use Solidworks for CAD, and I don't think it pulls in .svg's like Fusion360 does, but it will pull in .dxf's which work just as well. My favorite part about using this is your contours that it brings into CAD from a trace are "Watertight" which means so much less fussing. Thanks so much for posting this, I was seriously contemplating making a tutorial because I hadn't seen these tips elsewhere, but you did a much better job making a nice video!

So awesome Angus! This worked out perfect adding a custom logo to my ESK8 electric skateboard enclosures!! Beers on me m8!!!

Flippin' Brilliant. many thanks indeed.

Older video and the Inkscape I am using is a little different BUT I got this to work. Thank you very much for the tutorial!!

Thank you, thank you, so much... For opening up so many possibilities!

This is an incredibly valuable tutorial!

Excellent video and very informative. I hope to use it for CNC Plasma Cut.

Thank you just what i needed! keep well

Inkscape is not only free, it is also open source.

Really helpful video! Thanks :)

Thank you for this!

Took me a bit to get around to this but I think it's going to be very handy on a project I'm fiddling around on for the tattoo shop I go to. Thanks!

I needed this.. THANK YOU!

Very cool!! I am still a newbie but have learned a lot from you. Many thanks!

Fantastic- vinyl cutters also have similar software for importing images and making them traceable SGV fines. Super handy! Great video

Sweet I've had inkscape for other stuff now I have another use for it

Awesome! Keep up the great work!! Cake toppers now much easier to do.

Excellent, thank you!

Angus Impaler of Creativity 💥 💟

You're my hero!!!

Awesome 😎 thank you for the info..

thank you! you helped me to save a lot of time

Thanks Angus, this is needed. I've played a bit with Inkscape, and it always been on the back of my mind I need to spend more time with it. Based on the comments. Looks like other people need something like this as well. Hope to see more. BTW. For those that are overwhelmed with Fusion360, TinkerCad can import .svg as well. And you can do the same with some clever tweaking.

you are the best :) thank Youuu for the help :)

Great video, thanks

Thanks for this. I never realized that Inkscape had raster to vector conversion capabilities. It has been quite a while since I used it last.

I just did this last night ! 👍

Very useful video!

great tut mate

Nice! I've found dxf is useful if you want precise dimensions as well!

Thanks - good video / info

Some tips I found help with this: 1) use a high resolution image. 600 dpi or higher for the image you trace. 2) reduce the number of colors if you can. I use the magic select in a free program called Paint.Net to select an area, then fill it with a color sampled from inside the area. This makes it easier for the color separation feature to work in image trace. If you are working with line art, you would just fill with black. 3) if you get pointy ends to you text, reduce your image brightness threshold. 4) be willing to tweak your control points to sharpen points and properly curve the bottom of your "u".

Very Nice. Thanks

Thank you! Now I can Brand everything I do ^^ The last time I needet this I did it in Fusion with hundreds of small lines 🤣

Thank you .. Angus!!

You covered some good ground here, Angus! I've been watching Logos by Nick for Inkscape lessons and Lars Christensen for Fusion 360. Of course I'm still subscribed to you, Joel Telling and Thomas Sanladerer.

Good tutorial.

You can also use inkscape to create your own fonts. You just need fontforge to do some tweaks on the svg and generate the ttf, there are some good tutorials how to do that. But thats pretty helpful when working with a specific font in logos and you don't want to place letter by letter by hand. I make dice so I make fonts for my own numbers and then just need to type the numbers in, instead of importing svg files for every face.

Good, thank you.

Thank you!!!

great video. been doing this for years. but never put text on a curve as i never had a reason. now i have a vinyl cutter and this is something that will work well. thx.

Thanks man.

Thanks Angus, this was really useful to me.

Nice, Thanks for sharing :-)

Thanks!

Cool!

I wish I'd known about Inkscape a few weeks ago, trying to import a logo into my 3D editor I used an online service Selva3D to convert a bitmap into .stl, but because the free download is low detail I imported it in separate parts. I got there in the end.

Super. Danke aus Germany.

Thanks

I always use DXF. I think it’s better for usage in Fusion. But great video!!

If I'm not mistaken, I believe there is a smoothing tool in the path tab that will clean up any strange edges

thx buddy

I am still using this tutorial, I have a memory issue please never delete it. Many thanks

Thank you... Short (compare to others on youtube) and useful video. Really helped me. Just have one question. When I insert .svg into fusion, one of my letters (sketches) wasn't closed, and I couldn't find where, so I couldn't choose it and extrude it... Any idea how do I fix that issue?

Thank you for these videos! at 6:39, I find that bringing in certain fonts like 'O's where there's a center (after creating outlines in Illustrator), the will extrude fine, but I have to select the the individual fonts. Is there a way to clean up or 'exclude' (as you can in Illustrator) the center so I can group and extrude as one shape in the sketch? Thanks in advance. :)

The artboard in illustrator and inkscape has the coordinates of (0,0) in the top left corner. I believe when you are importing this into fusion it is placing the svg at that location. I wonder if you were to adjust that point in inkscape if that would fix the issue of it coming in upside down?

Works in tinker cad too. For those of use who can't/don't use fusion360.

Oh wow this is how i made my SVG a few months ago, I'm supposed to use the same method

I saved all my layers from Illustrator into SVG, and they weren't upside down when I imported them into Fusion. I did the painstaking task of Save As and not Export for the layers. That might've helped. However, one of the SVG files had it's path messed up when I used Export, but I tried importing again another day with the Save As version and it worked perfectly. Not sure if it was an import issue, an issue with the design, or an issue with my method of saving, but don't care because it works now hahaha.

Quick question- when you insert the svg into Fusion 360, will it be a 1 to 1 ratio (so long as the units are the same)?

It would be nice to have a guide on getting an SVG from Fusion and Solidworks for laser cutting. As of now I just convert file types till it works.

Can I use this to design pictures to cut out on my plasma table. These will be used to make inserts for my deck railings