Sectors: from photograph to vector CAD drawing

Starting from a rectified photoplan or an orthophoto of an elevation, you get a vector drawing describing opening outlines, mortar courses, springing lines, stone elements and masonry discontinuities. It does not replace the surveyor's metric check: it removes the slowest step, tracing line by line over the raster image.

The geometry consists of real polylines, not embedded images: it can be simplified, organised in layers and dimensioned directly in AutoCAD, Rhino or Illustrator.

In recent construction the as-built survey documents the existing where updated drawings are missing. From elevation photographs the engine extracts window frames, panel joints, spandrel bands and glazing subdivisions: regular, high-contrast geometry where it performs particularly well.

The drawing is a reliable base for energy retrofit, envelope replacement, dimensional checks on windows and a 2D reference for BIM modelling.

The engine reads the photograph of the decorated surface and returns its outlines as vectors, following the tonal and material transitions that define figures, painted frames, backgrounds and discontinuities. The restorer gets a graphic base for condition mapping without tracing every profile by hand.

Colour fields, lacunae and intervention areas can be separated in layers, hatched and dimensioned: the file suits decay mapping sheets, intervention records and reports for heritage authorities.

On mosaic surfaces recognition follows chromatic transitions between fields and borders, returning the perimeter of figures, backgrounds and reintegration areas. The vector geometry lets you measure surfaces, quantify lacunae and document completed work.

The drawing can be overlaid on instrumental surveys and layered, so as-found and design states share the same metric base.

On canvases and panels the vector output returns the compositional structure: figure profiles, edges of colour fields, painted architecture and landscape detail. It is a legible base for catalogue records, teaching material, iconographic comparison and intervention documentation.

The drawing stays editable and can be overlaid on diagnostic imaging to annotate paint losses, repaints and pictorial integrations on consistent geometry.

Modelled relief produces chiaroscuro that the engine turns into lines: coves, tori, fillets, rosettes, volutes and relief motifs become vector profiles. Raking light gives the best results because it sharpens edges and plane changes.

The output serves moulding profile restitution, condition documentation and comparison between repeated elements, with templates derived in real scale.