Patent-Your-Inventions.com

I can’t draw to save my life. However, patent applications require very detailed drawings of submitted inventions. And hiring an artist or draftsperson to do the patent drawings can costs hundreds (or, for complex inventions) thousands of dollars. For many inventors, that’s an immediate budget killer.

My goal was to find a way to do the patent drawings for free.

I was determined to find a way to create patent drawings without hiring someone to do the drawings. And I have. Once you try the method a couple of times, you can create a professional-looking patent drawing in just minutes. Really!

Here’s how you can do your own patent drawings with just a digital camera and the most popular image-editing software, Adobe Photoshop:

Step One: Select a room that has lots of natural light so you won’t need to use your camera’s flash. Now place sheets of white paper (like photocopy paper) on a table to make a large white surface. (Tip: An even better way is to buy a “flip chart” pad of 30″ x 25″ sheets of white paper.)

Step Two: Place your invention on the white paper. Try your very best to minimize (or eliminate) shadows of your invention on the white paper. You can do this by not having the invention directly near a window or any bright lights.

Step Three: Use any digital camera (image resolution is not critical) to take photographs of your invention.

Step Four: Open one of your photographs with Photoshop.

(Note: The following steps may vary slightly, depending on what version of Photoshop you’re using.)

Step Five: Select from Photoshop’s top-level menu the “Filter” option. Then select the option labeled “Other”. Then select the “High Pass” option. Change the radius setting to 4.5 pixels. (You can try other settings to suite your drawing preference later — but try 4.5 pixels first.) Then click the “OK” button. (The image may look very strange at this point, but you’re almost done.)

Step Six: Go back to Photoshop’s top-level menu and select the “Image” option. Then select “Adjustments”. Then select “Threshold”. Tweak the Threshold Level setting (either by entering a new number or by moving the slider if your version of Photoshop has that feature) until you like the way the “drawn” image looks. My favorite Threshold Level setting, for many pictures, is 128. But you’re the “artist”. Select what looks best to you, then click the “OK” button.

Step Seven: If necessary, clean up the image by removing any straggly lines with Photoshop’s Eraser Tool. Then save the image under a different name (like invention_drawing1.jpg). Now you’re done!

Again, with a little practice you can whip through this photograph-to-drawing conversion process to create patent drawings in just a few minutes. It’s amazing. And it is one of my very favorite tips to pass along to my fellow inventors. Enjoy!

– Eric