bitmap to vector conversion

[GEOFFREY]

Hi Martin,
thanks for your comments. I was beginning to suspect that most or all of the conversion software needs some work to obtain unbroken geometries. the method I have used to date is to trace manually and then stick the tracing paper on the screen and follow the lines, clicking about every 2-3mm. I then use splines to smooth out the trace. I realize that this is time consuming, but still much better than anything I have done with the auto trace in serif. The logos i use are not other peoples logos, are drawn specifically for a friend, obviously not in a vector format. copyright does not come into it, but thanks for the warning.

[martin54]

Hi Martin,
thanks for your comments. I was beginning to suspect that most or all of the conversion software needs some work to obtain unbroken geometries. the method I have used to date is to trace manually and then stick the tracing paper on the screen and follow the lines, clicking about every 2-3mm. I then use splines to smooth out the trace. I realize that this is time consuming, but still much better than anything I have done with the auto trace in serif. The logos i use are not other peoples logos, are drawn specifically for a friend, obviously not in a vector format. copyright does not come into it, but thanks for the warning.

When you say unbroken geometries Geofrey do you mean open shapes as in not all the nodes are closed? If that is the case you should be able to close the shapes with a single mouse click but that involves knowing a bit about how the node edit mode works. As for tracing paper on the screen that's a very long winded way of doing things lol
Take a bit of time to learn how to node edit, can be a bit frustrating at times but worth the effort in the long run. Another option for you if you have to trace the logo anyway might be a tablet, wacom do a range of tablets & the prices vary enormously but I have heard that some find the wacom bamboo to be a usable tablet & it's reasonably priced. Another option would be to design the logos in a vector format to start with, it makes sense to me as a signmaker as it's just so much easier to start with. Anything done in vector is instantly re-scaelable to any size without loss of resolution, no horrible pixalation to try & sort out either lol. Another advantage I find is that it is much easier to produce a single colour logo for invoices which a lot of people prefer as printing is then cheaper.
As for copyright, well it still applies as copyright is held by the designer but in this case you have permission to use it. What is covered & what's not is actually a bit of a minefield & a lot of people don't realise they are doing anything wrong which is why I mentioned it. I use a few different sign forums so have read quite a bit about it over the years.

[Christian Knuell]

Hi,

when I need to convert a bitmap I usually do it manually with a little trick:

• First the picture is opened and scaled to fill almost the entire screen...
• Then I start my CAD program and make its window half transparent (using a free program called "Glass2k")
• This way I can see the bitmap through the CAD program window and easily trace it manually with lines, arcs and splines...

The output of most bitmap to vector conversion programs is basically unusable for CAM programs (due to gaps / overlapping lines etc.).
Only if the bitmap resolution is high, uses no color shades and all edges are sharp some programs are able to create reasonable results - but I've never seen e.g. a scanned drawing turned back into a usable .dxf file without doing a lot of rework first...


Christian

[GEOFFREY]

Thanks Christian, that sounds a clever program, basically a more streamlined version of my tracing paper method. I'll give that a try. G

[GEOFFREY]

Hi Martin, sorry for the delay in acknowledging your post. Yes I do mean open geometries, but also some lines were coming up double and in anyway the trace was very poor and the tracing method gave me the best result although long winded. I have asked the chap who commissions the logos to gat them done in vector format, but the "artist" does not have that facility at present.

Thanks. G.