I've only had limited results vectorizing scans with Streamline, and would like some tips from some of you that use it regularly.
Playing with it, I've found that 300 dpi (ppi, actually) artwork seems to be the "breaking point" for better results. Also, in Photoshop, using the gaussian blur and unsharp filters before saving and opening into Streamline, seems to help.
Besides any tips along that line, how do you folks do your set up in Streamline before actually hittin the "vectorize" button? There's a lot of variables to choose from...noise supression, tolerance, etc that I'd appreciate knowing better.
Thanks in advance
[ October 02, 2002, 12:49 PM: Message edited by: Don Coplen ]
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
Don, you know too much! I checked this post when it first popped up & I've been using streamline on & off for 10 years & you know more in your description of what you don't know then anything I've needed to figure out in all the time I've used it, so just thought I'd bump this up & tell you not to feel bad if nobody replies because maybe they are as remedial as I on Streamline. I just scan @ 300 dpi, bump up the contrast if I have to, (of course color scans & seperations before vectorizing is another story...) & "convert"!
I never tweak any settings except the "tolerance" levels in my customers expectations.
When I offer a price to digitize or redraw everything, many start to think the streamlined vectors are looking pretty good about that time.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
i use exclusivly.....does almost any thing i need...except text never can get good text scans, but i usually retype the text, so no big deal. i scan anywhere from 150-600 with it depending on artwork. higher dpi gets more detail.once you got the scan on page, i like the erase ability, cleans up all edges or stuff i dont need to scan. go to OPTIONS: conversion settings: outline checked, noise i dont change, tolerance i move till it shows the curve ..clean. once in a while i will do a reverse image, if the colors dont contrast normally. you can go to color setup if you need color scan(do mostly B/W)in the color posturzation..i choose limited color, and set for minimum of the colors i need be it 3,4,5 dont do 16, it will take a week to finish. these are the most ive done in it and i had ver.3 and now 4 and it "just works". only glich i have is the saving the file, i do it twice, all the time, the 1st time it dont show up as saved, then when you save the 2nd one, they both show up in the saved file.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Thanks for the replies!
Doug, I particularly liked your last tip.
quote:When I offer a price to digitize or redraw everything, many start to think the streamlined vectors are looking pretty good about that time.
I'm determined to get some magic out of this program, and maybe that's as good as it's gonna get...which is disappointing. (By the way, I've been using it on and off for 7 years. But sparingly for obvious reasons.)
Posted by John Deaton III (Member # 925) on :
I use it quite a bit almost the same way Ol Paint does. I always scan at 300dpi, and it seems to be the best setting for me. So far, Streamline, to me, beats far and above any tracing program I've seen. I always adjust nodes no matter how good the program digitizes it though. WOrks really good on hand drawn artwork.
Posted by George Perkins (Member # 156) on :
I use it like Joe and John, 300, I played around with different settings and no matter what there was always " cleanup" required. I've found that while streamline does a much better job than Corel at tracing, the node editing in Corel works better for me. Streamline only allows a few undos and I usually screw everything up and have to start all over. I could never find a setting to increase the number of undos. So basically i just scan it , convert it and go to Corel.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
One thing that's odd....I bought version 4 years ago, and went to adobe's site to see what version is current....4!!! Apparently that's as far as they can take it, too.
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
I never considered scanning or node editing right in streamline. I've always gone from photoshop to streamline to illustrator, but I just tried it after reading this thread. for simple B/W scans I think it does save a step, otherwise the limited functionality of the tools seems to be too great. I couldn't figure out how to set the threshold on the magic wand.
I did like the node editing tool that shows a curve line between two points. I think Casmate calls this a bulge tool, & I use it every hour. I've always wondered why Illustrator didn't have it. Now that I see it in a weaker Adobe product I wonder if it is there somewhere? Anyone know? I know I can click and drag a line segment with the white arrow (node selection tool) but that behaves very wierd based on the bezier curves. In streamline it seems to work like Casmate & create a proportionate curve easily between any 2 points. Where is this in Illustrator?
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Doug,
Illustrator has Filter>Sylize>Round corners. I don't think it works like what you're asking for, but then maybe just requires some experimenting??? Doug, you up for some R&D? lol
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
Thanks Don, you're right, thats not what I wanted, but I used to always go to change corner radius in preferences & draw with the radius corner square tool. This is a much faster way I was not aware of so, still a good tip. If you haven't used the tool I describe in streamline, check it out. I can redraw logos over scanned templates in Casmate quickly by seeing points between curves that leave segmants that can "bulge" into the correct shape with a tool like the streamline tool in question. I'm sure I could just get better with the click & drag pen tool in Illustrator, but I always tend to go with what is currently fastest, & probably have spent years avoiding a new way that in a few days time would have risen to the NEW fastest way. Bad habit I guess.
Life is R&D, I sometimes wonder how I get any signs done.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
You're right about life being R&D.
On the rounded corners...I do that with Illustrator, but it's not automated. I use a circle at my desired radius, convert that to a guide, and copy it to the corners that I need rounded. Then, add two nodes where the circle guide touches the corner, and move the center node on the corner to the circle. I use the "made round corners" whenever possible, though. It just will round do some wierd stuff to some angles. they just about have to be 90 degree corners to work sometimes.
Maybe you and I oughta get together and design a program that digitizes scans with NO cleanup necessary...we'd make a fortune!
Considering just how much money we would make, maybe I could talk you into investing some of your future loot on a plane ticket, so we can sit down over coffee and work this thing out? Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
Yeah, like I want to go to Florida! ...
Oh, I get it Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Doug,
Since you're married now, I didn't figure you'd mind havin a mainlander come over to check out the grass skirts for ya.
We've got thongs here, which I'm all for...but in 4 years I haven't seen a single grass skirt....and Lord knows I've been lookin.
I may go up to the top of this thread and change the topic to "Anatomy of a post that ended up sideways and backwards" or..."Evolution of a post: from Streamline to Thongs in 3 Easy Steps"
[ October 03, 2002, 04:19 PM: Message edited by: Don Coplen ]
Posted by Bill Modzel (Member # 22) on :
Don, I like you, have been using Streamline forever it seems. I do the same PhotoShop blur tricks too if the image calls for it. I usually go to the levels tool and compress the black and white sliders to the middle and tweak my image that way. As far as type goes I try to match and just reset it also. One thing that I've just started playing with is making selections in Photoshop using any particular selection tool that works. From there I go to "make work path" and from there to "export paths to Illustrator". I have come up with some very accurate and detailed pathes. This has worked especially well for adding a cut layer to an image that I'm printing from MacImprint and than contour cutting.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Bill,
That's a great idea! I've used the make work path>convert to illustrator paths routine for cut lines for edge prints, etc....but never thought about using it as a vectorizing shortcut. Just read your post and haven't played with it yet, but it sure sounds like something that would come out accurate.
Isn't that one of the great things about this forum? All these like-minded talented individuals puttin our heads together...it's like a huge R&D department sometimes!
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
Ditto, Great idea! Look forward to playing with that one myself.
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
Well I finally had time to jump into this thread. I use pretty much the same methods as most of you. I have found something weird though. I also have Signmate which is really just Flexi with only Roland drivers installed.
I decided to try a scan in Flexi one day and found it to be far superior to Streamline in scanning fonts, especially serif fonts. But Streamline was much better at scanning objects. Don't ask me why. The only thing I thought of was that maybe Flexi has something in it that recognizes letters better.
I loaded a tiff file of a font resembling Times in Streamline and vectorized it using several different settings. I did the same in Flexi. Comparing them was a no brainer. The Flexi job needed almost no editing. The Streamline job needed LOTS.
Then I did the same thing with a logo. This time Streamline was the clear winner. Go figure.
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