I've tried many different things to convert a bitmap image into a vector however I always end up with a line art that needs more work than its worth. Any ideas on getting a line art that is relitively clean with little cleanup? Help!
Posted by Shawn Setzer (Member # 426) on :
Well there's a few things to consider, is your bitmap black and white or color?
What seems to work for me is not tracing the bitmap but rather printing it and scanning back in as black and white, you can also use corel trace to convert to black and white, but I feel that scanning the image works better for me.
Then use the advanced outline function in corel trace, save as a .cmx file, import into corel and use the reduce nodes function.
What's left should require little clean-up, now of course I use version 10, so some of the steps may be a little different for you, but I know we were able to acomplish the same thing when we used Version 8.
Hope that helps,
Shawn
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Adobe Streamline is a nice little program, too!
Posted by Terry Baird (Member # 3495) on :
I use Sreamline too and like it a lot.
Posted by Steve Eason (Member # 3567) on :
Hi Guys, I'm just starting to use streamline (very new user) and attempting the same thing. I scanned a logo off of a business card. When I try to convert it to an outline, I lose 2/3's of the logo. Your advice about scanning black and white help me out. Streamline doesn't like my colored image. I will try the b/w trick! Thanks, Steve
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Bring the bitmap in and trace it manually, oftentimes it's faster starting from scratch than trying to fix what's there.
Posted by SteveDefibaugh (Member # 2245) on :
I'm with Mike.It's often faster just to draw to the bitmap from scratch.Clean up can take forever!!
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Don...Converting bitmap art to vector is part of the cost of the job. And it should be charged at the same rate as any other work. I actually enjoy doing it and, like Mike and Steve, normally use the bitmap as a pattern and manually draw the vector over it.
Posted by timi NC (Member # 576) on :
I have to agree with Dave and Mike here,only I add another twist,...I use my aiptek 9x12 tablet to trace the bitmap,...it is fast,eficient and alot like tracing with a pencil,....once you get used to the drawing tools in corel it is really a breeze and you actually clean the artwork up as you trace it,...This is not an expensive tablet as the tablet with stylus(pen) and a mouse go for about $150,....yet it has all the features of one of those higher priced tablets,..cordless mouse and pen,....
Posted by Lee McKee (Member # 3533) on :
You know, I've always had good luck doing most of my clean up in photoshop, saving the image as a .tiff and then using steamline to vectorize it. Using photoshop to scan the image you can control aspects of contrast and size with ease. Scan and clean up at 200% then when you trace you will have a good image with little "noise". Everybody has their own tricks.
Posted by Duncan Wilkie (Member # 132) on :
I'm a throw-back to the old days of hand cut screen stencils and rubilith. I enlarge the image in the photo copier, then cut the image with a stencil knife in rublith, then scan directly into GA or corel. I'm a pretty good hand cuter (pat self on back)so there is minimal hand cutting. Cheers,
