I just saw an ad about this site ( www.evectorize.com ) that vectorizes scanned images. I do a lot of clean-up here and was wondering if anyone has used it in the past and how the service was. Do they really send you the file first and get payed after you've used it?
Thanks
Posted by Robert Beverly (Member # 1907) on :
Mike
Welcome to letterville
We are fixin to dump a bunch of designs at them and let them price them out in groups...(their individual prices seemed reasonable) then throw a sample out to see if they can pull them off...
but I will tell you this...
I spoke with them in length about proprietary designs that we would maintain control over and they sent us a guarantee that the designs would never be resold in the future.
Hope this helps...they seem to be serious about it anyway!
R
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
lets see, copy of ADOBE STREAMLINE 4.0, $70 bucks,time to learn how to use it, couple days, you maintain control over final product, you sell the image for way more then the program cost...the 1st one you do, and your in this line of work because..........you dont like to vector images?
Posted by Amy Brown (Member # 1963) on :
Hey OP, not everyone has the the time you do!! Time is money! It'll help you get to Shoney's or Sweet Tomatoes!
Haven't used them but do have them and one other place set aside just in case. Anyone who has I would love to here about it.
You just charge that cost to the customer.
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
I'm gonna start some trouble here... Registered today. Apparently signed up with yahoo email account today and no perry signs in orlando fl. listed in search engine phone book I checked. Perhaps this is someone looking for free advertising?
If it is legit., I would have to question his pricing and say that you, more than likely, get what you pay for. I've used similar services in the past and found exactly that.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
Posted by Fred Weiss (Member # 3662) on :
I'd suggest you also talk to Viking Arts. Their rates are considerably lower than evectorize.com and in the 4 or 5 jobs we've had them do, we were totally pleased.
Charges range from $5 to $25.
Viking Arts Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
amy....it dont take 10 mins of your time, and you can charge it to the job....and make more money. for these types of jobs i charge a flat $50 for vectorization. most other jobs are to simple and i just add $25 for graphic. for those who have spent $4-5000 for a sign program, these should have the best vectorizing programs in the world. i hear GERBER.... just looks at and ....the graphic turn into a the cleanest cuttable graphic in the world....hehehehehehehehhe.
[ August 06, 2003, 05:39 PM: Message edited by: old paint ]
Posted by Mike Perry (Member # 4070) on :
I just opened my shop a couple of weeks ago but already have a few customers bringing me their 'crappy' artwork. I've worked at my previous job with most tracing programs out there; even some of the more expensive ones. My experience is that no software can produce miracles. When you have some bad artwork scanned off a business card, you have to trace it by hand. Cleaning up the automatically generated vectors sometimes requires even more time. And since time is not something I have to spare I'd rather give the artwork to someone who vectorizes for a living! I have plenty of work to spend my time on. And the prices ($5-25) or ($19-39) are not that high. Anyway the customer will pay for it! I think I'll ask for a quote from both of them and see what they tell me.
Thank you all for your input.
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
Hiya Mike, I owe you an apology then. Welcome to Letterville and congratulations or your new business. A couple other things to look out for is their artwork submission guidelines. They may require camera ready art or additional charges may apply. Also, when you invoice your client, be sure to include the additional expense of sending the artwork the company you choose. The companies I tried, required a hard copy of the logo to work from... and they still got it wrong.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
Posted by Fred Weiss (Member # 3662) on :
This is an image I sent to Viking Arts via email. The completed vinyl ready EPS file was delivered to me the next morning via email. The quality was excellent ..... the image was produced 24 inches high. In fact, it has already generated a repeat order.
The total charge from Viking Arts was $6.
OP .... I don't even move my mouse for $6. Why would I take the time to vectorize a low rez image to save $6?
Posted by Bill Cosharek (Member # 1274) on :
Fred,
You've been pushing this viking site quite a bit. Are you not the least bit worried this could backfire on you? A lot of people visit here in Letterville. Maybe some are your clients. To visit here there are no requirements unless you want to participate. You make a nice profit margin I see.
I really can't see how they can produce what you show for only $6 without some kind of subsidy. But I see that most of their clients are franchise shops. (Now the rest of this is just an opinion & carries no merit that I know of.) Could it be possible that these shops set up this site so they could all share the resource? Maybe down the road aways once more people buy into them, will they say: "Why buy from so&so when we do his work. Eliminate the middleman."? (or something like that) Does this give the franchises more power or can we all work together? Since this is now a bunch of ramblings & getting WAY OT I better stop right now. (This paragraph may self destruct if it hasn't already)
I have nothing to add about evector but digitized tracing is better than plain old draw tracing. They're not just making this up. But that's an awful lot of mouse clicks (without F5) on the detailed stuff & gotta believe it would cost more than what they advertise. Someone's gotta pay for the carpal tunnel.
B4 I forget Mike, Welcome to Letterville.
Posted by Fred Weiss (Member # 3662) on :
Bill, you make some good points and I only posted because yet another post about evectorize.com was put up and no one had mentioned Viking as an alternative.
I have no connection with them other than being a delighted client. I have no concern that anyone might log on here and become aware that we utilize outside jobbers when appropriate since, to me, that just good business.
Since sharing information on where to get things is a valued part of Letterville, I feel like mentioning them will do nothing but benefit most who read it.
I have been both working with end users and the trade for 20 years now and have no problem with clients understanding that I may outsource something. In this case, we needed to take a low rez image supplied by an elementry school to our client, who operates a sign company and Edge print it 2 feet high. I paid $6 to Viking, the sign contractor paid me that $6 plus a little bit for handling the details and he probably added $50 onto the bill to the school.
Everybody is better off because I would have charged him more had I been the one doing the hand tracing.
I've spoken with Viking Arts once and gather he has an operation that employs a number of Amish people who are noted for their simple needs and strong work ethic. However, he does it, the work is good and i don't have any suspicions that he is doing anything unethical.
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