New from VectorMagic: Clipping Magic

Vector Magic is hands down the best bitmap to vector conversion tool. Sad to say, magnitudes better than Xara's (or Corel or Adobe).

I received an announcement (below) from them this morning announcing ClippingMagic. I have not tried it yet but it sounds really cool. It appears to work the same way as the new versions of Xara. You select the colors to protect and the colors to erase. But all in one step.

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Just wanted to let you know that Vector Magic has launched a new service: https://clippingmagic.com Clipping Magic lets you easily remove the backgrounds from photos - just upload a photo, mark some of the foreground green, some of the background red, and the algorithm figures out the details. For difficult edges there's a unique scalpel tool that lets you make precision cuts. The service is especially great for preparing eCommerce product photos and marketing materials, but people use it for all sorts of creative work. Best, James and Jacob PS. Don't miss the drop shadows, color corrections, and crop features that allow you to create cutouts that really pop in one easy-to-use tool!

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Just gave it a quick test drive. Because it updates in real time (vs Xara's need to press Erase) you can see what areas need to be selected.

Not overly impressed Gary. I had a look at it earlier today and their examples have very marked backgrounds to foregrounds. I think I'll stick with Xara.

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Vector Magic is hands down the best bitmap to vector conversion tool

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It is, but very expensive.

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Originally Posted by gwpriester

Vector Magic is hands down the best bitmap to vector conversion tool...

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Whilst I agree that Xara's tracer is clunky and almost impossible to work with (and the results are disappointing), Vector Magic is much better, if somewhat limited in its selection of tools.
Illustrator's, whilst not intuitive, is actually a very good set of tools, especially if one takes the time to explore the Image Trace Panel.
I have watched Justin Seely's Tracing Artwork with Illustrator Video Tutorials at Lynda.com and they offer an insight into how flexible Illy's Image Trace tool is. There are plenty of presets that offer a quick fix, but understanding how Curve Fitting and other advanced settings will improve results is an eye-opener. If you already have Illustrator CS6 or above, there really is no need for Vector Magic.
Bob.

Just for cutting background and bitmaptracing,I chose serif draw+

Hans

I agree with Egg. I've posted before and after images. The after has a new background, the model is an opacity mask group so I could easily trim using the eraser and she now as blue eyes, blusher and new hair high lights :D All done in Xara and took me all of 10 mins. I'll stick with Xara thankyou.

Stygg

Thanks, Gary. Pretty quick to use.

It does work much like the mentioned DrawPlus' Cutout Studio. I think VM's implementation is easier to use for the same/similar accuracy, though. And at least for me, works easier/better than xara's method.

Again, thanks.

I had a look at it earlier today and their examples have very marked backgrounds to foregrounds.