Hand Drawn to Vector

**dravenzouk** · 01 December 2006, 05:06 PM

Hey folks, it's been a long while since I was here in TG but now I'm back. Got an old problem that I've never found a satisfactory solution for and it's bugging me again so I need your help.

Quick bit of background. I use XaraX and I'm an occasional user. I tend to go whole hog into a project or two for a couple of months, using Xara constantly and then I'm away from it for a few months. Sometimes it's hard to keep up your chops this way, but there it is.

Anywho, I often like to incorporate an element or two of hand drawn bits into my graphics. An example would be a logo with tight, crisp graphics throughout but a bit of "hand drawn" text splashed through it. Since my computer skills aren't that great I can never achieve quite the effect I want by creating the "hand drawn" bit via the graphics program itself. When I sketch it using pen & ink (oh the horror some of you will say) I can get the nice, loose, edgy feel I want quite easily. So then I find myself thinking, "wouldn't it be easier to just hand draw that bit, scan it, turn the scan into a vector element, and manipulate it via Xara from there?"

And there in lies the problem - I haven't found a way that this works well enough yet. This is what I do now: I hand draw the element, scan it, dump that (bitmap) scan into Xara, and use the bitmap tracer on it. Now I've got a vector copy of my drawing - sort of. See the problem is I've not only got the graphic I want, but I've also got a square white background with it. In some cases I can put a "stained glass" transparency on that element and hide the white background - but that's a bit dodgy because that background is still there, I just can't see it at the moment. If I try to do even simple things like change the color of the graphic, then the background comes back in and I just get a big square. It also wreaks havoc when converting the final work to a PDF for printing.

What I want to do is get rid of that background entirely, not just hide it (which only works in limited apps.). I just want a vector version of the original line drawing that I can then manipulate in XaraX. Can't figure out how to do that. Which is where you folks come in. Does anyone know how to do this (and even more important, can you explain it to an idiot like me?). Thanks for all your help, it's appreciated, d.

**stlewis** · 01 December 2006, 05:27 PM

Hi

The trace function creates a *group* of vector shapes - including a rectangle for the overall shape.

So... click on the group, then on the Arrange menu, Ungroup. Then you should be able to click on your troublesome shape and delete it.

Unless you have put the imported shape on its own layer, it may be best to regroup the shapes so you don't pull it apart accidentally later.

Hope that helps.

**gwpriester** · 01 December 2006, 05:33 PM

Have a look in the Xara Xone Guest Tutorials for this year and last. There are 3 different excellent tutorials for converting scenned line art to vector. the Xara Xone

Gary

**dravenzouk** · 01 December 2006, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by stlewis

Hi

The trace function creates a *group* of vector shapes - including a rectangle for the overall shape.

So... click on the group, then on the Arrange menu, Ungroup. Then you should be able to click on your troublesome shape and delete it.

Unless you have put the imported shape on its own layer, it may be best to regroup the shapes so you don't pull it apart accidentally later.

Hope that helps.

Perfect!! That's just what I needed. Man, I've struggled with this problem so many times in the past and could never figure it out. Turns out it's something simple like not realising the trace is actually a group of shapes. That's what makes this forum so great. Thanks a bunch, this opens up a ton of things that work the way I want to work.

Gary, thanks too for the nod to the tuts, I'm checking those out - they've always been helpful in the past.