Working up handwriting - bitmap trace?

[handrawn]

(Do you really care if it jaggifies itself within Xara if it still outputs good?)

Well yes, if its part of a paste up which needs to be seen as a whole, normally the case for me.

I'd agree that a great strength of xara is its flexibility.

The minute I'd mastered the art of vectorizing line-art, with your and gnurf's help if you recall - much appreciated - I would never go back to using bitmap, that can be successfully traced - not all can, because it is restrictive IMO. Tracing in inskcape is so darned easy, xara is not too bad a lot of the time.

Still as you say - nothing wrong with beginning with the basics - still not sure exactly what Giannis had in mind

[raynerj1]

Both work... it all depends on the application. I like a vector shape for a signature/copyright notice on my photos... it is quick and easy... once I got the vector that is... You end up a with a crisp clear sig no matter the size and have no print worries.

[Giannis]

Thanks for all the tips. I'll try out the different ways to do it. I don't entirely get how to turn each letter of the signature into an object so that I can work it up a little. The tracing went well however - once I got the right settings straight.

But I also have this, probably very silly, question: when I make rectangle around the signature it leaves the outline there - what do I need to do in order to get rid of it?

[ss-kalm]

Refer to Gary's post above ...........

[raynerj1]

If you are refering to the background in a trace... Just select it and delete it... But make sure you don't delete the trace...

I went a step further myself and spent the time to work the trace down to one object... (Zooming in and adding /intersecting the different objects that form the sig)

[jclements]

Used the Freehand tool on a tablet, tweeked some of the path points (nodes), then converted to bitmap copy and applied the newly "discovered) bitmap feathering.

[jclements]

This a vector version with the Mehdi "fur" affect applied.

[raynerj1]

if I had a better version of this handwriting I could have done a better job... but it is still better than the pure vector line...

[iamtheblues]

To be honest, I cannot see why anyone would choose to go the scanner and bitmap route for a signature, waste of paper and ink for starters. Unless of course it is not your own signature, and all you want is a copy of it for writing fraudulent cheques, or whatever.
The vector route has to be the most straightforward and flexible method, with or without a pen and tablet.
By the way, the attached is not the signature I use for cheques or credit card, in case anyone is tempted!
Saludos,
Bob.

[jclements]

John Rayner and others interested in going the bitmap route.

Xara already includes Mehdi plugins. However, if you go to the Mehdi site you can download their free "Fine Threshold" plugin and add it to your existing Mehdi plugins folder.

You can use it to easily create a reasonably sharp, well defined, black-and-white "mask" image from even colored images and then open the bitmap gallery and apply it to your original scan as a tranparency.

See example below. If I had tweeked the image in the 2nd step using Xara's contrast controls, the mask of the sky area would probably be even clearer.