xara bitmap tracer

.. often gets a bad press here, but I still use it, for example if vectorising the kind of loose pencil sketching I normally do:

Attachment 130522Attachment 130523

these can then be exported to pdf and imported straight into the toon boom asset library

the trace is a bit off register with respect to the image, which is a pity, but not usually a problem to me:

Attachment 130524

might be expecting a bit much for it to align perfectly bearing in mind the way it is generated, but perhaps rob can pull a rabbit out of the hat on this one if the tracer is ever overhauled :)

I have already given up on this with xara.

I use inkscape tracer
or Corel X6 tracer, which i usally use for dimensioning.

reinhard.

I can understand that - others use vector magic, or illustrator; idealy we should all be using the best tool we have available for the specific job

whilst vector's main advantage is that it resizes without degrading; with lineart and animation however you also have to consider what it looks like if the camera zooms right in to the line:

Attachment 130525

you lose the graduation of the pencil which ever way you vectorise but in terms of the line itself the xara trace is actually closer to the pencil than the inkscape which is too smooth

Some links from the old XaraXone on bitmap tracing. I have always hoped that some attention would be given to updating Xara's bitmap tracer. I use Vector Magic and have always been satisfied with the results.

http://archive.xaraxone.com/guest/guest49/ Paul Söderholm
http://archive.xaraxone.com/guest/guest53/ xhris
http://archive.xaraxone.com/guest/guest62/ Paul Söderholm

yes, paul taught me how to use the tracer for lineart, a real expert, such a long time ago....

Looking through the old guest tutorials I had forgotten how many contributions Paul made. We meet up from time to time on Facebook.

that is good; I am glad he is still active