trace

[jen0dorf]

Hi

In Cs trial how do I convert a bitmap to a vector?

thanks

Ian

[molucca]

You could draw a selection in vector and save the paths to Illustrator.

You could trace in Xara, save to AI7, open in Expression and copy and paste into PS. Not sure how well this might work.

Rich

[jen0dorf]

Thanks I'll give it a try

Ian

[SCync]

Download the Illustrator CS2 trial, and use Live Trace.

[Albacore]

Don't be silly, buy Xtreme and save yourself some money and loads of frustration. It can take up to a year for users to get to grips with AI and you can do the same tasks in Xtreme and leaarn much faster

[jen0dorf]

Hi

Yes I've already got extreme, and love it. Having discoved the trace facility and had a "play" I was a tad dissapointed with the results so decided to try alternatives. Corel Trace was a lot better and thought I'd try photoshop too.

Perhaps I need to play with the settings on extreme trace to get similar results to corel?

cheers

Ian

[remi]

Hello Ian,

take a look at the tutorial how to work with Xara Xtreme's Bitmap Tracer. There are a lot of tips to optimize the results of the Bitmap Tracer.

I personally prefer to redraw the silhouettes with the Pen Tool or the Freehand Tool in Xara Xtreme.

Regards,
Remi

[jen0dorf]

Hi

thanks for that it appears that my test bitmap worked better in corel than Xara using both programs default settings, but once I understood the options Xara trace works perfectly

cheers

Ian

[Sark]

I've used Adobe Streamline, Corel Trace and Flash's trace function. None of these fully satisfied. The best and fastest I found was an app called Vector Eye (Linked below). The cheapest version saves in .svg which can be opened in most vector apps. I think it also saves in .eps. The next version up saves directly to .ai (I think). I really like this program and it's genuinely worth a try. My only criticism is that the serial recognises your HD's formatting and if you reformat your drive you need to request a new serial (at no extra cost). This is a little excessive even for anti piracy measures. Other than this inconvenience it's a great app.

http://www.siame.com/converter.html

Sark

[Albacore]

Hi Ian,
Did not mean bitmap to Vectot trace! What I ment was that you import the file into Xtreme, then create a nnew layer and then trace over it using the shape editor tool and draw around it taking the fill of each time you draw an object working from the background to the front most object. Here is a link which shows you how to do it: http://www.xaraxone.com/guest/guest51/1.html

Some people put the bitmapped object on the top most layer and give it a Stainglass Transparency so that you can see through the object so that you don't have remove the fill. Also when you are using layer lock the bitmapped object in the layers pallette so that it does not move.