Can Xara Convert JPG photos into Vector Art or Images?

[Myshot]

Hi, I'm very impressed with what I've seen with Xara so far as I'm yet to purchase it. But I would like to know If I can import or open a photo in Xara and then convert it to an editable vector image, say a cartoon style? I do most of my work with photos rather than creating art images from scratch.

Thanks.
Myshot.

[steve.ledger]

Xara Xtreme 5 has a bitmap tracing tool under the Utilities menu.
'Tracing' is the term used for the process of bitmap to vector.

Results are variable depending on the settings you choosing and the quality of the image being processed.


Welcome to the TG Forums (Another Aussie!)

[Myshot]

G'day Sledger, thanks for that. Does that mean though I need to convert my JPG into a bitmap first, then trace/convert it to a vector?

I saw Corel Draw Graphics X5 over the weekend and was very impressed by it, so I'm weighing up if to purchase it or Xara, or even both. So at this time I'm sussing out each others capabilities and strengths. I'm not a graphics professional but I do a lot of photography and am wanting to now explore the graphic-arts side of things.

Cheers.

[steve.ledger]

JPG is a bitmap

Bitmap types = JPG / PNG / GIF / TIFF / BMP

[Myshot]

Thanks Sledger, the learning is long, but fun. I appreciate your help. I'l play with that feature tonight and look to buy it. I'm very impressed too with Xara's video tutorials. They are excellent. It's the best support/learning platform I've seen. Have a good day.

Cheers.

[iamtheblues]

Welcome to Talkgraphics, if I may offer a little advice, I wouldn't buy both Xara Xtreme and CorelDraw, as they basically perform the same functions. I'd be inclined to download CorelDraw X5 as a trial as well as Xara Xtreme.
Their bitmap tracers are different and will produce different results.
I think that as you are new to graphics, you will find Xara Xtreme has the easier learning curve by far, it's also far more intuitive to use than CorelDraw.
CorelDraw does come with a bitmap editing program too - Photo-Paint, but it's more expensive than Xara Xtreme, which also handles a lot of bitmap functions well.
The money you save by not buying both - and buying the cheaper Xara Xtreme, might be better invested in buying Vector Magic: http://vectormagic.com which is widely recognised as the best of it's kind, but it's only a one-trick pony,
and an expensive one at that. If you aim to do a lot of bitmap to vector work you may find it worthwile, though.
Saludos,
Bob Taylor.

[jclements]

Here is a link to a tracing tutorial by XChris

http://support.xara.com/index.php?_m...1&pcid=0&nav=0

It takes you to WWW.Xara.COM > Support

[Xhris]

Latest tutorials etc. are on my website (which I'm thinking of overhauling completely soon). There are lots of old versions of my tutorials scattered all over the place; I'd go with the ones on my site as I update them more often there.