Best raster-to-Vector software

[Gregg Vaughn]

I spend a lot of time creating vector images from raster using Coreldraw X3. The images I work with rarely convert well with the Coreldraw trace function and I am left with usoig the other Coreldraw drawing features to trace the images.

Does someone know of software that does a much better job than the trace function in Coreldraw?

[Dan Hintz]

Try Inkscape... free, and a much better converter.

[Scott Shepherd]

Better yet, there are many good sources out there that will do it for $15-20 each image. Pay them, charge $60 for doing it and you'll be money ahead.

[Zsolt Paul]

Illustrator's trace is much better than Corel's according to a lot of graphic sites. I had only used Illustrator and I must say its pretty good.

[Ron Chapellaz]

Dan, I recently bought X5 coming up from version 12. In your opinion, do you think inkscape is better than X5? I was amazed at how much things were improved from 12 to X5.

[Dan Hintz]

X5 is vastly improved, but Inkscape still wins hands down.

[Tim Baude]

One of our own creekers offers the service. William Derochers with Excalibur Creations has converted several of my projects for me. His work is awesome and reasonable prices....and the best thing I usually have the same day or within 24-48 hours. I hope it is ok to put his link up...
http://www.excaliburcreations.com/

Even in the process of moving he did a conversion for me..... I would highly reccomend him, especially if you are a newbie, do this part time and have little time to do your own conversions.
Thanks
Tim

[Mike Christen]

I agree with Dan - my vote is for Inkscape, better and faster than any other I have tried, amazing for something that is free :D

[Jiten Patel]

Inkscape vs Illustrator? I use Illustrator and find it pretty good when converting images to vector. Some edges might be a bit ropey but nothing a little design work wont fix. I have recently tried vector magic which it extremely easy to use and the results are fantastic.

[Mark Ross]

Inkscape is free, I use it and I am happy with it for the most part, based on the price I had to pay.

[Frank Corker]

I would nominate Vector Magic, you used to be able to do it online, but now you can purchase a computer based version and it works very well

[Joe De Medeiros]

I use wintopo, there is a freeware, as well as a professional version, it's very fast and I get good results. I used it for very large cad scans, that seem to break Corel draw. it's best used when you want center line tracing.

[Gregg Vaughn]

Thanks everyone!

[Ross Moshinsky]

I used Inkscape for a simple logo yesterday and it worked wonderfully. The only thing I didn't like was I was working with a color logo and I couldn't figure out how to keep the logo in color. I'm sure I could keep the original image, suck up the color, and fill it back into the letters, but it seems like a few extra steps I would like to not have to deal with. Otherwise, Illustrator's live trace is pretty good. My biggest issue with Illustrator is although it might look nice, when I bring it into Gravostyle the image needs a lot of work to get is grouped back together properly. Their paths can sometimes be a HUGE mess. Sometimes I just say screw it, make a stupid high resolution PDF file and that imports in as almost like a SVG. Obviously this is not good enough for CNC machines, but it works on the laser.

I've also used Vectormagic several times and been happy with the result. If I know the logo is beyond just a basic trace, I have a company in India I deal with that will recreate artwork for me for $10 typically. I'd say I do a 50/50 split between doing the artwork conversion myself and sending it out. I'd say 15-20% of the artwork I receive is not even usable for conversion purposes and I'll either have to find a better image, substitute an image, or flat out deny the service. It's amazing how many people give me 80px images out of a Word document and expect it to engrave wonderfully.

[Ross Moshinsky]

I received a few PMs from people who wanted to know who I work with in India. You may need to be an ASI account holder to work with them. Frankly, I'm not sure if they care. The company is Nittany Creative. So far, I've been mostly happy with them. On highly detailed logos like plants you might find them making substitutions of similar looking artwork. Also sometimes they send me something that doesn't look that great. With that said, I've never had an issue with telling them to fix it and them actually fixing it.

[Bob Rath]

I have been using Corel X4 for the last 9 months or so, and it is my graphics software to drive my Trotec 300. However, after reading this thread, I took a look at Inkscape and was really impressed with what I saw. Now I'm wondering whether I should invest my time in learning Inkscape as opposed to Corel. Can anyone give the pro-con of each software. I'm not a graphic artist and won't be doing really sophisticated work, but I do need enough functionality to create "average" graphics for logos, some vector work for marquetry and other wood projects. I'd appreciate any input....Thanks

[Ross Moshinsky]

Stick with Corel and use Inkscape as a complimentary piece of software. Corel is basically the industry standard. If you read an engraving magazine or look up an article on laser engraving, most of the time they will be doing it with Corel draw. Your learning curve will be a lot less steep if you have a nice resource library to reference vs being out there trying to figure everything out yourself.

[Dee Gallo]

Bob,

I think it depends on what kind of art you are working with. IF you start with line art and just want to digitize it, Inkscape might be okay for you. I personally find it a pretty clunky program to operate, but that's me.

I work from scans and photos most of the time and Inkscape is of no use to me. Even Corel's trace tool is not good enough. I have to draw over my photo scans using the line tool and have gotten fast enough that it is much more efficient and accurate than trace tools.

They do some things which make it more trouble than it's worth to me:
1. they create odd shapes which I then have to disconnect/reconfigure
2. they make layers which do not always work right
3. they do not see everything when the scan has grey areas, or they add things which are fuzzy in a scan
4. they do not read letters and numbers well enough, so they always have to be removed and replaced

If you start with a good B&W image, you will get a fast easy outline. I hardly ever get good enough art from people. Okay, never.

This is just my experience, you might have other types of jobs.

cheers, dee

[Dan Hintz]

As Dee said, Inkscape is still a bit clunky interface-wise... there are three locations you have to set up the drawing units (inches, pixels, meters, etc.) before everything matches. Corel is better at helping you with layout. Still, you can move files between them seamlessly, and some things are definitely done better in Inkscape (tracing, for one, and Inkscape comes with a gear maker right out of the box).



Dee, have you tried Paint.NET? Another freebie (for raster stuff) I really like, and like Inkscape, in many cases it is better than Photoshop (for example, changing colors of an object like a car is a snap).

[Terry Swift]

I have been using Corel X4 for the last 9 months or so, and it is my graphics software to drive my Trotec 300. However, after reading this thread, I took a look at Inkscape and was really impressed with what I saw. Now I'm wondering whether I should invest my time in learning Inkscape as opposed to Corel. Can anyone give the pro-con of each software. I'm not a graphic artist and won't be doing really sophisticated work, but I do need enough functionality to create "average" graphics for logos, some vector work for marquetry and other wood projects. I'd appreciate any input....Thanks

Bob, I'm like you. Inkscape looks good; but another learning curve on top of Corel X4, PhotoGrav, and other software needed to do the thousands of things possible with a laser.

I have no real graphics experience - especially not on things like Corel or Photoshop. Used MS Paint so many times it's not funny - but programs like that don't have so many bells and whistles to learn about. I'm into simplicity; but that doesn't seem to happen in the laser world. This old mind of mine is not as capable as it once was of learning new tricks; but I'm trying.

Went to a great Corel / Laser Training Seminar hosted by Epilog (no, I own a ULS) and LaserBits in Austin a couple of weeks. Great stuff by both companies and their presentors. Hoping to go to more, as those kinds of things brings lots of ideas from the many people there and the hosts as well. Great job by Engraving Concepts of Arlington.

[Glenn Corser]

I've been using Imagaro Z Professional http://www.imagaro.com/technical.html
for the last several months and am really happy with it. It really helps with font replacement, it will work using the net or you can go buy a bunch of cheap font disks and build your own font database. It has a lot of neat editing tools that are very useful such as "corner square" where you click on a corner node and it makes the two lines that meet at that node orthogonal. I do a lot of low cost personalization for my main customer and this package has made it so that I actually make money doing it.

[William Desrochers]

One of our own creekers offers the service. William Derochers with Excalibur Creations has converted several of my projects for me. His work is awesome and reasonable prices....and the best thing I usually have the same day or within 24-48 hours. I hope it is ok to put his link up...
http://www.excaliburcreations.com/

Even in the process of moving he did a conversion for me..... I would highly reccomend him, especially if you are a newbie, do this part time and have little time to do your own conversions.
Thanks
Tim

Give me a shout sometime, if you have questions about vectorizing.... Be happy to answer them for you or others...:)