PDA

View Full Version : Change a scan to vector



Dennis Christensen
10-31-2006, 6:36 PM
I have a customer that would like a logo inlayed in wood. I need to engrave the logo into wood which is not a problem, but then I need to cut the logo out of another type of wood, so it can be glued into the engraved area. He gave me a business card to scan. Is there a way to turn a scan into something that can be cut?

Dave Jones
10-31-2006, 7:09 PM
This is a service that does that for $12. Quite reasonable for the quality he gives.

http://home.wi.rr.com/bertrandart/vector_art.html


Or you could try it yourself if you have Corel Draw. I know X3 has tracing built in. I believe earlier versions had a seperate Corel Trace program to do it. But typically it involves a lot of touchup after tracing it.

George M. Perzel
10-31-2006, 7:15 PM
Hi Dennis;
Your question has been asked many times on this forum and continues to be one of the first walls encountered by beginners. The answer depends on how complex the logo is, how good the artwork you have is, and what you are inlaying into. here's the quick answer assuming you have a decent image and its black and white and you are using Corel X3 or a version that has Corel Trace.
1. Convert it to a bitmap, edit the bitmap by increasing the brightness and contrast (real white and real black).
2. Use Trace or Quick Trace in X3 to get a vector trace of the image.
3. Black fill the image parts and use this (properly sized) to laser your "female" cavities.
4. Use the same image-unfilled- to vector cut your "male" part.
5. Glue, sand, and finish.
Good Luck

Joe Pelonio
10-31-2006, 7:21 PM
George gave you the procedure, but as Dave says the quality of the vector may be rough. Use Corel to "clean it up" by using the shape tool to edit curves, move points, change curves to lines or the opposite. That can take a lot of time though. Sometimes on a simple shape it's faster to use the smart draw tool to hand (mouse) trace the outside edge for cutting. If you are a beginner at this and have a paying customer the $12 is well worth it to have it done.

Bruce Volden
10-31-2006, 7:54 PM
Also, if the artwork is not too complex and is "small" ie. business card size, play around with the scan settings! Scanning something small at 600 or greater dpi will yield more definition and more "nodes" to edit but wil pay off in time savings. The "jaggies" will not be near as abrupt. When I was first learning (years ago) I would import the .bmp or .cpt whatever, and place it under the the "vectorized" Trace scan and start cleaning. It worked well for me!! NOTE~~ do this in wireframe mode.


Bruce

art baylor
10-31-2006, 9:27 PM
Dennis:

Try to get the original size artwork rather than work from the dinky logo on the business card. Most businesses have "official" artwork for use in advertising and such. Will save lots of work and grief, better end result too.

Art

Linda Forte
10-31-2006, 11:45 PM
HI Dennis,

The best file format--and the one most often provided by a professional designer, is a vector (NOT bitmap) Adobe Illustrator .ai or .eps file. See if your client has one so that you can import it into Corel.

Otherwise, if you post the logo scan, I can tell you if the scan is a good enough quality to trace, or if it would need to be digitally redrawn.

Linda

Bob Reda
11-01-2006, 6:42 AM
I run into this alot for the shopbot also. a program I found to convert to vectors is called Inkscape. Its free and does a reasonable job for what it does. It converts to an eps file to be use by software for this type of endeavor. Just google for Inkscape and it will come up.

Bob

Rick Maitland
11-02-2006, 7:21 PM
I was told about Inkscape by one earlier thread here a few months ago and Bob is right! The program is very simple to use. I did a side by side comparison with Corel 12 and Inkscape was the clear winner.

Dennis Christensen
11-10-2006, 12:28 PM
Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions!
I tried Inkscape and it is a very good program. I think it will work
very good for my project.

Bob Reda
11-10-2006, 4:57 PM
Also keep in mind that you can convert files into eps format but it may not be vectors. Adobe photoshop allows to save in eps format but it is a bitmap program, corel is a vector program.

Bob

Keith Outten
11-10-2006, 7:50 PM
I was told about Inkscape by one earlier thread here a few months ago and Bob is right! The program is very simple to use. I did a side by side comparison with Corel 12 and Inkscape was the clear winner.

Rick,

Do you any information about how Inkscape compares to Corel X3's new vector conversion? Raster to Vector conversion is a major deal for most of us, any program that reduces the amount of cleanup after conversion is a must have.

Thanks

.