View Full Version : WinToPo
Jim Dornon
01-11-2008, 4:18 PM
Gas anyone ever used a program call WinToPo ? It is free vectorizing software. Found it on Google yesterday. What does it do exactly ? Jim
Joe Pelonio
01-11-2008, 4:38 PM
I have not used it, but it's the freeware version of a more powerful program that does the same kind of function as Corel Trace. Coverts bitmaps to vector files. I heard that the free version is not very good, that you really have to buy the full version, but if you already have Corel it's not needed.
Peter Boyford
01-11-2008, 4:40 PM
Seems to be a simple trace-program... You would want to try Inkscape.org, if you're playing with free vector applications.
/Peter
Dan Hintz
01-11-2008, 4:56 PM
I played with WinTopo a couple of years ago when I was working on engraving automotive windscreens for my LEDs. It was fairly useful if you had a super-clean image, but I remember it having real problems with "dirty" images... no amount of playing with the settings would get me a clean vector image. The result was either too coarse, too noisy, or contained too many vectors. I spent more time cleaning up images than was worth the money.
I have Inkscape bookmarked but haven't had the opportunity to play with it.
Jim Dornon
01-11-2008, 4:56 PM
Thanks. So it's not really a photograv type software ? Jim
Dan Hintz
01-11-2008, 6:23 PM
Thanks. So it's not really a photograv type software ? Jim
Definitely not. It was originally designed to convert scanned images of topographic maps to vector-based files. This is fairly easy to do even with naive algorithms as topo maps have the iso lines quite clearly delineated, often in brown. A quick strip of all color but brown, run through WinTopo, and you have a great vector-based map. With some more intelligent algorithms, it will automatically assign the proper heights to each iso line using character recognition.
Photograv is a whole 'nother animal. It is designed to pixelate an image based upon material and equipment specs in an attempt to provide the best possible engraving image.
Jim Dornon
01-11-2008, 7:40 PM
Ok thanks for the info. Jim
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