Vectorise an image

[bladedanny]

Hi All,

 

I've seen many logos that have been vectorised by people on here. My question is how do you do it? I'd really like to have a go at it myself first.

 

Any hints or tips?

 

Thanks,

 

Dan

[rad]

Sorry to be blunt - how to vectorise an image - Google Search

 

What software do you have use of? Photoshop?

[bladedanny]

I've only got photoshop elements and inkscape. I've already had a google and had a play with drawing paths round our logo, to which my results weren't amazing. I was just wondering if anyone had any tips or things to make it easier.

 

Thanks,

 

Dan

[Arthur]

Whenever I need to do this, I usually trace over the image in Illustrator (on the layer above) or cheat by using VectorMagic.

[dhicks]

I've already had a google and had a play with drawing paths round our logo, to which my results weren't amazing.

 

I use Inkscape. It does have a bitmap-to-vector feature, which can work quite well but just converts areas of colour into vector shapes, it doesn't seem to do edge-tracing. For tracing around a bitmap, I place the bitmap on its own locked layer and put a second, editable layer over the top, then use the bezier curve tool to trace over the bitmap. Start off by drawing straight lines from point to point until you have a closed-in shape, then go back and edit the curves with the node-editing tool to get the curved shape you want.

[bladedanny]

Thanks all, I'll give those a try.

[SneakyBeaky]

My own personal preference is that I do not like Photoshop or Illustrator. I use Xara Photo & Graphic designer 6. I load the image as a background layer and then draw round it. I have completed many hundreds of drawings for publications this way.

Graphics and Illustration Software by Xara: Photo & Graphic Designer and Designer Pro

[CESIL]

I use CorelDRAW X14 (and I have all the previous version too) and use a combination of auto and manual tracing. With smaller low res originals I mostly recreate from scratch.

 

Best tip I can offer is to get a graphics tablet...it makes hand tracing so much easier...

[Butuz]

Serif Draw Plus / Photo Plus X3 / X4 are great for vectorising stuff. Fairly cheap too compared to Adobe, Corel etc.

 

Butuz

[bladedanny]

Thanks all,

 

I finally managed to do it. I ended up using a mixture of create from scratch and auto tracing and manually adjusting in Inkscape.