What is the best raster to vector tracing program?

[Dean Fritzel]

I have a hand drawn picture of a deer that was done using charoal as a medium. What is the best raster to vector tracing tool? I already have Streamline 4.0, but am not getting the results I was hoping for.

TIA

Dean F

[B. Philippus]

Dean:

not getting the results I was hoping for




You will not. Manually tracing is the only way to go to get good results. You can fiddle with the settings in Streamline and get acceptable results, that's it.

Bert

[Timothy_Foolery®@adobeforums.com]

What is the best raster to vector tracing program?




Me and the pen tool V 1.0 :)

[Harron_K._Appleman@adobeforums.com]

I think I'll wait for the version 1.0.1 update.

[Timothy_Foolery®@adobeforums.com]

v 1.0.1 is just me and the pen tool after two cans of Red Bull.

[Jacob_Bugge@adobeforums.com]

Does V 1.0.2 include a kiwi fruitcake?

[Samuel_Daneliuk@adobeforums.com]

I agree that doing it manually is the best but if your set on using a program I have recently experimented with Corel Trace 12 and found it to be excellent.

[Dean Fritzel]

Well, thanks for the ummmm constructive ideas. Tracing by hand is not an option. The Illustration is too complex, and we can't afford the time. I have Corel 11. Maybe I'll give that a shot.

Too bad nobody has any experience with any of the many vectorizing programs that are out there.

Dean

[Jacob_Bugge@adobeforums.com]

Dean,

There is a lot of experience with vectorizing, in this forum, but I believe Bert and Timothy: nothing beats the art of drawing; they always knows much more than I do.

But if you really need some vectorizing application, there have been other threads with various suggestions, such as this recent one:

ID. Awe "how to convert a photographed face (jpg) into vector art?" 7/1/04 5:31am </cgi-bin/webx?14@@.3bb4dc75/0>

You may also search for vectorize in this forum.

[Jonathan_McClintic@adobeforums.com]

The only other options that I have seen would be the "trace bitmap" feature in Flash, but I stopped using that a while ago in favor of the pen tool ;). Another option is to use Photoshop to select the areas as paths then export paths to Illustrator. This would also provide the most control over the results.

Jonathan

[James_Talmage@adobeforums.com]

Things often need to be traced which are impractical to trace by hand. I agree with Samuel.

I hope no one takes offense at this, because I mean none. All of the mainstream software vendors (including Adobe) offer competitive side-grades.

If your project will cost-justify it, I'd recommend you take advantage of the competitive side-grade from Corel. The Corel 12 suite includes CorelTrace--a program similar to Streamline--which in my experience works just fine. You also get a good font management program (Bitstream Font Manager), a good screen capture program, a bunch of Bitstream fonts, and even a poor-man's "Flash" (RAVE). Evidently, they are also presently throwing in a KPT filters package. I think it's a no-brainer bargain every Windows-based AI, FH, or CV user should take advantage of on the first project that will justify the modest purchase. The price is less than many single-purpose plug-ins.

Regardless of whether you like the two main apps (CorelDraw & Photopaint), just having Draw around gives you additional capabilities when you need them, too, such as modifying fonts, and importing CAD files.

JET

[Timothy_Foolery®@adobeforums.com]

Does V 1.0.2 include a kiwi fruitcake?




LOL Classic! :D

I have CorelDraw 12 (and they still haven't bought me CS) at work. I've only had a quick going over as I'm not a big Corel fan. I did try CorelTrace and I wasn't impressed with the results. Maybe I should have another look.

Flash's Trace Bitmap is more interesting than functional in my experience. Streamline is nice to have, but not useful often enough. Converting complex selections to paths in Photoshop is not for the impatient.

Mat in the PS forum posted a link to an action he wrote that's the best I've seen in the way of a PS method. Search for vectorize or something along those lines and you'll probably find it.

[Jonathan_McClintic@adobeforums.com]

I would also check the studio exchange for possible scripts. I tried to find the one that the registered trademark name guy found, but wasn't able to. If only the link was posted ;).

<http://share.studio.adobe.com/axBrowseProduct.asp?p=2>

Jonathan