converting files from bmp to eps

[Ausdan]

Hi guys,
i have recently bought a new cutter/plotter and i'm very intersted in starting a small sign making business. i live in Melbourne Australia so i'm no threat to any of you guys. what i'd like to know is, can i convert a 3-color bitmap image into a vector file (.eps) so i can cut it in 3 colors? i have access to adobe illustrator, macromedia flash and a cutting software called Artcut ( don't know if you're familiar with it).
any bit of help would be greatly appreciated
thank you in advance

 

[PMG]

Auto trace it!!!!!

 

[Fred Weiss]

You can autotrace it in Illustrator or you can draw the vectors with the Bezier Pen tool. Drawing takes longer but the results are usually much better. Generally speaking, the quality of autotracing improves with the quality of the bitmap ... which often is poor.

If you're using the latest version of Illustrator, the Live Trace feature is pretty good.

If you need to get work out and haven't learned to trace vectors yet, you may want to consider outsourcing that part of the job to the Vector Doctor who will do a professional job and have it back to you overnight at very reasonable prices.

 

[RubberDuckyDecals]

as a noob with cutting but a 20 yr graphics vet, i generally trace them in flash using those spectacular drawing tools. from there, i export as .ai and my roland default software spits em out on the cutter with ease. However, it is extremely time consuming and I don't think I would recommend it for tight fitting multi-color items where alignment is important. The auto trace options sound much better for that kind of thing so i suspect i'll try to figure that out in illustrator.

 

[WVB]

A lot of times I will tweak the image from within Photoshop. I will use Flexi to autotrace/bezier trace the image, export as ai and then finialize the image within Illustrator. Depending on the image you can bypas the Flexi option and autotrace from within Illustrator as well.

But...... Until you get good I would recommend The Vector Doctor. I was strapped for time and had no time to fiddle with a image that was on tracing paper for a tattoo shop. I scanned it in at 150 and sent it off to TVD. Got the vector next day had to make two very subtle changes but saved me so much time and for what it cost me to have him do the work for me compared to my times worth. Who could complain?

 

[wsteely7]

The Vector Doctor is the way to go until you learn.