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I need a good analogy
- Thread starter The Vector Doctor
- Start date
The Vector Doctor
Chief Bezier Manipulator
OK here is my experiment. It is actually very high res image but I thought I would try and trace without zooming in at all. Imagine not having a zoom tool or being unable to scale up your image. That is what a customer is asking me to do when they say "don't zoom in" and then expect me to get a good result.
#1 The first image is a crop of the artwork at 100%
#2 Is the result of trying to trace the art without zooming in at all. It is very hard to move the pointer tiny amounts
#3 Is the tracing result when I zoomed in all the way to where I could see the details.
So while the art that this customer sent to me was very good, it illustrates how you have to zoom in to get fine control of the bezier curves, control points etc.
#1 The first image is a crop of the artwork at 100%
#2 Is the result of trying to trace the art without zooming in at all. It is very hard to move the pointer tiny amounts
#3 Is the tracing result when I zoomed in all the way to where I could see the details.
So while the art that this customer sent to me was very good, it illustrates how you have to zoom in to get fine control of the bezier curves, control points etc.
Attachments
I think it's more of them passing the buck onto you.
They had to get their file from somewhere... Likely from a client, and it's all they had. They don't possess the skills needed to get it to look good... So they hire out to someone who they think should have the skills.
They might not care if it's accurate, they just want "good enough" so they can also it on a sign and be done with it.
An analogy is kind of hard. I'd say if it was in person (I imagine 90% of your clientele isn't) ask them to trace something while wearing, or not wearing glasses.
Usually we tell the client while their logo is bad quality, they have two options - we can print it as is... We show them what it looks like at full size, zoomed into 100%.. or we can do our best to trace it, odds are it isn't going to look perfect, but we'll do our best.
You've vectorized thousands of items. You could look, and interpret the shitties quality gif, and likely make the trace look pretty decent.
They had to get their file from somewhere... Likely from a client, and it's all they had. They don't possess the skills needed to get it to look good... So they hire out to someone who they think should have the skills.
They might not care if it's accurate, they just want "good enough" so they can also it on a sign and be done with it.
An analogy is kind of hard. I'd say if it was in person (I imagine 90% of your clientele isn't) ask them to trace something while wearing, or not wearing glasses.
Usually we tell the client while their logo is bad quality, they have two options - we can print it as is... We show them what it looks like at full size, zoomed into 100%.. or we can do our best to trace it, odds are it isn't going to look perfect, but we'll do our best.
You've vectorized thousands of items. You could look, and interpret the shitties quality gif, and likely make the trace look pretty decent.
The Vector Doctor
Chief Bezier Manipulator
DerbyCitySignGuy
New Member
We (folks in the sign industry) have to ask customers all the time for better art. ALL. THE. TIME. If you have clients from sign and print shops asking you to "handle it" when you ask for better art, just remind them that just like they need a reasonable image to print, you need a reasonable image to trace. If they still push back on you, tell them they're going to get what they get.
You're in the same situation we often find ourselves in when a customer sends us a 75 DPI image at 4" x 6" and asks us to blow it up to a 5' x 16' banner. It just isn't going to work. If folks in a sign shop can't understand that, give them exactly what they ask for with a disclaimer, "This is the crappy art you sent me, this is the best vector image I can possibly produce with your crummy art."
Marlene
New Member
I've sent you some horrid stuff over the years and do so as I let you decide what you can or can't work with. I've been surprised at some of the stuff as I thought it was horrid enough that you wouldn't be able to do anything with it and if it had been left to me, I wouldn't have asked you to work with it. I guess the real problem is those who don't take your word for it that it's not going to work. To those people, you don't have to explain anything, just tell them no.
The Vector Doctor
Chief Bezier Manipulator
yes I encourage people to send me their art to at least look at it. I often use a google image search hoping there is better art. Another option is to visit their social media pages such as Facebook. I have had many people tell me they could not get better art from the customer yet the logo quality is better at their Facebook page than their own website.
Often it forces the customer to take some more time looking for their art. As soon as you say no or the price is beyond their expectations that will trigger them to do something else
Often it forces the customer to take some more time looking for their art. As soon as you say no or the price is beyond their expectations that will trigger them to do something else
"You don’t need the pdf file." Is the response I got from a client today. She sent me two different jpg versions of a poster that were clearly designed by someone who knows what they are doing. One had gradients and the other didn't and I guarantee if she asked it would have been no problem to send me good artwork.. Anyway, apparently she knows more than me. I don't charge this organization for design, so i'm not about to spend 2 hours recreating artwork that could have been sent to me. and So even though she wanted the one with gradients, she didn't get it. And this is a super rush job, so no way am i going crazy trying to copy the event poster on the lawn signs.
Chuck Peterson
New Member
Maybe like trying to focus a pair of binoculars when the lens is fogged up. No matter how precise you focus it's not going to be clear. "Yes, but you have software that can clean it up"
equippaint
Active Member
Thinking that you will somehow get people to understand is like flying a kite with no wind
Chuck Peterson
New Member
How about just try laying a piece of tracing paper over a blurry picture and trying to get an accurate drawing. "Yes, but your software can clean it up" I know.
brycesteiner
New Member
One other thing i have done was make the art full size, then crop to just that part so it would be close to full size on their screen and ask what if they are happy with it. I had that with an AEP logo that they had taken from a person's email signature and asked to turn it into a 36x24 sponsorship sign. They looked at it and were confused on why it looked so bad and then it clicked when I told them that was what you sent. Then they realized they needed to contact AEP for the original art.
equippaint
Active Member
Looking at this thread in hopes of finding some cheesy analogies is like trying to find a hooker at church.
GAC05
Quit buggin' me
If the analogies are lacking maybe we can offer up a nice
The Beatles Anthology (documentary) - Wikipedia
instead.
equippaint
Active Member
You're killing me, I cant come up with a good analogy here... calling the Beatles music rock is like calling Gino cool... they're in their own category
DerbyCitySignGuy
New Member
This is all because of shows like CSI with people sitting behind computer monitors saying, "Zoom in. Enhance. Enhance. Enhance." That's not how it works, it's not magic.