Imagaro Z has been discussed many times here.
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I also purchased a license for it and found the font identification to be awkward at best and the auto tracing overrated. There were other problems with unreadable EPS exports and a lack of normal Windows functions one would expect.
The U.S. distributor for the product tends to be argumentative and defensive instead of arguing with the European developers to improve the product. I have seen his trade show demonstrations which are decidedly rigged and did not find the product to live up to its promise. He even offered to become a merchant subscriber here if I would recommend Imagaro Z.
As to the dual questions of font identification and auto tracing ...
As the developer of the first program to identify type (FontFinder, 1994) and as a former type dealer, I can state unequivocally that there is no single solution for identifying unknown typefaces (unless you can arrange to adopt Shovelhead, SignosaurusRex or Tikiboyz). FontExpert is a superior solution to Imagaro in many ways but fails to achieve the desired results without a good bit of experience. WhattheFont at MyFonts.com tends to only make IDs of fonts they sell. So often, your best solution is to post a pic here and have our resident font experts assist you.
Auto tracing is, in the opinion of this writer, something that should be outlawed. It is the cause of more unprofessional work appearing on the scene than pretty much any other tool. In the hands of a competent artist/technician, it can be used to save great amounts of time. But in the hands of a less experienced individual, it dramatically multiplies their ability to generate crap and produce it as finished work.
Pretty much any graphic editing program out there has excellent auto tracing capability. These include CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, FlexiSign, SignLab, Gerber Omega, Canvas, Freehand, and Vector Magic. But the best tracing is done by clicking on the Bezier pen tool in any of these programs instead of trying to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse by clicking the auto trace button.
The reason is simple. All auto tracing is designed to apply global settings to the art being traced. So a setting that works well on one section will work terribly on another section nearby. Without competent human interpretation of the art to be vectorized, either applied during the drawing process or in an editing pass after drawing or auto tracing, all you end up with is a quick, dirty and lower quality vector. And too often these days, that is considered to be the state of the art and gets used as the final version.
So if anyone seeking a superior solution to tracing raster art work doesn't want to take the time to learn how to do so on their own with a Bezier pen tool, I would recommend buying the services of
The Vector Doctor as the best and most economical way of getting vectorizing done that you will be proud to use.
