Raster to vector conversion software

[Goatshaver]

I'm sure this has been beat like a dead horse, but has there been any advancement in raster to vector conversion software?

Last decent piece of software I remember is Vector Magic. Is this still the best option out there?

I find some of my customers need vector files but they have had them made in raster and then need to be converted because the original artist doesn't do their artwork in vector for logos, logo elements or even type in the logo. Raster is fine sometimes and it has it's place, but generally in this world, vector is king.

 

[Jay Grooms]

I use vector magic then clean up a bit. It's the best I've found.

 

[White Haus]

Vector Doctor is my go-to.

Not software, but Eric is just a great guy to deal with and super fast & fair with his work.

 

[mobileartdept]

We use FlexiSign from Sai International, amazing vectorization at just a click and check out there FIND MY FONT Sai EDITION, you click on the letters to match and it searches about 278k fonts online or on your system or both.... yeah, the $65 per month is a bit for a small shop but the productivity and spot on abilities, not to mention the awesome customer tech support, that is unheard of -- so check em out, I went with Flexi from Gerber Omega and have never looked back, but that was back when Flexi cost me over $3,000 and so the monthly is a hands down deal with the support and free updates... dang I almost sound like an advertisement, but everyone I show how i click to vectorize or do a color trace is amazed and says, wow, thats way better than illustrator! duh! Have an awesome Cre8iv day and check out ThinkSai.com

 

[Notarealsignguy]

We use FlexiSign from Sai International, amazing vectorization at just a click and check out there FIND MY FONT Sai EDITION, you click on the letters to match and it searches about 278k fonts online or on your system or both.... yeah, the $65 per month is a bit for a small shop but the productivity and spot on abilities, not to mention the awesome customer tech support, that is unheard of -- so check em out, I went with Flexi from Gerber Omega and have never looked back, but that was back when Flexi cost me over $3,000 and so the monthly is a hands down deal with the support and free updates... dang I almost sound like an advertisement, but everyone I show how i click to vectorize or do a color trace is amazed and says, wow, thats way better than illustrator! duh! Have an awesome Cre8iv day and check out ThinkSai.com

Looks like an ad to me. FWIW, Autotrace from any program can be acceptable but it's never good.

 

[IsItFasst]

I second Eric at Vector Doctor. Been using him for years. But if I have a decent image and have some time on my hand for clean up, I have been using Graphic Tracer for several years. It seems to do a better job than Flexi and some of the other converters I have used. It too has a built in font finder that can save some time on clean-up if it can find a matching font. Nothing is as good as a hand trace, but it can get you close within a minute or two.

 

[ikarasu]

I mainly use Vector magic. As mentioned...it does do some weird things, its not perfect. I only use it for the clients that send me a shitty image, get advised their shitty image wont look good blown up to a 4x8, and tell me to just do it - I figure a quick autotrace makes it a lot better than printing as is... So if they dont want to pay for re-doing the artwork, a 10 second button click is good enough. Only downside is I dont think it's been updated in 5+ years... Its still one of the best programs out there, but you'd think there would be some advancements.

I've been meaning to try out Graphic tracer again - (They seem to be a big sponsor of the site and always have ads / forum posts...) https://www.graphicpowers.com/

I like the idea of font replacement - and its not "Too" expensive. 10 day free trial too... so I'll use it for the next week and compare it with Vector magic.

 

[spudboy834]

I vote that we bring back Adobe Streamline as it's own separate program. That was my go-to before it was absorbed into Illustrator.

 

[bob]

One does not convert bitmaps to vectors. These, bitmap and vector, are not interchangeable formats. When a vector image is converted to a bitmap it's a one way street. The original vector image can never, as in ever, be recreated from a bitmap. The best you can do is try to identify edges in the bitmap and create vector objects from these edges. That's what tracing software does. Some tracing software is better than others but none of it, nor any human, even the person that originally created the vector image, can reproduce the vector image from which a bitmap was created. The best you can do is achieve some level of 'no one will notice'.

 

[Goatshaver]

One does not convert bitmaps to vectors. These, bitmap and vector, are not interchangeable formats. When a vector image is converted to a bitmap it's a one way street. The original vector image can never, as in ever, be recreated from a bitmap. The best you can do is try to identify edges in the bitmap and create vector objects from these edges. That's what tracing software does. Some tracing software is better than others but none of it, nor any human, even the person that originally created the vector image, can reproduce the vector image from which a bitmap was created. The best you can do is achieve some level of 'no one will notice'.

I absolutely dislike the conversion because of the fact they are imperfect and virtually impossible to edit after. It's a quick fix IMO and only use it in a pinch.

 

[Mike Paul]

Vector Dr.

Eric is great.

 

[mobileartdept]

Looks like an ad to me. FWIW, Autotrace from any program can be acceptable but it's never good.

Well, not an ad but a good word of mouth reference for FlexiSign But your statement about autotrace, imo is correct for most, and yet some are clearly better than others imo better is good enough if it exceeds the clients expectations and it both effective and attractive in the final product... (I've spent too many hours doing it manually to enjoy doing it that way any more) imo after 25+ years in the signage industry... perfection is relative (and this perspective has saved me thousands as I have finally realized you cant please everyone nor do i have to

 

[Project Sign]

Is Vector magic that much better then Corel x7

 

[Bobby H]

I'm not a big fan of using auto-tracing functions unless I deliberately want to generate some roughened graphics effects.

The auto tracing stuff in Flexi (and CASmate prior to that) was decent. But it was a pain to clean up the paths in those applications.

The Live Trace and Live Paint features in Adobe Illustrator are not well suited for generating vinyl cutter friendly artwork. You can get some of the way there by playing around with the settings. But it's still frustrating. Out of Adobe's stuff the thing I actually prefer using is Photoshop and its Create Work Path command. First I'll use the Color Range dialog box to generate a selection from the pixel-based artwork. Create Work Path generates a vector path from that selection. And it usually does so by creating closed vector shapes, unlike Illustrator's Live Trace/Paint filter. I think the results are comparable and maybe in some cases better than the tracing system in Flexi. You can feather selections and numerically choose pixel-level thresholds with the conversion. Obviously higher resolution pixel imagery will generate more accurate results.

I don't really like Corel's raster to vector conversion results all that much.

For clean, more precise results there is no substitute for re-building vector art from a pixel-based source by hand. Fonts are easy enough to scale and place (when you have them). Some hand conversions require some thought to get the best results. Anything with mathematical patterns, systems, symmetry, etc needs to be taken into account. Otherwise the end result just isn't going to look right, even if all the finished line work is clean.

I vote that we bring back Adobe Streamline as it's own separate program. That was my go-to before it was absorbed into Illustrator.

That's going way way back in time. I remember Streamline being bundled with Adobe Illustrator 4.0 back in the early 1990's. It also came with an applet called Type Align. IIRC, that later became Type Twister. All those functions were folded into Illustrator itself. I still have my vintage Photoshop 2.5 & Illustrator 4.0 boxes as a collector's item. It's a trip how those applications were able to fit on a few floppy discs (see attached image).

 

[RiXaX]

Been a Flexi user for many years, but the bitmap tracing I'm getting with Graphic Tracer is far superior.