Vectric Customer

Hi All

Basically my first post here, so please be gentle with me.

I wish to import a jpeg into Vcarve Pro 9. OK, in comes the jpeg, I use the Trace Bitmap tool, play with the sliders until I'm happy and then apply. Image comes in.. a little more tweaking.

Now to the "issue" if I can call it that. The vectors have appeared on both sides of a line, as if that line had a thickness. So when machined the tool cuts both sides....
Original jpeg with 3 lines.
Same lines but the tool path will machine both sides.


How can I get the imported lines to only be one pass of the tool?

My apologies if I haven't explained it very well....


Thanks in advance for your time, help and suggestions..

The trace tool was originally designed (from what I've read in old post) for VCarve toolpaths which require inner and outer vectors so a centre line trace isn't possible.

You'll need to delete the extra vectors or manually trace. I very rarely auto trace anything these days as manual tracing is often more accurate and faster without the cleaning up afterwards.

There are some excellent videos on tracing in the Tips and Tricks section of the support website.

The trace function draws a vector where the color changes. A black line has two edges, one on each side. So the trace tool draws two vectors. That's just how it works.

Manual tracing is not that difficult once you practice it. It is what I do.

Separate one of the lines with a node edit?

Use the measure tool to find the half-way point between the two lines. In some cases, you may need to cut the vectors so you have a single line, instead of a closed vector (like your black lines example.) Offset one of the lines by that "half-way" amount (keeping the original, as a visual reference). That should yield a single line between the two. Delete the original outlines or put the original lines on a different layer and turn off visibility (in case you need them again for some reason).