Page 1 of 2

Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Fri May 15, 2020 12:10 pm
by meredithpete
Having tried many and varied different approaches to solve this ongoing conundrum and understand the protocol and methodology properly to achieve consistent results importing files of client company logos so they may be converted to a vector file tidied up in V Carve Pro, exported as a tool path and carved with Mach 3.

I have watched the tutorials and read various posts and researched the topic but still struggle, hence now reaching out to the community.

Sometime the importation and redrawing in V Carve flows through smoothly, other times not at all, with V carve point blank rejecting the file, no matter what format I convert it to, sometimes it accepts it and it is so granulated due to poor definition, requiring a huge amount of time to re draw.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how this works and is a case of frustration. I have tried importing these files in various different ways and formats. They are generally simple line drawings JPEG, PNG Etc...

I would very much appreciate any new information and guidelines to assist with this.

Thanks in advance for your responses

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Fri May 15, 2020 12:37 pm
by garylmast
When you open a new file hold Ctrl and Shift when you hit enter. Then change the resolution to Maximum. That will help when you're trying to trace the bitmap.

Gary

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Fri May 15, 2020 12:38 pm
by mtylerfl
Hi,

Some images don’t work well for auto-tracing if they are very low resolution. If gathering images from “the web”, they may look good on a computer screen, but are often poor quality candidates for auto-tracing when enlarged (jaggy pixel edges, for example).

It is helpful to search for and use the highest resolution image you can find. Even then, the traced vectors will need some manual intervention to yield a clean, carvable result.

Many of us will manually trace from the get-go, when practical. This assures “clean vectors”. Depending upon the image, I may use a combination of an auto-trace as well as manual drawing/tracing. Use whatever strategy that will give the best quality result in the end.

I did find the Vectric tracing and vector drawing video tutorials very helpful when first starting with the software. You mentioned watching them too, so that should cover most of the details of the drawing and vector editing process. (Holler for help if you don’t understand something in a tutorial.)

As far as the software “rejecting” a supported image file format, this doesn’t make sense to me. Please attach one or two of the original image files you are having trouble with so we can help figure out what is going on with that.

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Fri May 15, 2020 5:19 pm
by highpockets
I'm with Michael, I've never seen a supported image file rejected unless it was a corrupt file to begin with.

Can you post one of the image files you are getting poor results using the Trace tool....

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Sat May 16, 2020 2:57 pm
by martin54
The only real way to ensure the vectors are good for toolpathing is to redraw from scratch, unfortunately there isn't a short cut for this it is one of those things that takes time to learn to do well. Michael has given some good tips on a starting point. Other things that can help is to use a photo editing program to improve the quality of images before importing but again this may require some degree of learning to get the best results. If your using the auto trace then don't enlarge the bitmap image when you import it, trace it at the imported size & then enlarge the vectors, resizing first will reduce the quality of the image & make it harder for the auto trace program to convert.
If you are dealing with Company logos then there are a couple of things you can do, firstly ask the Company for the artwork in the correct format, some will be able to supply it that way others won't but may be able to supply a higher rez version of the artwork. They may also be able to obtain the correct format from their designer or put you in touch with the Company that designed their logo. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Sat May 16, 2020 7:51 pm
by TReischl
Bering the old curmudgeon that I am, I gave up on "auto" trace programs long ago. But I also have the time and am not running production or a business.

IMHO the real trick is finding a piece of software that works for you when manually tracing. I have not tried them all, but sure as heck most of them. They are not all created equal. It has a lot to do with what a person is used to also. For a long time I used Corel for tracing and I have a custom set up for it with hot keys, etc. I moved away from it about a year ago in favor of another piece of software that works extremely well for me.

The other important thing is the ability to recognize patterns. Quite often only a fraction of the entire artwork needs to be traced, then pieces are rotated, mirrored, copied, etc. It is also handy to be able to recognize "mechanical" artwork. Art that is based on mechanical drawings. A lot of company logos are created that way.

There is no silver bullet that I have found. . . . .

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Sat May 16, 2020 10:19 pm
by BillK
My goto has become my iPad, an Apple pencil, and an app from Autodesk called sketchbook. I import the photo there, trace what I want on another layer in black lines, bring the black line jpeg into Aspire let it draw the vectors and go.

Works well for me.
Original
Original
Trace from iPad
Trace from iPad
Carving
Carving
Original
Original
Partial trace
Partial trace
Carving
Carving

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Sun May 17, 2020 12:34 am
by highpockets
Nice work Bill, I'd say you have the process down pat...

Thanks for sharing....

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 9:27 am
by meredithpete
Thank you All for your responses. Much appreciated.
Some of you asked to see the file which cannot open in my V Carve Pro to hopefully identify why or what I am doing wrong.
Please find attached 2 files as the current headache files.
They are simple images lifted from the web sent to me by my client to simply carve into solid oak sign board for his house sign.

Done various of these over recent years, and have had mixed successes, some images flow straight through brilliantly with little or no manual tweaking of vectors once traced. Others required changing file types from JPEG to PNG then ended up coming in ok.

Thank you Gary for your advice, I will give this a try. However in the mean time please find attached files and look forwards very much you responses and observations.

Thanks Pete

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 9:41 am
by Adrian
The first one will trace no problem if it's set to black and white as the edges are nice and crisp.

The elephant one is a different matter. That is very heavily pixelated and the auto trace won't handle that even with the noise filter turned right up. Tracing manually wouldn't be an issue though as the human brain can fill in where the edge actually is whereas the program just sees a lot of squares.

The key with the images is the quality of the edges. Those two pictures are the perfect example of what is acceptable and what is not.

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 12:47 pm
by Adrian
Re-reading your post it sounds like you can't load those images into VCarve. Is that correct?

How are you trying to do it? They are bitmaps so you need to import them as such. Use the last icon on the first row of File Operations or the File/Import/Import Bitmap menu.

Is that the original files that the customer supplied you or have you taken screenshots of them and posted them? If they are the originals then I can't see an issue with actually importing them as they import fine for me. As mentioned in my previous post the Ganesh image is far too pixelated to be of any use for an auto trace.

The Ganesh image is a thumbnail from a site selling that image. If a client sends me an image like that then I will either purchase the full image (ideally in a vector format) myself if I think it's something I can sell to more people or I will get the customer to purchase the image themselves. The latter is the only legal way to do it with some image licensing agreements.

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 2:17 pm
by meredithpete
Thank you Adrian for your response.
I actually cannot get hem to load. If I can get them to load I can use all the normal tracing and or drawing techniques to create suitable tool paths to carve with.

I appreciate all your comments regards clarity and have tried all bitmap import processes. With these 2 files I cannot get them to load and have tried allI can think of.

The message I receive from the computer which ever way i try is as per the attached screen shot.

Further comment wield be much appreciated.

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 2:28 pm
by gregk
Hi,

I've tried importing all of the images that you've attached in VCarve Pro 9.519 without any issues. Since forum could have changed the images, could you zip those images and attach zip file instead? This way we will be sure that the files are exactly the same as on your computer.

Greg K

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 3:57 pm
by mtylerfl
Hi Pete,

This is a long shot, but try renaming one of the files with a shorter name and NO periods except for the one that comes right before the file extension (.jpg or . png)

Maybe just rename one of the jpg images to Test.jpg

After that, try importing that image again to see if it cooperates. Let us know, please.

Re: Importing logos and image files so they can be vectorised!!!

Posted: Mon May 18, 2020 6:46 pm
by meredithpete
Thank you for your attention.
I will indeed try and rename the files as suggest removing period etc....
Please also find attached zipped versions.

This is a long shot so gonna throw it out there.
In the office her we have a I Mac I use for all correspondence for my little operation. Indeed is used to google search pencil drawings etc.... They get saved down on to a USB stick. Generally called whatever it is called by default.
I then move across to our windows based Laptop which I use for the drawing in V Carve and my partner uses for her work. I open V Carve and try and import the Bitmaps files from the flash stick.

Again there has been varying levels of success and failures using this method.

Could it be the crossing over of Operating Systems????

Thanks Pete