One more thing, is there a way to set the 'sensitivity' down so if there happens to be a slight miscolor in the pict it just paints over that? So when you 'paint' you don't see a few small circles in the middle where the color happened to be slightly different to the computer but not your eye?
I could send a screen show if you don't understand what I'm asking.
New way to trace bitmaps
-
firstcut
- Posts: 1822
- Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 6:19 pm
- Location: FL; SCAL1, SCAL2; Mac; Ink .47, AI CS4
- Contact:
Re: New way to trace bitmaps
OK, Milangal, here we go...
1) There's no black canvas, I just drew a black rectangle and placed it behind my image. Simply drawing an unfilled black rectangle would have done the same thing as you just want to put a boundary around the image if it doesn't have one.
2) To change the color of the stroke, simply shift-click on the color bar at the bottom. You can also use Object>Fill and Stroke and go to the stroke tab, but shift-clicking is much easier.
3) Regarding the sensitivity, yes, it is the Threshold setting that appears at the top of the screen when the paint bucket is selected. Higher numbers include more variations of the color in the trace. What I do if my standard 2 for b&W or 5 for color doesn't work is set it higher, then click on a part of the image and see if I like the results. If not, a simple backspace deletes that shape and you can change the threshold and try again. The great thing is that you can set a different sensitivity and/or grow/fill setting for every click of the paint bucket if you need to, which gives you so much more control than autotrace.
Don't forget that the zoom level will also affect your results. The optimum zoom level is where you get the whole image on the screen at the largest size where the lines look smooth.
By the way, I love these questions as it lets me know someone is watching!
1) There's no black canvas, I just drew a black rectangle and placed it behind my image. Simply drawing an unfilled black rectangle would have done the same thing as you just want to put a boundary around the image if it doesn't have one.
2) To change the color of the stroke, simply shift-click on the color bar at the bottom. You can also use Object>Fill and Stroke and go to the stroke tab, but shift-clicking is much easier.
3) Regarding the sensitivity, yes, it is the Threshold setting that appears at the top of the screen when the paint bucket is selected. Higher numbers include more variations of the color in the trace. What I do if my standard 2 for b&W or 5 for color doesn't work is set it higher, then click on a part of the image and see if I like the results. If not, a simple backspace deletes that shape and you can change the threshold and try again. The great thing is that you can set a different sensitivity and/or grow/fill setting for every click of the paint bucket if you need to, which gives you so much more control than autotrace.
Don't forget that the zoom level will also affect your results. The optimum zoom level is where you get the whole image on the screen at the largest size where the lines look smooth.
By the way, I love these questions as it lets me know someone is watching!
-
lindamac
- Posts: 1032
- Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 2:57 pm
- Location: Arizona-SCAL1, SCAL2,SCAL3 Inkscape,Silhouette Cameo
Re: New way to trace bitmaps
I just watched both your videos and they are so very helpful. Very easy to understand. Thanks so much for sharing.
Re: New way to trace bitmaps
Thanks! I'm going to try this!!