[diarmaid]

Ok, so I want to convert raster to vector so I can put ',dxf' designs into the V-Carve Pro competition and win myself some free Vector Art 3D designs!!

Anyway, I downloaded InkScape to use it for converting into vectors and I can't seem to do it. Below is the process Im following. Please tell me where Im going wrong?

STEP 1: First I draw my picture then make sure its selected with the arrows around it.

STEP 2: Then I select the menu option 'Path' and 'Trace Bitmap' giving me the dialog box in the 2nd picture below.

STEP 3: As in the 2nd image below, I then click on 'Preview' and outside the dialog box, on the bottom of the screen, it says 'Select Image to Trace'.

STEP 4: I then try and select the image outside the dialogue box as shown in the last image, but my dialogue box goes behind my window and nothing seems to be happening....

Please help...

[ger21]

The "picture" your drawing is already made up of vectors. Have you tried just saving as .dxf? I have Inkscape installed, but only played with it once. I don't believe it has any raster drawing tools, does it?

[dertsap]

i dont think you need to trace ,have you tryed simply saving the drawing as a dxf file
i beleave the trace is only for image files

[diarmaid]

Thanks for teh reply Dertsap,

I tried saving as DXF but when I opened it in the trial version of VCarve Pro, I got the error message below, which Im not entirely sure what it means.

InkScape was recommended to me for converting bmp into vectors that I could route with Mach3, so Im sure it works somehow...?? However, I may very well be mistaken. Any other ideas?

[diarmaid]

I saved it as an *.eps file in inkscape instead of as a *.dxf and it imported into PhotoVCarve fine as shown below. Thats great as I can do stuff now, but I want to know why dxf doesn't work?
I get an error message when I save in ANY file format in InkScape saying that some information may be lost but since it always happens and eps file worked I dont think its relevant.

[dertsap]

ive used it to convert images but i havent used it for anything else , its incredible how well it converts bitmap , to vector , when i add the dxf file to artcam the picture comes out really good

[ger21]

Download the .dxf converter from www.a9tech.com and convert the .dxf to a different format. Although apparently now you don't need to.

[Tony Mac]

Hi Diarmaid,

Glad to see you are using InkScape - It's a great Free conversion program!

We recommend that users Save As = EPS from InkSacape as this file format will retain any curves in a design ad bezier spans. The DXF file format will does not support bezier curves and will almost certainly convert them to poly-lines (point to point lines) that will not give the same quality when machining.

The error message you see in VCarve Pro simply means the file does not include the DXF file version in the header so VCPro attempts to read it as version 12 DXF data.

I hope this helps,

Tony

[diarmaid]

dertsap: Yeah, I've converted a few detailed bmp scans using it now and its really great.

ger: Thanks ger, that link is very useful, but I think Im going to stay with Inkscape for the moment, at least until I get my head around it. One program at a time!

Tony: Thanks Tony. That explains the error message in VCarve. I guess .eps it is! No need for .dxf anyway. .....Any hints for how to win the competition?

[sanddrag]

Turns out that the Windows version of Inkscape doesn't include the AutoCAD DXF export (only the Desktop Cutting Plotter DXF export) which will not open in AutoCAD (or anything else I tried). The kind of ironic thing is that the Linux version of Inkscape does include the AutoCAD DXF export (which is ironic because there isno autocad on linux), and it works just beautifully.

Inkscape is in the ubuntu linux package repositories. sudo apt-get install inkscape should do the trick.

Well, I tried out linux, and it didn't show the AutoCAD DXF export in there either. Turns out, I needed pstoedit, and didn't have it. So, you've gotta get pstoedit. It is in the universe repository. You can get it through synaptic, and then get whatever other stuff it says goes with it. And I had to do a distro upgrade. Anyway, it is all well and good now (on Ubuntu 6.10). Works great.

[thkoutsidthebox]

That's true sanddrag,
I found this out trying to import to NCplot for generating G-code, but you can get around it by opening the Inkscape file in 'CamBam' which is a great free program. Then just re-save it in CamBam which is the correct .dxf format.

[Glidergider]

I spotted this tread and another like it, so I downloaded Inkscape for a test ride. I'm sorry to say, I can't get it to save any vector information. I was able to take a jpg file, convert to gray scale and generate vectors. Then when saving to either dxf or eps, VcarvePro said no dice. There was not vector data in the file.

Any ideas? Like I said, I got vectors to be created using the Shift+alt+B command.
Dave

[thkoutsidthebox]

Try using the menu options to 'Trace Bitmap' instead of the shift + +. After tracing the bitmap, you will be left with two overlapping pictures. Move the vector one out of the way and delete the bitmap one. Then save as .eps for V-Carve Pro. It works fine for me with VCP so you will get it working.

Look at Post number '180' in this thread, I give a detailed description:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...t=15995&page=5

Note: In the post linked, I forgot to mention the deleting of the bitmap image, so make sure to do that before saving. I think you delete after Step.6 and before Step.7 in the post linked.

[Glidergider]

Hey Think,
I'll give that a try. Thanks for the instructions. I did most if not all those steps previously, but not necessarily with the quantization option. I also didn't delete the bit map picture before trying to save.
Dave

[thkoutsidthebox]

You probably saved the bitmap by accident. Please let us know if it works ok.

[Tony Mac]

Hi Dave,

You may need to have the vectors selected when you use the File > Save As = EPS option?

Tony

[Glidergider]

As stated previously, I did get some vectors to show up. Also, I noticed that in the trace mode, I accidently converted the color picture to gray scale. I figured that was good. From there, I couldn't get any more changes. I'm not sure which button did what, as they were unresponsive after turning to gray scale.

I'm not sure what button actually caused the vectors to be created. The vectors were faint, but they were there. They were also 'living'. I mean if I picked a different part of the gray image, the vectors would change.

I saw the potential, I just didn't know how to harness the energy. I'll try again tonight.

Dave

[thkoutsidthebox]

Im getting more and more curious. I'll try to emulate your problem later.

[Glidergider]

Good news. I finally got the vectors from Inkscape to transfer, thanks to the detailed instructions of thkoutsidethebox. VcarvePro accepted the data and I was able to cut simulated material.

I still need a better understanding of the variables in the trace program. So much to learn, so little time. This is a neat tool and has loads of potential.
Dave

[thkoutsidthebox]

Oh good, now I'll save time instead of trying to get the same problem, so what was wrong? Thanks.