Can I vectorize a rastered image

V
Posted By
vikette
May 18, 2005
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425
Replies
12
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Closed
I have a good quality scan of a logo which I’d like to make into a vector image so that I can use the curvy components as design elements on a web page. I’m an experienced Photoshop user but completely inept when it comes to making paths, and can never control the curviness properly. Of course when I make a selection it’s got all the rough pixelation.

Using CS on Win XP. Appreciate any help!
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TD
Thee_DarkOverLord
May 18, 2005
You just need to practice more working with the bezier handels, tracing your self is the only option in photoshop, but if you have illustrator or Corel draw, it has a trace auto tool.
SA
sm_adelhoff
May 18, 2005
The ultimate pen tutorial <http://www.gurusnetwork.com/tutorial/pen>

Sven
V
vikette
May 18, 2005

[sigh] Yes, I guess I should practice more with the bezier tools. Meanwhile, I’ll go hunt down someone with Illustrator or CorelDraw.

Thanks for the link to the pen tutorial, Sven. It’s useful to see a pen tutorial written by a photo manipulator like myself rather than an artist with graphic pads and a steady hand.
PC
Pierre_Courtejoie
May 18, 2005
See also: Phosphor, "Vectorize – A Quick Tutorial (by Mathias and Pierre)" #, 16 Apr 2004 12:53 am </cgi-bin/webx?50>
S
Sepen
May 18, 2005
vikette,

Be warned though that even with the trace tools in Illustrator and Draw, a degree of tweaking will probably be required which means not having to draw from scratch but does still mean needing to use the pen tool.

Try thinking of it like riding a bike. I know that’ll get a groan but it really kind of is that way. Once you get used to it, you’ll find that your hand doesn’t have to be as steady with the pen tool as it does with most of the brush tools you use in Photoshop every day.
BL
Bob Levine
May 18, 2005
The new live trace tool in Illustrator takes this to a new level.

Bob
V
vikette
May 18, 2005
Thanks for the advice and links. I’ll do my best to learn the pen properly. At least with Photoshop we know that any time spent learning a technique is well rewarded.
R
RSD99
May 18, 2005
Adobe Streamline
Corel Draw
Adobe Illustrator
and *possibly* Serif DrawPlus

all have the ability to convert bitmaps to vector art.

wrote in message
I have a good quality scan of a logo which I’d like to make into a vector
image so that I can use the curvy components as design elements on a web page. I’m an experienced Photoshop user but completely inept when it comes to making paths, and can never control the curviness properly. Of course when I make a selection it’s got all the rough pixelation.
Using CS on Win XP. Appreciate any help!
GU
Glenn_UK
May 18, 2005
I’m sure you’re probably well familiar with this, but thought I’d mention it on the off chance you’ve overlooked it…

All those raster>vector modules are probably a good way to go (i reckon the one in Flash can be as good as most for straightforward stuff) but, if you’re more comfortable working with what you know, I’d just remind you of how using Alt when converting selection to path gives you the PixelTolerance option..?

Depending on your particular logo you might get away with fiddling with the tolerance level (it takes .5 px values) to cope with the pixelation you mention…?
N
NWEST1
May 18, 2005
18 May 2005

Adobe Streamline should handle this for you nicely. It is quite reasonable if you need to convert on a regular basis.

I noted someone gave a site for a tutorial for the pen tool. I need to check it out as I am a klutz with the bezier stuff.

Norm frrm Texas
C
Corey
May 19, 2005
wrote in message
I have a good quality scan of a logo which I’d like to make into a vector
image so that I can use the curvy components as design elements on a web page. I’m an experienced Photoshop user but completely inept when it comes to making paths, and can never control the curviness properly. Of course when I make a selection it’s got all the rough pixelation.
Using CS on Win XP. Appreciate any help!

If you work at a high enough resolution, you can make a selection of your raster image and then create a custom shape or define the selection as a work path. This is done from the Paths Palette. Defining a Custom Shape is done under Edit. The trick is to get the resolution high enough to where pixels don’t matter. adjusting the tolerance of the Work Path is a good place to start. Tweaking the paths and adding or deleting anchor points can also be beneficial.

Peadge 🙂
BH
Bobby_Henderson
May 19, 2005
Auto-tracing utilities and even the "make work path" function in Photoshop can work for a lot of things. But if you need a clean, polished vector graphic it will take manually drawing (or at least manually tweaking) the paths. Photoshop’s pen tool is excellent for manually digitizing natural objects. For more technical looking items and other things with more obvious geometric types of detail, you have to defer to drawing programs like Illustrator.

The pen tutorial linked by Sven is pretty good. It pays to get familiar with using the keyboard shortcuts in conjunction with the pen tool. I can hit the tab key to hide all the toolbars. With the shortcuts, I rarely ever need to go back to the toolbar until the clipping path or object is finished.

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