Please Help Corel vector Question

[jimmy21]

i can't see what your vector looked like. I don't know if this is any better than yours

bamboo.jpg

[jeffwerfree]

Thanks Jess, I will most definitely post pics of the finished product. I just had my computer cleaned by a pro and the tool in Corel work much better now. I'm getting lots of good practice.

[Tom Kuhn]

Jeff, after going back and re-reading your original post a 3rd time, I think I see what you're doing and I am sure that the VSD tool would take a long time for each use. Remember, it has to evaluate the entire polygon and your addition to find out what to keep/delete and the original polygon has a BUNCH of nodes to evaluate.

I've found that I have better luck in cleaning up the raster image BEFORE tracing. I can get a much better/cleaner tracing and they require much less clean-up effort if my initial efforts are directed at making the raster image better.

One thing I've found when working with "marginal" artwork as your original, if I take the color mask tool, and select a mask of the black (and dark gray) areas, then using the MASK tools, I can expand the mask (or grow it) one pixel at a time. This will eliminate the pin-holes in the middle of the black area which SHOULD have been black but were spattered with white dots, and it will "fill-in" the irregularities in the edges. Once the edges are better, I then reduce the mask back the same number of pixels I grew it to begin with. I will then use the MASK/SMOOTH tool to help eliminate some of the "jaggies" from low resolution, and once I have a decent mask, I'll paint the entire bitmap BLACK, then reverse the mask and paint the background WHITE. After that, removing the mask, and saving that file will give you a much better chance at a decent automated tracing.

I should probably do a quick video on the process some time to help explain it.

[jeffwerfree]

Jimmy, That looks great. What methods did you use to clean the image? It will probably trace much better. Tom, I may have to read your post a few times to understand it as I'm still experiencing the learning curve of the program, but definitely will give it give it a whirl. I also watched a video on Benvista Photozoom for cleaning up the jagged edges. Does anyone have any experience with this program? Should I get it or is it unnecessary?

This forum is awesome, thanks everyone for your help

[Tom Kuhn]

I also watched a video on Benvista Photozoom for cleaning up the jagged edges. Does anyone have any experience with this program? Should I get it or is it unnecessary?

Jeff, if you have CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 and not JUST CorelDRAW X5 you have the Photozoom plug-in. Should you get/use it? Well, I believe there's a number of members on the forum that are regular users of the process now. Nothing will make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but this will at least make it Nylon or Polyester... It goes a long way. Here's how to access it:

PZP.jpg

[jimmy21]

Jimmy, That looks great. What methods did you use to clean the image? It will probably trace much better. Tom, I may have to read your post a few times to understand it as I'm still experiencing the learning curve of the program, but definitely will give it give it a whirl. I also watched a video on Benvista Photozoom for cleaning up the jagged edges. Does anyone have any experience with this program? Should I get it or is it unnecessary?

This forum is awesome, thanks everyone for your help

i took it in photoshop and cleaned up the straight lines real quick, didn't spend much time on it at all. Then i did an autotrace in illustrator. I posted the vector in .AI format. Let me know if you want it in a different format or if i can help any further.

[jeffwerfree]

Tom, I'm having trouble understanding your method using color mask. There is a 'tolerance' function, but I'm unclear on how to expand/ grow the mask. Also, it turns out that I do have photozoom ( I was considering buying it ) I just had to register to get the unlock key. Anyhow, it's another new tool to learn.

[Tom Kuhn]

Tom, I'm having trouble understanding your method using color mask. There is a 'tolerance' function, but I'm unclear on how to expand/ grow the mask. Also, it turns out that I do have photozoom ( I was considering buying it ) I just had to register to get the unlock key. Anyhow, it's another new tool to learn.

Jeff, just put up a little video tutorial demonstrating the process HERE

[Kelly Harris]

Thanks Tom!

[jeffwerfree]

Thank you so much Tom. I couldn't ask for a more detailed explanation. I will definitely use this.

Edit: I must add that it's pretty cool that you took the opportunity to help in a way that will help so many other people.