ewen.jamie

How to deal with customers who only have .jpg images

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The number one problem I have is people wanting me to turn their logo into a vinyl image, but all they have for me are these crazy little .jpg that are in terrible condition.  How do you handle this situation?  I either bite it and just "re create" the image or try to find someone else who can do it for me.  But its so much work! What do you guys do?:thumbsup:

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I trace the image and charge accordingly.  I charge anywhere from $10 - $50 depending on complexity.  $50 would be a complex multicolor hand trace (about a 2 hour job).  $10 would be a simple auto trace with a little clean up.  I don't usually charge if I can get an acceptable auto trace that doesn't need clean up.

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The problem is that it takes time - even with really good skills and specialized software to work with crappy .jpg images.  rrc1962 is right - CHARGE THEM!  They can pay money - or they can get you a better image.  If it is a picture of something that exists - like a graphic on their vehicle or sign they can get a high res picture.

If you are forced to work with a crappy .jpg try increasing the resolution to get something better to work with.

Check out PhotoZoom Pro 3 -- looks neat I already had a program that does an OK job and didn't buy this one.

http://www.benvista.com/photozoompro

I still use Image Compressor 2008 Pro to generate more pixels in an image before I try and trace it - it helps if the image has some detail to start with -- I have gotten some tiny pics at low resolutions where there just isn't anything to see once you blow it up --

Then hand tracing or auto tracing is a whole 'nother story -- I'm guessing you already know how to do it so I won't go into that.

-Mike

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What about an image like this one that I've attached?  It's so tiny and full of detail, and you would THINK that an organization like this would have an .eps file on hand.  But nope, just a blurry .jpg! I actually don't know how to do any vectorizing on my flexi other then the brezier button.  Sometimes i wish I could hire someone to spend a day with me and teach me all the amazing things my programs can do that I'm oblivious to.

post-2233-12986557060879_thumb.jpg

post-2233-1298655707431_thumb.jpg

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What about an image like this one that I've attached?  It's so tiny and full of detail, and you would THINK that an organization like this would have an .eps file on hand.  But nope, just a blurry .jpg! I actually don't know how to do any vectorizing on my flexi other then the brezier button.  Sometimes i wish I could hire someone to spend a day with me and teach me all the amazing things my programs can do that I'm oblivious to.

All you would need to create this relatively quickly is the logo.  I rarely ever trace text.  Much faster to just find the right font and add it that way.  As you can see, the logo is available on Brands of the World.  If it weren't available already in vector format, I'd hand trace it which would be about a half hour job.  For a logo like this, you could probably google up a better jpeg to work with.  For one off logos, you're pretty much stuck with whatever the customer brings you.

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The brands of the world website is perfect.  Thank you! When you say trace, do you mean trace by hand? or with node-editing or whatever you would call it? Probably sounds like a crazy question.

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The brands of the world website is perfect.  Thank you! When you say trace, do you mean trace by hand? or with node-editing or whatever you would call it? Probably sounds like a crazy question.

Yes, trace by hand. 

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The number one problem I have is people wanting me to turn their logo into a vinyl image, but all they have for me are these crazy little .jpg that are in terrible condition.  How do you handle this situation?  I either bite it and just "re create" the image or try to find someone else who can do it for me.  But its so much work! What do you guys do?:thumbsup:

Perhaps I've misunderstood and you are only doing this for friends..... If this is indeed a business venture for you; isn't that one of the reasons for your existance and another expected service you offer?

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If you have a higher level of flexi with tracing features enabled (not flexi starter)  you can import the bitmap and do a color trace - then adjust the nodes by hand.  If you only have flexi starter you should look at Inkscape - it will do a nice job tracing bitmap graphics -- Do take care to clean up the bitmap before importing into your program for tracing.  Search the forum for tutorials on vectorizing - auto tracing - hand tracing on this forum -there are some very good tutorials made by members here.  You can also find lots of stuff on Utube and other video sites.

-Mike

edge -  When I started out I spent WAYYYY too much time getting something cuttable designed from a business card scan - if I had tried to charge for the hours I spent doing the job (due to my inexperience) I would have killed any chance of repeat work from these customers.  I got the sense that was what she was asking about in the original post.  You are right that is part of the service - and when you are starting out you will spend more time than you can reasonable bill on some jobs -- I chalked mine up to paying my dues - and I still try to get better and faster each time.

-Mike

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If you have a higher level of flexi with tracing features enabled (not flexi starter)  you can import the bitmap and do a color trace - then adjust the nodes by hand.  If you only have flexi starter you should look at Inkscape - it will do a nice job tracing bitmap graphics -- Do take care to clean up the bitmap before importing into your program for tracing.  Search the forum for tutorials on vectorizing - auto tracing - hand tracing on this forum -there are some very good tutorials made by members here.  You can also find lots of stuff on Utube and other video sites.

-Mike

edge -  When I started out I spent WAYYYY too much time getting something cuttable designed from a business card scan - if I had tried to charge for the hours I spent doing the job (due to my inexperience) I would have killed any chance of repeat work from these customers.   I got the sense that was what she was asking about in the original post.  You are right that is part of the service - and when you are starting out you will spend more time than you can reasonable bill on some jobs -- I chalked mine up to paying my dues - and I still try to get better and faster each time.

-Mike

I have FlexiSIGN-PRO. So I know I can do more then I think I can.

And Mike is right that even though I've been doing this for 3 years, I am completely self taught, and do this out of my kitchen while being a stay-at-home-mommy to 4 kids.  If I charge these people for the time it takes me to learn, I'll never get a job like this where I  CAN learn.  That's why I'm here asking questions. So that next time maybe I'll know how to do it a little faster, and spend more time playing with play-doe. =)

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there is great stuff on here on how to vectorize flexi pro is awsome for vectorizing ,if you get on ebay look for flexi tutorials mark rugen has all the flexi tutorials their pretty reasonable 100.00 for the book which is great ,the vidieos are great too i own all of them best money i ever spent

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This is all awesome info!! Thank you!!! I can't believe I hadn't figured out color trace... I always tried highlighting something, when all I had to do was simply CLICK on an area of color!! Oh my gosh! I'm sure there is still So. much. more.  Seriously, thanks for taking the time to help.

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You are on your way now -- look for more video tutorials -- they will show you things you might not find just trying to do things in the program or reading the manual.

-Mike

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Remember, you are there for the customers convenience and not the other way around. The solution I came up with for that problem is a great open source program called inkscape. It will trace a jpg. and convert it to vector easy as pie. The best part is that open source means it's free so you don't have to charge much extra if anything at all. hope this helps.

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astrological  I agree inkscape is a really great program - and spending time learning the ins & outs of it will pay off.

-Mike

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Loveletters,

  One of the things I do is refer people to Graphic Designers I work with. We're busy and don't have time or a person to do artwork. The nice thing is that since it's digital you don't have to worry about the guy or girl being in the same town.

Luckily, we have a company that goes to our church that does graphic design and websites. I also know a guy close to NY that does it at a reasonable cost per hour and does it really fast.

I know a guy in Oregan too if you're interested. He's really good, and does a lot of his own designs. You can probably find him on screenprinters.net and look in the Artist section.

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Graphic designers don't always understand how to design cutable artwork.  I got one today that looked great in print, but it was a mess to cut.  It was faster to hand trace a jpeg than use the original AI file.

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Google "Megaupload Vector Magic", there's a pirate version of a great easy to use software that a buddy of mine used to use to automaticly turn most halfway decent jpg's into vectors. I personally do a manual trace and charge accordingly with a $60 minimum. Usually when you charge them for design work they work a little harder to find the original ai or eps they were sent when they had it created in the first place.

If you're morally opposed to pirate software that the creator just stole from Stanford in the first place then they charge about $8 per month for the online version at their site.

RG

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