One Line Turns To Three!

[MadStickerLab 0]

Hi,

I have a newbie question for you. Using Inkscape I imported a bitmap of a vehicle and then hand traced it. I then deleted the bitmap and tweeked my drawing until I thought it was perfect.

Although this is for a vinyl cutter (not printing colors), I decided to throw a solid color into the design so that I could get a better look at how it would turn out. But when I did that I got a surprise.

The color would not fill to the egde of my drawing. It was as if it was filling to some invisible line close to, but not up to, my outline.

I then imported the .eps into Sign Blazer, choosing Use Full Post Script Interpreter and that is when I saw what the issue was. My one outline was actually three!

I believe I have missed a step, but am unsure as to what it might be. Any ideas?

[MadStickerLab 0]

I am attaching a copy of the .eps if anyone wants to take a look. It is acting very strangely

Vehicle.eps

Vehicle.eps

[MadStickerLab 0]

Wow! After further investigation I think I am finding that my vehicle did NOT save as a vactor image. SignBlazer tells me it is a bitmap.

Can someone explain what I may have done wrong after I drew this that causedit to save as a bitmap and not a vector image?

Thanks!

I'm learning! 

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

Vectorising in Inkscape

SolutionThis walk through explains the basics of vectorising in Inkscape.

Step 1) Import your image. Click File>Import, find your file and click OK.

Step 2) Select the image, go to the top of the screen, click Path>Trace Bitmap.

Step 3) The Trace Bitmap menu will then open. Here you can select how you want your image vectorised and adjust the settings. You can also generate a preview. Once you are happy with the preview click OK and close the Trace Bitmap screen.

Step 4) Now you will have your new vector image and the old raster (bitmap, jpeg, gif etc) image stacked on top of each other. Seperate the two and delete the raster.

Step 5) Play around with your new vector image!

[MadStickerLab 0]

If I decide to hand trace my image from a bitmap, don't I do that by hand and not use the TRACE BITMAP option?

What is the best format to save it in when I am done?

Thanks so much for replying!

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

delete the bitmap and save it as an .eps

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

delete the bitmap and save it as an .eps

there is two images there. A yellow circle/with text and a  part of a vehicle

[MadStickerLab 0]

I have done a retrace and it still seems to be doing the same thing. It looks great in Inkscape, but strange in SignBlazer. Here is a copy of the latest one....and thos time it is indicating that it is a vector drawing.

Will it cut ragged as it appears in SignBlazer?

Dontest.eps

Dontest.eps

Dontest.eps

Dontest.eps

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

that looks nothing like the other picture.  just a pointed square. ?

[MadStickerLab 0]

Wow! It looks nothing like it does in Inkscape. Does this have something to do with the way it is being saved? When I try to save it I choose SAVE AS EPS and then a box titled ENCAPSULATED POSTSCRIPT pops up.

The setting in that is:

RESTRICT TO PS LEVELS = Postscript Level 3

RESOLUTION FOR RASTERIZATION =  90

The following boxes are checked:

Rasterize Filter Effects

Export Area is Drawing

Export Area is Page

The rest is left blank. These are the default setings.

Is this possibly what is causing this?

Thanks again for your help!

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

just try and do a regular trace.  and see what you get.  with the instructions I gave you.  Your welcome  I  can;t help you  any longer,  gotta get back to work.

[MadStickerLab 0]

I'll give that a try