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AutoTrace (convert raster image to vector)


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  • 4 weeks later...
7 hours ago, affinitydesignerfan said:

Such an important feature.

I do agree that it is a feature that Designer should eventually have but keep in mind that the coding required to do this is incredibly difficult. There is a reason that it took Adobe 18 years to add it to Illustrator. There are other free alternatives that you can use in the meantime while the developers work on it. It is a nice feature to have but there are other things that I'd prefer to have instead. 

 

Hokusai

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On ‎30‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 5:43 PM, Hokusai said:

I do agree that it is a feature that Designer should eventually have but keep in mind that the coding required to do this is incredibly difficult. There is a reason that it took Adobe 18 years to add it to Illustrator. There are other free alternatives that you can use in the meantime while the developers work on it. It is a nice feature to have but there are other things that I'd prefer to have instead. 

 

Hokusai

Free alternative is not a solution but a placebo or excuse. I don't know why is so difficult when also Serif DrawPlus, Inkscape or other very simple programs have it.

Btw this should be a post to let Affinity know how much they are in favor of introduction of this function, not to justify their lack. This kind of comments make you lose interest

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7 hours ago, daKroad said:

Free alternative is not a solution but a placebo or excuse. I don't know why is so difficult when also Serif DrawPlus, Inkscape or other very simple programs have it.

Btw this should be a post to let Affinity know how much they are in favor of introduction of this function, not to justify their lack. This kind of comments make you lose interest

daKroad,

 

I can understand how you'd prefer to have vectorization built into Designer and I agree, it would be nice but it is more difficult than you think to make it. I recommend that you read through this whole thread from the beginning, it has a lot of useful information in relation to vectorization. If you go back and read through this thread, you will read what the developers have said about it. You will also read about how difficult it is to create such functionality. The developers (from Serif) have said before that they did not feel that the vectorizer in DrawPlus was good enough, they want something better for Designer. The developers have said numerous times that they don't want to just add functionality that doesn't work well just to say that it is there. This is a good thing. 

 

Hokusai

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22 hours ago, Hokusai said:

daKroad,

 

I can understand how you'd prefer to have vectorization built into Designer and I agree, it would be nice but it is more difficult than you think to make it. I recommend that you read through this whole thread from the beginning, it has a lot of useful information in relation to vectorization. If you go back and read through this thread, you will read what the developers have said about it. You will also read about how difficult it is to create such functionality. The developers (from Serif) have said before that they did not feel that the vectorizer in DrawPlus was good enough, they want something better for Designer. The developers have said numerous times that they don't want to just add functionality that doesn't work well just to say that it is there. This is a good thing. 

 

Hokusai

 

Hello, Hokusai

It is indeed a good thing. Nevertheless, a vectorization tool is nothing but the transformation of bit information in a bitmap bidimensional plane into equations which change proportionally considering the situation of each bit in this plane.
15-20 years ago, this was a very tedious task to program configure and used to take too many resources in a computer. But today's are faster, and the programation paths and online resources and forums allow people to interact, discuss, join for common developing and code-chunks sharing. There are several vectorization options both in software format and online free tools. I honestly think that it is not a matter of technical challenge but a matter of budget (or maybe some arrangements still in discuss by Serif developers). Anyway, I got the feeling that Serif programmers are taking it too seriously and all they want is to release a perfect software, no matter how long it takes. Sometimes, it is better to release betas and discuss them in forums, so the interaction between users and developers makes the software evolve and efficient gradually.

It is a real pleasure to read comments here in the forum and discuss them, because it is the users the actual engine that shapes the software interfaces and capability.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I miss a tracer also very hard. Maybe Serif is developing the best algorithm ever and it will take 12 years more - In the meantime just a simple B/W tracer, for sketches or other not so complex material would be really great. 

OSX 12.5  / iMac Retina 27" / Radeon Pro 580X / Metall: on! --- WWG1WGA WW!

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7 hours ago, Polygonius said:

You are right. A tracer is not a tool i need permanently - and yeah, Inscape does it job great :-)

So, please keep your developing-ressources to much more "daily" stuff ;) 

What is absolutely a "daily" stuff? For someone a tracer is not a "daily" stuff, for some other it's a "daily" stuff ;)

For example i use daily a tracer and I would like to find it directly in Designer without need to open other programs, also if we talk about of the best tracer in the world.

Sure, if you can give to me a freeware, fastest and superb tracer, I could think to use it ;)

I use Inkscape from the 0.7 ver. It's a great program but is really slow and unstable yet.

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Well, right now, the painting tools are imo more important (to complete and perfect) in both apps (AD and AP), and even if auto-tracing a lot raster images in whoever's day tasks, if you want to do a good job with it, good finishing, no amateurish, then no matter how much you'd configure and fine tune the settings, both with a GUI or command line, with any third party or integrated tools (and I know quite about it, long experience with Potrace and its gui/reduced version inside Inkscape, solutions among the best available, and I used quite Illustrator's and third party tools, as well ! during years)  , you will have to -in 90% of the cases- re-paint/draw many of those lines as a final touch (and there's where you need painting tools and node tools to be perfect (reacting proportionally to pressure, having enough flexibility in nodes, etc): You could do all the work with just those!, but not with only the autotracer, instead), need to perfect the contours, and often will be faster to do so by hand with just firm pen drawing, after enough training, which is quite needed in the long run, anyway. Unless it's very detailed designs, auto ain't worth it. And even with those complex designs, the cleaning and/or shapes improvement can get way to long and clumsy, too (a workflow and pace enemy), when auto tracing. Also, ensuring that all color managed stuff works smooth, accurately and perfect, every feature you can export in a PDF for print, etc, all that needs to be ensured that is in a golden state. You want to ensure those things and similar stuff first of all, as no matter if you create your designs by autotracing, tracing by hand, or directly painting and/or mouse adding and fine tuning nodes (I rarely do tracing and even less auto tracing (as with enough practice, you end up faster and more perfect and getting efficient vectors doing it by hand), and I've been decades working as the only person for all works mmedia (I mean, icons and other UI things for apps), graphic design for web and print for very busy companies, covering every area one could think of. Knowing widely the typical tasks ...not saying it might not be the daily tool for some specific workflows in some area, for some people : But I seriously doubt tho it's daily stuff for the vast majority...

 

Inkscape in Windows has its crashes, yep, but tend to be repeatable, you easily learn what triggers (and most are bugs) them (so, can avoid them: I do. ) . The tracer in Inkscape is all you need to do a decent job, and once you get to learn which are the best settings for your usual purpose/usage, is pretty easy, fast and efficient, IMO. Still, even with the best settings, if you want a work well done, you have to edit quite the resulting nodes, maybe only with the nodes tools, or drawing directly some curves, depending on the type of the design, requirements or style. If you can be good to go with the direct output of an auto tracer from ANY of the available ones in the market, then... I will only say that then we work in very different manner and with very different output requirements... So, I think basic tools are way more important . IE, drawing/brush tools, node tools, distributing/aligning, the base of any vector package, and still there's a lot of other basic stuff that is essential and requires priority, attention and love (like in any starting package(it is, compared to the competing old dinosaurs))  IMO, before even considering an autotracer is a total must to consolidate them. Now... resources are limited here (and the main targets seem now improving AD and AP and works on the incoming APub. Remember, an autotracer is an ENTIRE 4th application what you are asking here.), we all know that... Couple it with the fact that the developers have already said is not a priority now for them... You first get a package that solidly cover all essentials to do art, design, (photo and general image editing in the case of AP), color managing, import and export in both. Compete with the basics of other suites, as that's what professionals (we) are going to be interested on. And then imo you might think of extra functionality for stuff that can be done with the basic tools... but would be the way of the Dodo to do so before consolidating  the basic pieces, IMO... 

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 25.10.2016 at 10:46 AM, Dave Harris said:

Autotrace will probably be a 2.x feature rather than a 1.x one. That's why we haven't put it in our roadmap. In other words, it's still years away.

@TonyB @Dave Harris @MEB

 

How many years are we talking about?

With the current speed between second version numbers it would be 2 more years at least.

That seems a bit long.

And if your expectation builds up over so many years the result can only be disappointing I guess. :)

What fancy features of a tracing persona are you thinking of?

 

And please no one answer that you should hand-trace everything anyways (then why are you writing, you already have the tools for that in Designer, go and handtrace something instead of writing here please).

And the second answer that has been worn out: Just use another tool for it.

Both these answer are prohibited. :D

And if you answer: please keep it short!

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Prohibited ? Short answers? Wow, you set more rules than the forum admins (which, as you aren't, no one has to follow, btw)....  ;) (looks like -after your post- what would be only "allowed" posting "here" in this particular thread is that the devs shall have the exact roadmap that one wants wants, then?, and opinions can only go in that direction ? )

Yet so, the key is yep, to use other tools for that function. Like it or not. See? At least I went with one of your rules. It was short, now.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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@SrPx If I hurt your feelings I am very sorry, but you really should write less and a bit more structured. But as you mentioned you do not have to follow my rules/wishes. Again, if your feelings were hurt I am sorry. Please try to not take things in internet forums too seriously. You could instead start a new project, maybe tracing something. Or spend more time with your loved ones. Sounds better than forum argumentation to me. If you are still offended feel free to send me a private message, because it really doesnt belong in this topic.

 

If anyone else got offended by my opinion I am sorry as well. But maybe it is so because there is some truth in my statements?

Do you already have the tools in Designer that you need to trace graphics with? If yes, you are in the wrong topic, if no you should start a topic about the tool you would like to have and you are still in the wrong topic here. Simple logic does the trick.

 

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2 hours ago, cassola said:

@SrPx If I hurt your feelings I am very sorry, but you really should write less and a bit more structured. But as you mentioned you do not have to follow my rules/wishes. Again, if your feelings were hurt I am sorry. Please try to not take things in internet forums too seriously. You could instead start a new project, maybe tracing something. Or spend more time with your loved ones. Sounds better than forum argumentation to me. If you are still offended feel free to send me a private message, because it really doesnt belong in this topic.

 

If anyone else got offended by my opinion I am sorry as well. But maybe it is so because there is some truth in my statements?

Do you already have the tools in Designer that you need to trace graphics with? If yes, you are in the wrong topic, if no you should start a topic about the tool you would like to have and you are still in the wrong topic here. Simple logic does the trick.

 

 

Quote

 

 

Oh, you didn't, never would be able... That was sarcasm in my side.... Lol, what feelings ? (seems it is you who didn't catch the tone) Lol, who told you I am offended ? I wasn't, and I'm not.

Also, you are not forced to read my posts.

So, you basically are telling me not to post in "your thread" (which it is not, and even if it were, you are not who to say who can post and who can't), where you want everybody be on a single line of thought, which is complaining to the devs about not being there a tracing feature.

Yes, it belongs to this topic to have an opposite opinion about the need of a tracing feature. You cannot tell anyone that they cannot post if they are not on your boat, sorry. Not in this thread, nor in any other.

 

Do you really understand that thinking that the addition of this feature now, when even the developers have stated that are not willing to add it for now, is to "feel offended by your opinion" ? (Again, if you understood I took offense, it is you the one having problems with English language...) Wow.

 

Again, you seem to pretend that the option of going for extra tools for the very arguable need of a feature deserves another thread, and that only the ones of one side (specifically, yours) have the rights to post here. My tone was not of someone offended, not by far.....I found it funny then, and I find it even funnier now....

 

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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On 05/03/2018 at 4:18 PM, cassola said:

How many years are we talking about?

With the current speed between second version numbers it would be 2 more years at least.

Yes, at least two years, and probably more. (Although 2.0 need not come immediately after 1.9 - it could come after 1.8 or 1.10 or some other time.)

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On 7.3.2018 at 2:03 PM, Dave Harris said:

Yes, at least two years, and probably more. (Although 2.0 need not come immediately after 1.9 - it could come after 1.8 or 1.10 or some other time.)

Thanks for that info. I am looking forward to the next version then. Happy developing...

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  • 1 month later...
On 28/07/2014 at 8:51 AM, MattP said:

Tracing will come in the future - but it will be a new 'Persona' (one of the main buttons along the top left of the window) so that it can have its own UI and tools. We have a fair few ideas for this - not just the obvious... :)  It's not coming any time soon though, I'm afraid to say...

Please don’t do it as another persona. Personas are a really jarring experience and having to switch to a new layout just to use a specific tool is frustrating. Why can’t it just be done so that it works in the currently selected layer? If I want to trace multiple layers I can merge them first. Much more intuitive. 

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10 minutes ago, Rob123456789 said:

Please don’t do it as another persona. Personas are a really jarring experience and having to switch to a new layout just to use a specific tool is frustrating. Why can’t it just be done so that it works in the currently selected layer? If I want to trace multiple layers I can merge them first. Much more intuitive. 

If they put a node edit persona or color persona for node tool and fill tool then yes, its bad. But autotracing is a big tool, with potentially a lot of tuning. It will be a persona for sure.

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  • Staff
39 minutes ago, Rob123456789 said:

Please don’t do it as another persona. Personas are a really jarring experience and having to switch to a new layout just to use a specific tool is frustrating. Why can’t it just be done so that it works in the currently selected layer? If I want to trace multiple layers I can merge them first. Much more intuitive. 

 

If you feel this way then you are possible using the wrong Application.;)

 

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On 7/27/2014 at 7:39 AM, MEB said:

Hi eross21,

At this point no, there isn't a tracing tool available. I don't know if they are considering it in their roadmap, since you're the first asking for it.

I have been using Designer but had to go back to Illustrator for the live trace tool, when I found out the feature is NOT in Designer. Any pro over a period of the many years on certain projects finds this an essential tool. It needs to be in Designer sooner rather than later. 

General Design Projects:

www.astroluxdesign.com

Interactive Infographics:

www.factualform.com

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  • 4 weeks later...

I used trace quite a bit in DrawPlus and when it went EOL I bought ADe upon release (without looking into it too much as I had been using Serif products for years and it was discounted!). Anyway I personally felt at that time ADe was a retrograde step from DrawPlus and ended up getting CorelDraw.

I have just tried the latest version of ADe to see if things have improved (hence sifting through the forum again) but sadly it seems that I may have quite a wait before I need to try again.

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  • 8 months later...

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