Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Does AD extract traces from PNG or JPEG to VECTOR SHAPEs?


Recommended Posts

   Dear all,  

   I'm sure that many of you already requested this feature and I was guessing where is located the function in the panel?

Hoping is possible...Otherwise, what is the suggested alternative from the AD team?

 

Thank you 

Pietro

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

Hi Pietro,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
Currently there's no tracing feature/functionality in Affinity Designer. As you guessed it's a highly requested feature and the dev team do intend to implement it assuming they will get the output quality they are aiming for. Meanwhile you can use a third party software like Image VectorizerVector Magic, Super Vectorizer 2, or Inkscape (open-source, also includes tracing functionality) and then import the result to Affinity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
On 7/31/2017 at 9:09 AM, MEB said:

Hi Pietro,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
Currently there's no tracing feature/functionality in Affinity Designer. As you guessed it's a highly requested feature and the dev team do intend to implement it assuming they will get the output quality they are aiming for. Meanwhile you can use a third party software like Image VectorizerVector Magic, Super Vectorizer 2, or Inkscape (open-source, also includes tracing functionality) and then import the result to Affinity.

 

Or perhaps just use one of those 3rd party apps for all our illustration needs, and forget about Affinity altogether... Use something that actually has a full range of functionality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

No such animal...

Amen. And auto-tracing is far from any kind of core functionality for a professional quality drawing program.

Yeah, I know it's a popular request. But I also know the modest learning curve necessary to draw efficiently with Bezier curves is a common fear among beginners. So I hope the Affinity team is more discerning than just setting its priorities according to "popular demand."

As most commonly used, auto-tracing is a sub-standard workaround to drawing optimally.

The widespread misconception is that the advantage of scalable resolution independence is simply a matter of the artwork being comprised of vector paths--any vector paths. It isn't. Entropy rules. Garbage in; garbage out. You don't automatically get increased information from low information. As most commonly used, auto-tracing just swaps one kind of ugly noise (raster pixelation) for another (meaningless vector jaggedness and increased posterization).

Unless and until auto-tracing is driven by sophisticated shape recognition artificial intelligence, that will be the case. All the typical auto-trace program does is try to draw vector paths around a set of adjacent same-colored or similarly-colored pixels (according to some user-defined tolerance setting).

Consider: What would be the "most accurate" auto-trace? In the current functional sense, maximum accuracy would simply yield one vector square for each raster pixel. Some auto-tracers can do that. And doing so yields absolutely no functional resolution independence advantage.

So you up the tolerance a bit and the program draws a meaningless jagged path around a collection of dark gray pixels because the program doesn't "know" that cluster of dark pixels is the pupil of an eye which any human illustrator would render as a vector circle with no more than four nodes. The human-traced version gains noise-free resolution independence. The auto-trace version does not become resolution-independent. Enlarging it simply makes the meaningless noise of the jagged shape more evident.

I'm not saying there is no legitimate use for auto-tracing; just that those uses are relatively few and infrequent.

If one wants to use auto-tracing as a special effect, or even as the runaway amateurish substitute for properly drawn paths, it is readily available elsewhere. Nowadays, you can even do it online for free, regardless of what drawing program you are currently using. Auto-trace programs all do pretty much the same thing and it certainly does not need to exist in every drawing program. Serif has way too much more important serious functionality to get done if Affinity is to raise the vector drawing segment out of its decades-long "me, too" lethargy.

Auto-tracing wouldn't be at the bottom of my priority list; it wouldn't even make the list.

JET

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@JET_Affinity Auto tracing quality also depends on the the particular type of task. For example, OpenToonz features an auto-tracer that specializes in converting drawn lines into high-quality vector strokes that are NOT simply outlines based on overall shapes, but are actual centerline strokes with custom thickness - all based on some very nifty algorithms converting a black-and-white scanned (or digitally drawn) drawing to high quality vector strokes that can then be filled with colour. And be adjusted/perfected manually with a thickness (pump) tool and smooth tools.

In this case it makes sense since OpenToonz is meant for production-level 2d animation - and the drawings become high quality scalable ones. Manually tracing all the drawings wouldn't be feasible, and take too much time.

I wouldn't mind an auto-tracer like that one to become part of the toolset in Affinity Designer. I use OpenToonz's Convert to Vector option quite a lot, actually. Illustrator's auto-tracing is indeed a hit-and-miss affair. Almost never used it, because it always resulted in vector garbage (most of the time), like you say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

    I used a cool soft before "Imagaro Z"   Was dirt cheap years ago.   Sadly my old version is no more working on current Windows  and the soft became subscription based.  https://www.graphicpowers.com/       A bit pricey for vectorisation only but to be honest it did and I am sure still does  wonder things including auto font recognition and replacing. 

 

    It's on a level Affinity would spend years and millions to rival. I would prefer they would just focus on current things which still have lots to desire: feather edges,  chain links in between objects/layers, alternating fragments in curve/pattern brush which was available in their old Serif Draw, layer comps or object tags   and so on and on.    What Illustrator has is a useless toy really  so why even spend time on it. .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.