import jpeg drawing transfer to pixels, possible?

[iMac1943]

I received a jpeg drawing but I have to make changes. Can I transfer this jpeg into a format (pixels?) so that I can use the pen tool to change that drawing. If yes, how can I do that?

Thanks for answering 

 

Luc

[firstdefence]

Which app do you have or are going to use? 

 

You can add, remove or overlay on a JPEG. Using the Pen Tool will overlay any shapes or lines you create, you can rasterise the image once finished. I would make a copy of the JPEG and use that to work on so that you retain an untouched original should things not work out how you imagined.

 

With the copy you can experiment to see if what you want to do will be viable. Simply open the copy JPEG and draw with the Pen Tool.

[iMac1943]

I'll explain better: I receive from my customers a drawing (which they want to screen print it on t-shirts). Often I receive the drawing on paper, I then scan the drawing and use this as the first layer in AD. Then I start drawing on the second layer. I did this already >500 times. for printing on t-shirts it's always in 1 color: black.

Sometimes I receive the drawing by mail as a jpeg. I then use that jpeg as first layer and start drawing on the second layer. So far so good, no problem.

But it happens that I receive a jpeg with a picture that is so complicated that it will take many many hours to draw it.

If I can transfer that jpeg into a workable format, that would help me a lot. And saving time.

I hope that I explained it now more clear.

[Dan C]

Hi iMac1943

There is no automatic conversion built into the Affinity apps to convert a JPEG into a workable format, but there are a few online services that will convert a JPEG to SVG and should allow you to work on the image. However this depends on the quality and complexity of the JPEG, as well as the conversion software itself and it's abilities.

[toltec]

51 minutes ago, iMac1943 said:

Sometimes I receive the drawing by mail as a jpeg. I then use that jpeg as first layer and start drawing on the second layer. So far so good, no problem.

But it happens that I receive a jpeg with a picture that is so complicated that it will take many many hours to draw it.

If I can transfer that jpeg into a workable format, that would help me a lot. And saving time.

I hope that I explained it now more clear.

 

It comes down to either retouching or redrawing.

 

With retouching, it's a matter of scanning and cleaning up the artwork and using the bitmap (pixel) data. 

 

With redrawing, it's up to you spending hours of time. Auto-tracing programs (as Dan C suggests) do sometimes work on simple drawings but have a couple of  serious problems. Firstly, they tend to put hundreds of extra control points, which can involve a lot of work removing them and cleaning up the lines. Secondly, is something as simple as a letter O. We known it is a donut, with a hole. A tracing program will frequently create a black circle with a white circle on top, which is a very different thing altogether.

 

Not much help I know. Sorry 

 

 

[iMac1943]

Thank you both for your reply. And indeed, not much help. But I want to deliver good work, so I'll go for the 'spending hours of time'.

Regards,

Luc

[firstdefence]

Are you Windows or Mac?

 

[iMac1943]

Mac and Affinity from the very first moment.

[MEB]

Hi iMac1943,

Check this post for a few apps to vectorize images and a couple related threads. Depending on the project you are working with they may help to speed up the process. For high quality tracing check Vector Magic (a little expensive) or you can always do it by hand.

[firstdefence]

I use Vector Magic, its very good at some things

[iMac1943]

Thank you MEB, I'll see what the best solution is. And yes, it depends on the complexity of the drawing.

[iMac1943]

Vector Magic, I'll have a look at the cost. On the many thousands of drawings I made, this happened only 2 or 3 times. So it's the cost for Vector Magic against my time.

[firstdefence]

This file: clipboard.eps was created by tracing this image from Pixabay I copied the preview image you see to keep it rasterised, I didn't download it because the downloads are PNG and SVG

 

This is the same file exported from Vector Magic as an SVG: clipboard.svg

 

 

[iMac1943]

That's perfect!!!

[firstdefence]

Just now, iMac1943 said:

That's perfect!!!

Pretty neat tool eh!

[iMac1943]

Yes indeed. I'm still doubting what to do.This is the little man... 

[toltec]

4 minutes ago, iMac1943 said:

Yes indeed. I'm still doubting what to do.This is the little man... 

 

 

If you are happy with the result from Vector Magic and only do black and white work you could try Inkscape. It's free and the built in tracing is fairly good.

 

Although, as I said before they all suffer from too many points and not understanding transparent areas.

 

 

[firstdefence]

Miner.svg

 

This took me 2 mins,1 mins 30 sec was removing the white background from all the fiddly spaces 

[iMac1943]

well, it's perfect!!! I thank you firstdefence, you saved me a lot of time. If one day I can help you...

[iMac1943]

Maybe Inkscape is also a possibility. For now I'm saved by firstdefence

[firstdefence]

The way I look at it, It may seem like a lot of money for an App (Desktop Edition) but You can easily make that money back.  How long would it have taken you do the the same thing?

 

[iMac1943]

I agree  firstdefence. 

I'll go for it. Thank you for your advice!!!

 

Luc

[firstdefence]

Enjoy the free time.

[Alfred]

23 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

Miner.svg

 

This took me 2 mins,1 mins 30 sec was removing the white background from all the fiddly spaces 

 

You can quickly and easily make all the white spaces transparent via the Blend Options dialog.

[Alfred]

44 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

I copied the preview image you see to keep it rasterised, I didn't download it because the downloads are PNG and SVG

 

I guess you overlooked the fact that PNG is a raster format!