Smoothing out a shape

[Mr Lucky]

Very much a beginner here.

I have a vector that was converted from an image using an online conversion tool

It looks fine until I enlarge it. It has ended up with many many nodes and a slightly jagged curves. So what I'd like to do is remove the unnecessary nodes and smooth out the wrinkles so the basic curve remains.

Can anyone please tell me how I'd go about this., ideally in a quick way rather than deleting most of the nodes one by one and hoping for the best.

Thanks

 

[Dan C]

Hi Mr Lucky

Could you possibly provide us with a copy of the Affinity file so I can look into this for you? At first glance it may be the best way is to manually delete the nodes, but I'd like to experiment using your document to try and find an easier workaround!

[Mr Lucky]

Thanks that would be great but can I PM it to you as the original file was stock image that could have licence issues re: the original artwork.

At the time I paid for the minimum license and could have paid more for the vector but sadly I didn't. Now I cannot actually find it or I would just go the easy route and pay for the vector.

 

 

[gdenby]

Hi, Mr. Lucky,

Just a note. I've been using image vectorizing apps since at least '96. I've never found one that didn't require lengthly sessions clearing up extra nodes, and/or odd dips/peaks.

The best I could do was pre-processing before sending the bitmap to the vectorizer. Things like finding just the right amount of blurring so that the vectorizer might find a smoother arc at one particular grey level. Scaling the image way up, and then down, so the resampling routines would give a very smooth, if somewhat blurry image. Messing w. the vectorization settings to try and find which one would produce the least number of nodes that then had to be re-positioned to approximate the original pixels.

Designer's smoothing routine sometimes reduces the number of nodes, and retains a close enough match that the adjustments are feasible.

I 'spose that's why spending extra for a nice vector keeps the makers of same going.

 

[Mr Lucky]

20 minutes ago, gdenby said:

Hi, Mr. Lucky,

 'spose that's why spending extra for a nice vector keeps the makers of same going.

 

I totally agree.(In hindsight!) Sadly even though I know the site  I can't find the same image to purchase the vector.

[Pšenda]

In your image some nodes is Sharp type. Try changing them to Smooth or Smart (by selecting multiple nodes in bulk), if it does not smooth the curve.

Try https://www.vectorizer.io, the conversion parameters can be adjusted.

[carl123]

10 hours ago, Mr Lucky said:

I totally agree.(In hindsight!) Sadly even though I know the site  I can't find the same image to purchase the vector.

A Google image search should find the image.

Most "pay for images" sites, want/allow Google to index them

[firstdefence]

Trying to get this smooth would be tedious and if most of the lines are like this it will be a long job. Deleting almost the nodes and then using the Node Tool (A) to bend the line back into shape is the easiest method. You could duplicate the shape set the duplicate to a mid grey and 50% opacity, delete most of the nodes and use the Node Tool (A) to curve the line.

Or just redraw that shape.

[Mr Lucky]

2 hours ago, carl123 said:

A Google image search should find the image.

Most "pay for images" sites, want/allow Google to index them

Sadly it didn't find the image, noe could I find it on the site itself where I had bought it.

9 hours ago, Pšenda said:

In your image some nodes is Sharp type. Try changing them to Smooth or Smart (by selecting multiple nodes in bulk), if it does not smooth the curve.

Try https://www.vectorizer.io, the conversion parameters can be adjusted.

It was vectoriser.io I had used, but tried a much reduced image size to upload, and increased the Min area parameter, solved the problem thanks!

 

The downloaded vector now has about 12 nodes in all and curves are fine.