Vectorising content between Designer and Photo

[Nina Adam]

Hi all,

I've not done any design work since I was really young, but I'm looking to get back in to it (so please assume minimal knowledge on my part!). I've got both Designer and Photo and I'm working on some text-based tshirt designs.

I have the text as an image file (it's hand-drawn), but the quality isn't great when scaled. Is there any way to vectorise the image files/layers of text?

Also, which software would you recommend for this project and is it possible to easily move between the two (work on the same project on Designer and Photo at the same time)? 

Side question - I'm trying to select part of the text in Designer and cut/paste the selection, but it won't paste the content just the path. I've never really used vector-based programs before, does it not have this functionality or am I just making a silly mistake somewhere?

 

Many thanks!

Nina

[firstdefence]

You could try Vectorise.io an online free service or use Inkscape (an open source Multiplatform app) trace feature. and then import the result into Affinity Designer/Photo. 

 

[v_kyr]

2 hours ago, Nina Adam said:

Is there any way to vectorise the image files/layers of text?

Of course, you need a vectorizer (tracing) software in order to vectorize bitmaps into vector format.

However note though the better the bitmap file quality (size, resolution, sharpness etc.), the better the vector result a vectorize software can create out of it. So the quality and size of an input file often plays a role for the result here.

2 hours ago, Nina Adam said:

Side question - I'm trying to select part of the text in Designer and cut/paste the selection, but it won't paste the content just the path. I've never really used vector-based programs before, does it not have this functionality or am I just making a silly mistake somewhere?

Depends if the text is all there treated as one path, or is distributed over (divided into) several paths. The later would allow to copy/paste selected portions out of it.

[PixelPest]

Nothing against auto-vectorizing and Inkscape is really good at it - BUT nothing beats manually traced vector graphics. If you´re not in a hurry it´s time to learn some basic vector drawing skills you can profit on future projects. Affinity team and users have a lengthy list of video tutorials for beginners&starters in the forum section.

Cheers