Raster to Vector

[Wally]

I recently purchased Adobe Illustrator to go from Raster to Vector. I was told this is all I needed. Have`nt figured it out yet. Does anyone have any experiance with this and may be some suggestions? Thanks is advance.

[Phil Orenstein]

Unfortunately there is no easy way. Best way in Illustrator however is to use the pen and pencil tools to trace over the outlines of the raster image in the background. Then you will have a vector drawing that you can output as a DXF and bring into Mastercam.

 

Phil

[jrykrl]

I use corel to import, then export as a dxf.

hth

Jer

[TeccBoxx]

Hey Walley, I hate when people tell me to buy software that is not needed. However in your case there is a solution. There is a plug-in for Adobe Illustrator that lets you convert raster to vector. It is called Silhouette and after using the demo it is pretty good.You can find it here.

 

http://www.silhouetteonline.com/

 

If you want to try other software I would suggest the Mastercam Rast2Vect converter or any of the following.

 

Wintopo (There is a free version that works well)

 

Corel Trace (Comes with Corel Suite there is a demo version to try it out at corel.com)

 

Adobe Streamline (Standalone and there is a demo at adobe.com)

 

Algolabs (I am messing with this one right now and is pretty easy demo at algolab.com)

 

There are a lot more packages but the ones mentioned are the best to use. Good Luck

[ksmith]

I use VPnt raster to vector, a great program only one real requirement is that parent file must be black and white no color not enev gray scale.it does outline or cennterline conversion very clean. I use it to convert 4x Mylar artwork used on golf clubs.

[Wally]

Thanks for all your help. I know this subject has been covered before but after breaking down to a purchase I became lost. What I`ve done in the past is to take a Bitmap into AutoCad and tracing it. Man, time consuming Then taking it into MC for a tool path. I believe you are all right - there is no easy way. Tazzer - I will check out the site you suggested. Thanks again for all the imput.

[chip]

How about that .bmp translator that Mastercam has? could that help you?

[Wally]

I understand that is an add-on, I don`t think I have it. If I do, I don`t know were to find it.

[mcamininc]

Speak to your reseller - raster to vector converter - mastercam add-on includes .ai and .eps formats for direct import of illustrator files.

[John T.]

The problem with most raster to vector programs is that they take the relatively thick lines of your scanned drawing or graphic type file, and convert them to several thin lines which are real memory hogs. The best way is to import it into whatever program you are using, then change to another layer, trace it over, then export your tracing. I'm using coreldraw 12. They have R to V converter, but it has the same problem, makes big files.

 

John

[Andy]

Remember, no matter what, you will have to clean it up in MC in the end. I use corel trace, very easy, but, it does make a fairly big dxf export.

But really, its straight forward and any of the converters above will work. You just have to mess with them and learn the technique.

[stan z]

Wally

Cadkey can export raster and vector would that help?

[Wally]

yes it would, I`m running that also. I didn`t know that. Thanks Stan.

[stan z]

Any time!