59
(4)
Click on the
Vectorization
button and watch the progress bar at the bottom of the screen. When it
reaches 100%, you can then close this window by clicking on
Close
. Click once on the image and then
drag one image away from the other:
(5)
Turn on
Fill
to make sure any closed paths are continuous. If not, then located and weld disconnected
adjacent nodes or try the
Connect Path
function (refer to
Section 7.7 Additional Editing Tools
). Center line
tracing is extremely sensitive to the quality of the image and the consistency of the original lines, so
always test draw your image before cutting. Modifying the trace settings may or may not yield better
results. Thus, it is highly recommended that Manual Tracing be learned, as it is often the best choice for
images such as white filled clipart and patterns.
6.3 Manual Tracing
In some cases you may not be able to achieve a decent auto-trace or the amount of editing required will defeat
the purpose of using the auto-tracing functionality. If your imported image it too complex, or has a very poor
resolution, or is too dark or too light to produce a decent tracing, you can use the
Graphics Edit Tools
to trace
manually. You may also wish to learn these tools to de
sign images from scratch. It’s
a very easy process and
can be done quickly. Further, learning to manually trace means that you can create ANY file you want from free
images you can download from the Internet. The important things to remember are:
Zoom in so you can more precisely trace the actual outline.
Don’t try to be so exact the first time around the image. Remember that nodes can be added, deleted,
and moved as necessary. Curves can be smoothed.
Importing the Image to Trace
(1)
Select
File>Import
and browse to locate the graphic file.
(2)
Select the file name and click on
Import
.
(3)
Increase the size of your image by dragging a corner. In this tutorial, we will be tracing two different items
to illustrate the two types of tracing, straight-line and curved :
Straight Line Tracing
(1)
Zoom in on the image in order to clearly see the lines. Don’t worry about only seeing a portion, as you can
scroll while tracing without interrupting the process.
On the other hand, don’t zoom in too closely or the
tracing will become tedious as you constantly will need to scroll to new areas of the image. You will figure
out, with a little experience, what works best for you.
Original Image
Vector Image: ready to cut
