It depends on what you want to do with the final product. Let me define two possibilities - one would be equivalent to a technical drawing - the other a photograph.
If you want to use the final as an image - like you would a photograph - within your project, I suggest auto trace bitmap. This option will actually create what I would call a "node cloud." You will have a result which, when you look at its node structure, will appear as though the nodes were put everywhere. To make this a little more useful, you may want to do the trace by color steps [8 ?] and then ungroup the result. You can then separate out the 8 images and modify their colors. When reassembled the final product looks like the HOPE poster from a few years ago. When using this method add a common registry mark and group a copy of it to each layer as you separate it out. When you reassemble the image, align the registration marks and not the images. The 8 images will not be centerabe by themselves due to the node cloud,
The other option - the technical drawing option - is to manually trace the lines and such in inkscape. There is no way to auto trace a technical illustration to get a two node line output for the multiple lines in the composition. They will all be "node clouded" together. Unfortunately, you will have to spend time doing "work arounds" to get your technical drawing to look right. I have been telling these people for years that they need to add precise drawing - or refactor QCAD etc - but they simply will not add the improvement.
Beginners' Questions image trace
Inkscape.org
I have a .jpg file that I need to create a .svg file - how can I do this with inkscape?
Inkscape can auto-trace bitmap images. Settings depends on your jpg as how many colors, complexity, centerline trace etc.
It depends on what you want to do with the final product. Let me define two possibilities - one would be equivalent to a technical drawing - the other a photograph.
If you want to use the final as an image - like you would a photograph - within your project, I suggest auto trace bitmap. This option will actually create what I would call a "node cloud." You will have a result which, when you look at its node structure, will appear as though the nodes were put everywhere. To make this a little more useful, you may want to do the trace by color steps [8 ?] and then ungroup the result. You can then separate out the 8 images and modify their colors. When reassembled the final product looks like the HOPE poster from a few years ago. When using this method add a common registry mark and group a copy of it to each layer as you separate it out. When you reassemble the image, align the registration marks and not the images. The 8 images will not be centerabe by themselves due to the node cloud,
The other option - the technical drawing option - is to manually trace the lines and such in inkscape. There is no way to auto trace a technical illustration to get a two node line output for the multiple lines in the composition. They will all be "node clouded" together. Unfortunately, you will have to spend time doing "work arounds" to get your technical drawing to look right. I have been telling these people for years that they need to add precise drawing - or refactor QCAD etc - but they simply will not add the improvement.