hello, i am new to inkscape, i have just bought a used K40 and i am trying to learn how to use inkscape and k40 whisperer . I have a problem with the trace bmp feature that i am unable to find the solution to. when i do a trace bmp i get an excellent result as shown in black fill image, but when i set the stroke colour for engraving i get the second image in blue. For some reason the stroke command outlines the image instead of taking the original image as it is, as you can see the second image is not usable because it distorts to much detail. Can some one please advise me as to how i can convert the original traced image into a vector engraving path. Thank you very much for any help.
Trace bitmap might not be working exactly as you expect. Or at least, whatever options you used might not. If you could share your SVG file we wouldn't have to guess.
My best guess is that you did not get a single path as a result. Instead, you got 2 paths (one inside and one outside the original line in the raster image) with a black fill in between. To change it to blue, just click on the blue chip in the palette (or use Fill and Stroke dialog to configure a custom color).
I'm not sure if Inkscape has something to give you the kind of results you need, for such a small and complex image. There is a centerline trace option (if you use 1.0beta - or for an earlier version, you can install an extra extension). But it tends to create sort of knot-like areas at intersections. Of course they could be fixed, but in this complex image, it would take a good bit of work. I have tried using a multiple scan option for this, but it's very tricky, and would take a long time to explain to a beginner.
If you have a larger and better quality image, the trick I mentioned might work. But this image is too blurry for that to work. It needs to be very sharp, and as big as possible (well you know, within reason).
hello, thank you both for your replies, yes bryn you are completely right [ My best guess is that you did not get a single path as a result. Instead, you got 2 paths (one inside and one outside the original line in the raster image) with a black fill in between ] that is what is happening the problem is that even if i change the colour of the fill to blue, when i open it in k40 whisperer the fill color turns to black and becomes a raster engrave instead of a vector engrave. also i would like to add that the trace bmp feature in inkscape does a fantastic job as you can see from the svg file, the problem is that i need to set the fill colour of the svg as a vector engrave path, even though i change the fill colour to blue when i open the svg file in k40 whisperer it opens it as black a raster engrave. i suspect that there might be some form of setting that i have set wrong but i cannot find it. i do the trace bmp and this gives me a vector image, i change the fill colour of the vector to blue and when i open the svg file in k40 whisperer it opens the file showing black fill on the vector instead of blue, any advice is greatly appreciated.
ps. the double lines that you mentioned when i give them the stroke colour of blue stay blue and when i open the svg in k40 whisperer those double lines remain as blue vector engrave.
Even though Inkscape has a feature called Centerline Trace, which will give you the single stroked path that you need, it does not perform well with such a complex image. Wherever lines intersect, it tends to create sort of a knot, instead of a clean intersection. I can help you to use it, but I don't think it will give a good result.
In this case, I think you would get the best result by tracing "manually" using Inkscape's Pen tool. It would be a bit of a job, tracing this image, but I think it's your best option for a good result. It's not hard to do, it would just take some time.
Or, you might be able to find this image that's already in a vector format - so that it would not need to be traced, because it's already a single path. I have no idea if you could find it, or even where you found this one. But that would be another good option, if you can find it. There are quite a few websites on the internet where you can either download vector files for free, or for a fee.
hello, thank you for your help, it would be great if in the next update this problem could be fixed, until then this is an excellent program and we shall simply have to live with any limitations it may have. if i ever find a work around that solves the problem i will be sure to post it, i suspect from what i have been reading that alot of people have this problem. thank you again for you guidance.
Yes, Trace Bitmap is an excellent and powerful tool. But still, it has its limitations. In some cases, like yours, a good quality of image is needed to get the best result.
In this case, I would probably use the Pen tool, and trace it manually.
Hhmm, I had a thought. I used your attached SVG file, where it looks like you had scaled your results much larger. I used Edit menu > Make a bitmap copy, to convert it back to raster. That made it a better quality of image. Then I used the centerline trace on it. The results are not as bad as I expected. (The larger original image you use, the better results you get.) There are some places that are not super faithful. Like the baby's face is a bit odd. And some other places. But it could be....I guess depending on how precise of an engraving you need, it might work.
Here I'll attach your same file, where I made the centerline trace. I don't know if it's accurate enough for you. But just to show you what's possible. It's the black paths on the left. You can change them to blue.
i can't thank you enougth for your advice, the result is more than good it's nearly excellent. so from what i have understood the bigger and clearer the image the better center line trace works. thank you very much.👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
ok, now i am convinced that i am doing something wrong. when i press the link it opens another tab in my web browser and i see 1 blue image, i do a save web page,svg only and it saves it to my computer, when i open it in inkscape there are 2 images both blue and if i open them in k40 whisperer they are both raster, what am i doing wrong.
Hi Eeze, Brynn is always very good in explaining. You listen closely!
As I am a curious person, I downloaded Kwhisperer and tried it . (Although I do not have a lasercutter) (Would like to have one) It seems you have to give your drawing a line colour, and no fill clour for it to be recognised as vector. I found that in the manual Aero gave a link to.
Then it worked on my pc! Good luck with the beautiful drawings. Maybe you can post a picture of the result, when you have succeeded?
hello Kirstie, thanks for your reply. if you had not replied i would not have tried it again, i downloaded the image a second time ,this time although the web page shows only one blue image it downloaded a black image and two blue images. for some reason the black image did not download the first time. when i changed line colour on the black image just as you mentioned it worked perfectly. this will save me alot of time. thank's to Brynn and to you Kirstie.
ps. i have found an app on playstore called vector camera it seems to be quite promising. you literally photograph something with your phones camera and it saves the image as a line vector with live preview. i still have alot of experimenting to do with it but it would be nice to hear any oppinions some one might have about it. this is a picture that i just took of the screen to show you an example.
Beginners' Questions trace bmp problems
Inkscape.org
hello, i am new to inkscape, i have just bought a used K40 and i am trying to learn how to use inkscape and k40 whisperer . I have a problem with the trace bmp feature that i am unable to find the solution to. when i do a trace bmp i get an excellent result as shown in black fill image, but when i set the stroke colour for engraving i get the second image in blue. For some reason the stroke command outlines the image instead of taking the original image as it is, as you can see the second image is not usable because it distorts to much detail. Can some one please advise me as to how i can convert the original traced image into a vector engraving path. Thank you very much for any help.
https://www.scorchworks.com/K40whisperer/k40w_manual.html
Also notice the YouTube videos found in the online manual.
Welcome to the forum!
Trace bitmap might not be working exactly as you expect. Or at least, whatever options you used might not. If you could share your SVG file we wouldn't have to guess.
My best guess is that you did not get a single path as a result. Instead, you got 2 paths (one inside and one outside the original line in the raster image) with a black fill in between. To change it to blue, just click on the blue chip in the palette (or use Fill and Stroke dialog to configure a custom color).
I'm not sure if Inkscape has something to give you the kind of results you need, for such a small and complex image. There is a centerline trace option (if you use 1.0beta - or for an earlier version, you can install an extra extension). But it tends to create sort of knot-like areas at intersections. Of course they could be fixed, but in this complex image, it would take a good bit of work. I have tried using a multiple scan option for this, but it's very tricky, and would take a long time to explain to a beginner.
If you have a larger and better quality image, the trick I mentioned might work. But this image is too blurry for that to work. It needs to be very sharp, and as big as possible (well you know, within reason).
hello, thank you both for your replies, yes bryn you are completely right [ My best guess is that you did not get a single path as a result. Instead, you got 2 paths (one inside and one outside the original line in the raster image) with a black fill in between ] that is what is happening the problem is that even if i change the colour of the fill to blue, when i open it in k40 whisperer the fill color turns to black and becomes a raster engrave instead of a vector engrave. also i would like to add that the trace bmp feature in inkscape does a fantastic job as you can see from the svg file, the problem is that i need to set the fill colour of the svg as a vector engrave path, even though i change the fill colour to blue when i open the svg file in k40 whisperer it opens it as black a raster engrave. i suspect that there might be some form of setting that i have set wrong but i cannot find it. i do the trace bmp and this gives me a vector image, i change the fill colour of the vector to blue and when i open the svg file in k40 whisperer it opens the file showing black fill on the vector instead of blue, any advice is greatly appreciated.
ps. the double lines that you mentioned when i give them the stroke colour of blue stay blue and when i open the svg in k40 whisperer those double lines remain as blue vector engrave.
Even though Inkscape has a feature called Centerline Trace, which will give you the single stroked path that you need, it does not perform well with such a complex image. Wherever lines intersect, it tends to create sort of a knot, instead of a clean intersection. I can help you to use it, but I don't think it will give a good result.
In this case, I think you would get the best result by tracing "manually" using Inkscape's Pen tool. It would be a bit of a job, tracing this image, but I think it's your best option for a good result. It's not hard to do, it would just take some time.
Or, you might be able to find this image that's already in a vector format - so that it would not need to be traced, because it's already a single path. I have no idea if you could find it, or even where you found this one. But that would be another good option, if you can find it. There are quite a few websites on the internet where you can either download vector files for free, or for a fee.
hello, thank you for your help, it would be great if in the next update this problem could be fixed, until then this is an excellent program and we shall simply have to live with any limitations it may have. if i ever find a work around that solves the problem i will be sure to post it, i suspect from what i have been reading that alot of people have this problem. thank you again for you guidance.
Yes, Trace Bitmap is an excellent and powerful tool. But still, it has its limitations. In some cases, like yours, a good quality of image is needed to get the best result.
In this case, I would probably use the Pen tool, and trace it manually.
Hhmm, I had a thought. I used your attached SVG file, where it looks like you had scaled your results much larger. I used Edit menu > Make a bitmap copy, to convert it back to raster. That made it a better quality of image. Then I used the centerline trace on it. The results are not as bad as I expected. (The larger original image you use, the better results you get.) There are some places that are not super faithful. Like the baby's face is a bit odd. And some other places. But it could be....I guess depending on how precise of an engraving you need, it might work.
Here I'll attach your same file, where I made the centerline trace. I don't know if it's accurate enough for you. But just to show you what's possible. It's the black paths on the left. You can change them to blue.
i can't thank you enougth for your advice, the result is more than good it's nearly excellent. so from what i have understood the bigger and clearer the image the better center line trace works. thank you very much.👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
ok, now i am convinced that i am doing something wrong. when i press the link it opens another tab in my web browser and i see 1 blue image, i do a save web page,svg only and it saves it to my computer, when i open it in inkscape there are 2 images both blue and if i open them in k40 whisperer they are both raster, what am i doing wrong.
i made this with the bezier tool, for a first try i believe it's not bad any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi Eeze,
Brynn is always very good in explaining. You listen closely!
As I am a curious person, I downloaded Kwhisperer and tried it .
(Although I do not have a lasercutter) (Would like to have one)
It seems you have to give your drawing a line colour, and no fill clour for it to be recognised as vector.
I found that in the manual Aero gave a link to.
Then it worked on my pc! Good luck with the beautiful drawings.
Maybe you can post a picture of the result, when you have succeeded?
hello Kirstie, thanks for your reply. if you had not replied i would not have tried it again, i downloaded the image a second time ,this time although the web page shows only one blue image it downloaded a black image and two blue images. for some reason the black image did not download the first time. when i changed line colour on the black image just as you mentioned it worked perfectly. this will save me alot of time. thank's to Brynn and to you Kirstie.
ps. i have found an app on playstore called vector camera it seems to be quite promising. you literally photograph something with your phones camera and it saves the image as a line vector with live preview. i still have alot of experimenting to do with it but it would be nice to hear any oppinions some one might have about it. this is a picture that i just took of the screen to show you an example.