Inexpensive program needed to convert art to vector for digitizing

minimalist

I recently bought a used machine that came with an older copy of Wilcom es21d. We have been using compucon for lettering but trying to figure out the software for digitizing artwork with it is a whole different story. I've read through much of the manuals for Wilcom and it appears to be much more user friendly. I had a simple pattern digitized within a few minutes whereas I can't even compete a circle with the compucon (their manuals are awful). I need a budget priced program to take images and convert them to vector to make it easier to digitize. Any suggestions? I know I could upgrade to another wilcom or corel decostudio but want to try the es21d first.

powerstitch

Ive used compucon and wilcom....wilcom is far better and easier to use.

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Powerstitch Design Studio
www.powerstitch.com
$7.50 for L/B or Cap Logo

embthreads

http://vectormagic.com/home

Sulp

Although there are some programs out there that CAN convert reaster images to vector files, they can't work magic. In Wilcom the art does NOT have to be vector in order to digitize. You can import just about anything and digitize it. If you are referring to vector as nice clean artwork, and you are looking for a program that will take a crappy, lo-res raster images and magically convert them into a nice clean vector format, that doesn't really exist. And although the "vectormagic" program recommended above may work on some things, it is not going to take really lo-res images and make them nice and clean. In fact, if you look at some of the examples on the vectormagic page, you can digitize the "before" images without paying for them to be converted...Why...because they are not too bad to begin with. Will it help you in some instances...most likely. But it's not the miracle working answer it looks to be. And if you are looking into investing in software to create, edit, & manage vector art, get Adobe Illustrator.

Sulp

Oh, and illustrator has it's own vector tracing built in that does just as good as "vectormagic". I uploaded a few images to test..and yeah...It's about as good as I thought it was. And if you do a test yourself, look to the right of the screen where you have the option to download, etc. The second option down says "Have re-drawn by Pro"...Which is really the ONLY way to get a nice, perfect vector image from a lo-res raster image. I have a full-time graphic artist on hand in my shop (we do screen print and emb) just for that reason. He is one of the best in the biz IMO. And anytime someone gives me crappy art that they want screen printed, it gets hand re-drawn and seperated. For embroidery there are some times where I can use crappy art and still digitize from it. In those cases I will not charge the customer to have it re-drawn. If it is REALLY crappy it will have to 1st be re-drawn, and then that clean art will be digitized. So the customer gets charged for art and digitizing seperately.

minimalist

Thanks for the info. The majority of what we do is take agency patches and have them digitzed larger or smaller to sew on what we sell. I was looking for something to make the image more clear to make it easier to try my hand at digitizing them instead of sending it out.

My wife uses photoshop cs4 at home on her mac but she's not that good at it and I've never used it. Any tutorials that you would suggest on using photoshop or illustrator?

drdoct

You'll need illustrator to make vector files and work with them. Maybe I don't have my settings right but my trace in illustrator rarely gives me workable results.