Hi,

does Inkscape have the ability to vectorize bitmap lines to a single vector line instead to a shape enclosing the width of the original Line from both sides? I tried to play with the settings but did not find such a thing.

The point is, when I vectorize a bitmap scheme (B/W top-down vehicle scheme for instance), I would like to have simple line paths instead of shapes for the original lines. I guess Corel Trace has such ability if I am not mistaken (for reference).

Joe

Inkscape's built in tracer can't do this. But apparently Autotrace can. Give it a try.

microUgly wrote:Inkscape's built in tracer can't do this. But apparently Autotrace can. Give it a try.

Thx microugly.
Talked with Potrace author and he also suggested Autotrace.
So I tried it but without a frontend for Windows I am unable to see the results I want (and adjust the parameters dynamically). Command-line is unfortunately not so friendly and fast.

Was there any consideration before to implement Autotrace into Inkscape as an alternative to Potrace?

Joe wrote:Was there any consideration before to implement Autotrace into Inkscape as an alternative to Potrace?

No idea, but AutoTrace hasn't been updated since 2002 which may have influenced their decision. There's a GUI for Autotrace called Frontline, but it looks like it's Linux only.

Has anyone managed to install Frontline on Ubuntu? I've tried compiling from source, which doesn't work. I've then tried converting the rpm to a .deb but get errors about libgnomeui despite having it installed.

Can anyone provide instructions on installing it?

Finally I've solved this problem!

Autotrace is available in the Ubuntu repositories, so that's easy to install. The main bother is getting Frontline to work. Don't bother, it wont work. Unless you know how to edit source code and install old dependecies it'll just be lots of trouble. Instead install Potracegui and launch it from the terminal. In there select autotrace as the engine and voila!

I guess I'm asking about the same thing viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4958&p=21607#p21607

Can you show some of your results?

Edit:
PotraceGUI is not available for Windows

Important question - can you evaluate roughly what image quality, color contrast etc. of the source image would be required to make potracegui more efficient in extracting roads from the map I linked than manual Inkscape-tablet work?

Got it! I thought it's for linux only. I'll give those roads a try one day and will report. Anyone, please post your results if you've tried already.

Wintopo (the freeware version) will vectorize line drawings to centerline vector art.

druban wrote:Wintopo (the freeware version) will vectorize line drawings to centerline vector art.

Wow, thank you very much! Your tip led me here http://inventcivil.com/2008/11/img2cad- ... orization/