Scanning and saving

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Ruby Slippers
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Scanning and saving

Post by Ruby Slippers »

I suspect this question is mainly for Horus but........! :D I need to scan a graphic into my PC which isn't a problem, but instead of saving as a JPEG format, it needs to be a vector. Would this be possible/ easy, please?


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Re: Scanning and saving

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Horus will know the definitely answer but when you click "Save as" a bar drops down where you name the file. There are two lines and you go to the bottom line where it gives you options to pick how you want to save it and it will say something like "Save as type" (on the LEFT) of the bar and to the right there is an arrow you click to get another drop down which is where it gives you options to decide what type you want i.e. Jpeg, gif etc (and i'm saying etc as I can't really think of any more types although there are lots. Clear as mud 'eh'?
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Re: Scanning and saving

Post by Ruby Slippers »

Thanks, LLL. I already know how to use 'save as' but a vector file is slightly different. I have a sneaky feeling that I'm going to have to scan it into a graphics programme - but I'm hoping not!
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Re: Scanning and saving

Post by Grandad »

You certainly need Horus's opinion here RS but IMHO, if you are starting with an image you can only copy it as an image, jpeg, bmp, tiff etc. To be able to use the content of the image you would need the actual file that created the image.

No doubt H will have something more helpful to say.....haven't seen him lately, are you OK H?
:gg:
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Re: Scanning and saving

Post by Ruby Slippers »

I've been investigating round the Internet and from what I'm reading, I would almost definitely have to take an image into a graphics programme - unless Horus knows different, of course! :lol: I do have an older Coreldraw prog. I think it's Coreldraw 6. I'll have to have a look-see when I've got the time.
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Re: Scanning and saving

Post by Horus »

RS, this is a complex question, but let me try and explain:

There are two main types of graphics files for print/screen graphics: Raster and Vector.
Raster graphics define all of the pixels of a picture or graphic. In other words, if you have a picture of a number of concentric coloured circles in red, blue & green, the graphics will only know that I have a group of Red pixels (the outer circle), with some Blue pixels, (the next circle) positioned next to it and some Green pixels (the inner circle) next to them, etc. Raster graphic formats include Bitmap, Jpeg, Gif, & Tiff files.

Vector graphics are special ‘drawing’ graphics, but you must be careful in calling all ‘drawn’ graphics "vector" graphics. If you go into Paint or Photoshop and "draw" a picture, you are drawing in a Raster format, but that would not be a ‘drawing’ in the sense we are describing here. Think of it being the difference between ‘drawing’ a painting (that would be Raster) and ‘drawing’ a plan for a building (that would be Vector).

Vector graphics define different elements of the picture and then connect those elements in defined ways. Using the coloured rings analogy, the red of the outer ring might be defined as "this is a line of x width, from points A to B with an arc with this defined vector of the colour red, which is of a proportional distance away from another line with these definitions of the colour Blue."

These types of graphics (Vector) are used for creating scalable graphics, there is no pixelization taking place since all the elements are defined in a proportional way that can be scaled up or down. Think of a letter X drawn in red, if you had drawn it to fit within a 2 inch square it would look OK, but if you wanted to make it twice the size and fit into a 4 inch square you would need to scale it up. If you did that with a Raster image it would start to go pixelated because there were only so many individual pixels to start with and each one has to be ‘stretched’ to fit the larger square, so as it gets bigger and bigger the definition and the colour start to be lost.

Now had the letter X been drawn in a Vector format it would have been defined as something like “Draw a straight line in red between the top left hand corner of a 2 inch square to the bottom right hand corner of the square” “Now draw a straight line in red between the top right hand corner of a 2 inch square to the bottom left hand corner of the square” This information would enable your PC program to draw a red X at 2 inches in size. So all that happens if you scaled this up would be a change in the instructions to read “Draw a straight line in red between the top left hand corner of a 4 inch square to the bottom right hand corner of the square” and therefore it would not be stretching any pixels to make it twice as big, it would just add more pixels as needed to make it bigger and that is why Vector files can be scaled up or down without losing any information, unlike Rasters.
The vector file format describes images in terms of mathematical formulas instead of a grid of pixels.

Sorry that this explanation is so complicated, but it is hard to explain without sitting next to someone on a PC. So to answer your question. If you have a graphic which is in a Raster format now you cannot magically just "Save As" a vector file. It must be recreated using a program which can create vector graphics. Although if you have a Vector graphic it usually can be saved as a Raster file.

There will be some programs out there that may possibly convert a Raster to a Vector, but how good they would be I don’t really know. Can you give me a bit more information as to what sort of pattern you are trying to scan? maybe upload a picture?
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Re: Scanning and saving

Post by Ruby Slippers »

I understand your explanation perfectly, strangely enough, Horus! :lol: So, to sum up, if I have a dedicated graphics programme like Corel, I would have to open it, scan the drawing in and save as a vector file? Or would I actually have to create the drawing in Corel and then save it as a vector? I am trying to get a clean image into my digitising software. It will be a single line stitch out for quilting. If I can't - or if it's too complicated - use a vector image, I can use a bitmap or JPEG, but I will have to manually insert the necessary stitch points to obviate the pixelation.
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Re: Scanning and saving

Post by Horus »

I understand your explanation perfectly, strangely enough, Horus!
Mmm, I must be a better instructor than I imagined ;)

I doubt very much if you can just scan it in Corel and save it as a Vector file, unless (and to be honest I don't know) Corel has that particular capability, which I doubt it has.
In most cases a Vector file has to be created in a program that can 'Save' it in the Vector format and there are literally dozens of different Vector file formats depending upon the actual program that created it, I believe that in CorelDraw it is a .cdr file extention, but remember this particular file extention can only be read in a CorelDraw program. However you should be able to create your 'drawing' in CorelDraw as a vector file and then 'Save' it as another type of Vector file that is compatible with the sewing maching software that you use. :up
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Re: Scanning and saving

Post by Ruby Slippers »

:up :up :up
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