Expert: Amy - 4/1/2005

Question
Hi, I am very familiar with Photoshop 7.0 but haven't had the time to really understand illustrator 7.0, I've played around with it but didn't really get anywhere.  Anyway I have a logo that I created in Photoshop but would like to enlarge for my portfolio.  Every time I try to make it bigger it has all the pixel blocks around the edges.  I know I want to make it a vector image but I don't know how.  Can you please help me? I would be so greatful.
Thanks
Nanci

Answer
Hi Nanci,

There really isn't a way to convert the image to vector automatically or save it as vector... the two are completely different animals. A vector image can be made from a raster image by using the raster data, interpreting it, and creating vector points and lines that approximate the position of the various colors of pixels in the raster data... in effect, "tracing" it.

Sounds complicated and it can be, depending on the content of the logo you're trying to convert.

There are a number of products that automate the process of converting raster to vector. Some are shareware, some are $$$, some have demos, depending on your platform...

Look here:
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/bitmaptovector/
and maybe you can find something that can help you.

They say that Flash 3+ can do a pretty good job converting bitmaps to vector graphics. Lots of people own that. Maybe you have access to a copy??? There is a link to instructions for doing that on the web page I pasted above.

I actually recently tried a demo of RasterVect 9.4 for windows last night, also listed on that page, and it works pretty well.

Perhaps the most well-known but most costly product is Adobe Streamline, which can trace vector images
"automatically." Although I don't personally own a copy, I have used it in the past. The results are not great IMO but I have heard it is still the best at raster-vector conversions.
http://www.adobe.com/products/streamline/main.html

Honestly, for simple logos, you'll get the best results by "tracing" the raster image in Illustrator or even re-creating it in Illustrator.

I usually save the raster image as a BMP or a JPEG (as big as possible for detail clarity) in PhotoShop, place it into Illustrator, Lock it into position, then use the pencil tool in Illustrator to create a vector image with lines and fills on top of it. If there are any fonts in the image, I try to pick real fonts that look similar instead of tracing them. True, there is a trace tool in Illustrator, but it really lacks controlability, if that's a word.  =)

Yes. It is time-consuming... especially if you aren't yet adept at using the tools in Illustrator but it also yields the most satisfactory results!

I hope something here points you in the right direction!
Amy