Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with vector

How do I Live Trace the images in a PDF in Illus CS3?

cobra_high_tigers — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:47:25 -0800

How do I Live Trace the images in a PDF in Illustrator CS3? So, a friend has mocked up a program for a conference that he's arranging on a shoestring budget in Microsoft Word. The printer was ready to charge like $200/hr for converting this document to a printable format, which is out of the budget range my friend is working with. Basically, he said that it needed to be in a vector format in CMYK color space.

Since I have a mac, the first thing I did was to print the document to a pdf, to convert all the text to glyphs. Next, I opened a page in Illustrator, and it was easy enough to convert the color space to CMYK from RGB. Finally, I went to convert the raster images inserted in the document (.jpgs and .gifs) to vectors. The tutorials I had seen for Live Trace made it look pretty simple, but I can't figure out how to make it happen on my document.

It isn't that I'm displease with the results, it's that I can't make it happen at all. With the image selected, the Object->Live Trace->Make menu option is grayed out.

What do I need to do to the images in this imported pdf to make it so that Illustrator allows me to Live Trace them?

Thanks for the help!

How I can I find an old-style scientific vector plotter font?

dfan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:10:56 -0800

When I was growing up, the graphs in all the science books from the middle of the 20th century had a particular vector-plotted look to them. Did they use a common font (or common plotting system), and how can I duplicate that appearance now? If you read science books written in the 1950s through 1980s, you probably know what I'm talking about - lots of these graphs and diagrams looked very consistent. It's a very simple sans-serif font and in practice often included many oblique or greek characters. I assume it was just a standard font on a common vector plotter at the time. I'd love to know 1) if the font has a name, or (more likely) if it's just some standard plotter font, what that plotter was, and 2) how I can most easily find a font that looks like that for nostalgic use today.

Some examples:
- Circuits, Signals, and Systems: click "Look Inside" and look at the diagrams on the first few pages.
- Mathematics: Its Content, Nethods and Meaning: for example, the graphs on page 107.
- I think the famous Feynman Lectures on Physics books have graphs like this but I'm having trouble finding examples online.

Where can I download a vector (.svg?) map of the 5 boroughs in NYC?

ejfox — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:14:36 -0800

Where could I download (for free or cheap) an .svg or other vector-based map including or specializing on the 5 boroughs of NYC? I don't need streets or lots of detail. Just a general outline. Thanks!

Need Illustrator reference recommendations

karmaville — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:51:44 -0800

I can competently use Illustrator CS3 and do so daily for my job but want to increase my knowledge base and skills. I currently would call myself a mid-range user but typically use illustrator for simple designs--usually integrated with photos from Photoshop--and signs, cards, posters, etc. I'd like to expand my knowledge into custom shapes, vectors, and some other upper level stuff as I am mainly self-taught on an as needed basis.

Any recommendations on tutorials, web sites, people to follow, essential books, etc.? I use the Visual Quickstart Guide for CS3 as my basic reference but want more. Step by step tutorials either web or video are my preferred option but anything else would be great too.

Input:Bitmap Output:Vector

fake — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:28:26 -0800

I am looking for a program which accepts a raster image as input, and which outputs an engraving-like black and white vector image. The output is the primary thing. It has to use some kind of engraving-like technique (for example, line displacement or crosshatching) to create the final image.

Does such a thing exist?

Photoshop help required

ninazer0 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:18:03 -0800

Photoshop question. I have a logo. I have a banner. I want to cut the shape of the logo out of the banner to leave a logo-shaped hole so you can see the page background. When I paste the logo on the banner it goes all pixelly. It's a big logo (2000 pixels square roughly) and the background is 720 by 130. Obviously there needs to be rescaling. When I do it, I am left with a rough, pixillated edge that looks like shit.

I *think* I need to turn the logo into a vector shape so that it scales properly. I've no idea how to do this.

I *assume* that this is also partially a question of resolution.

Can someone hold my hand and explain this to me?

I have CS3 but I mostly use it to retouch the occasional photo.

HALP! I CAN HAS ISTOCKPHOTO DESIGN?

mathowie — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:28:02 -0800

Need help locating a repeating flower vector image. What search terms at iStockphoto would work for finding the flower element behind the text on this image? I'm helping a friend redo her site and this was a design element from her logo, but the logo designer used Microsoft Publisher and I can't get a vector version into illustrator or photoshop, so I'd like to find a nice clean vector version at iStockphoto, which I'll gladly pay for.

I've come really close in a few searches for flower patterns, celtic type illustrations, etc, but I can't quite find the right image. Anyone got any search terms I should be using?

I've been searching for the last two hours and I've finally given up and am asking for help here instead.

Nothing, hopefully, is shocking.

eschatfische — Sun, 03 May 2009 14:24:46 -0800

Yet another "how do I overcome the fear of touching this CRT" question, this time somewhat specific to Atari vector monitors. So, I picked up an old, used Tempest machine. The cabinet's in decent condition, I rebuilt the spinners, and the monitor's bright with no burn-in. It plays great, and I'm pretty happy.

There's one small issue, though, and that's a hint of instability in the video. The display is just slightly unstable -- not enough to affect gameplay, and not enough that you'd even notice the slight jumpiness from a couple of feet away, but it's still there. I'd love to get it rock-solid, and from my reading, it sounds like a cap kit and some resistors on the HV board and a new LV board might do the trick. I went ahead and ordered those parts and have them in my possession.

The problem? While I've worked quite a bit on pinball machines and PCs, and feel comfortable will all of the other parts of the Tempest, I've never done CRT repair, and I'm well familiar with the danger inherent in repairing old monitors. I've read the online repair docs, have watched the videos of people doing the discharge, and I still don't have the 100% confidence the repair guides recommend.

My two questions:

1) Is a certain, slight amount of instability correctable in a Tempest, or will there always be just a little bit of jumpiness? I hadn't seen an original Tempest machine in years before picking this one up.

2) How can I get to 100% confidence to work on this kind of monitor? I live in the Bay Area, and would consider paying an experienced hobbyist to go through the removal and discharge procedure with me a couple of times so I can get up to speed, but I'm not sure that's an option. How did you get confident working with CRTs on your own?

preparing vector graphics for use in a game

compound eye — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:30:49 -0800

how to convert a vector drawing to line segments & convex polygons, and then export as an array of points? Hello,

I'm looking to convert vector artwork for a 2d video game into a format that can be used by code. Ideally I'd like a flexible semi-automated way to convert a vector drawing into an array of points which define line segments and/or convex polygons.

The vector artwork is curved.
The line segments, and polygon edges will naturally be straight.

I will want to make compromises between the number of points used, and how faithfully the original artwork is represented to find a good trade off between the appearance while keeping the number of points used low.

does anyone have any suggestions?

thanks

mat

Where can I commission vector art?

grrarrgh00 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:03:25 -0800

Where might I commission a reasonably priced vector illustration? I have a blog logo that needs some sprucing up for a redesign, and I'd love to find someone to convert it into vector while being as faithful as possible to the original. Any websites where I can request this kind of work, or find artists who might do it?

Vector street map of Columbus, OH suburb?

UnclePlayground — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:19:07 -0800

Can you help me locate editable vector street map of southeastern suburbs of Columbus, Ohio? Specifically something that I can open up in Adobe Illustrator, and change the typeface, colors, etc.
Also, that covers the areas of Reynoldsburg, Pickerington, and Canal Winchester.
There is some money in a budget to pay for the map, but not a lot.
Thanks in advance.

Free Vector Graphics/Borders for a Wedding Invitation

snap_dragon — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:42:27 -0800

I am looking for the best sights for vector border graphics as I am designing my wedding invitations. Anyone recommend some decent sights? When I googled I did not get many sights with much. Thanks for your time and consideration!

Exporting vector graphics for large-format PDF printing

Marquis — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:07:09 -0800

I have a vector-based image I have created in Inkscape. I will be printing it in a very large format - 3" x 4", - and my printer wants the image to be supplied as PDF. What do I need to do to export a PDF that will be of sufficient quality for printing? I have a very simple b&w vector image in Inkscape - just a line of text and two clip-art ornaments. (It saves by default as a .svg)

I need to bring a PDF to the printers but as it will be printed very very big, I'm nervous about quality. If I do a vanilla "Save as... PDF via Cairo" in Inkscape, will the resulting PDF be okay for printing at very large scale? Do I need to do anything else to prepare the image for biggification? Since it's a vector graphic I hoped that it would scale without problems.

(When I save as PDF as above, the resulting file is just 28 kb, which is what's spooked me. I also have to check the "Convert text to paths" box for the font to look right.)

I am computer-savvy but know zilch about graphics (CMYK, what?), so please dumb down yr answers if possible. Oh, and I'm on a iBook/OS 10.4.

Argh, the lines! Why won't they go like how I want them?!

ignignokt — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:45:51 -0800

How should I get started in vector drawing? I'd love to be able to produce those smooth, clean scalable drawings someday. It's something I've always wanted to do. There's no community college classes on vector art around here, and I've tried just grabbing Illustrator and trying to make stuff in it, but that approach didn't really get me anywhere and just left me frustrated. I ended up forcing out a bizarre-looking Mega Man and some awkward dinosaurs, and I didn't really feel like I understood vector drawing any better than I did before.

How did you guys get started? Should I just keep pounding away? Any recommended books, methodologies, or web sites? Most of the books I've looked through seem to chiefly focus on particular tools, not underlying concepts. What are the fundamental things I should focus on initially?

Vector map of United States

Jimmie — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:29:42 -0800

Where can I find a free, vector map of the United States, with outlined states? I need a map of the United States for a project.

I need it to be in some sort of vector format. AI, PDF, SVG, hell, it can even be raw latitude/longitude coordinates and I'll write a program to draw the thing myself.

I need the individual states to be outlined. The outlines may be on a separate layer, or the image itself may be comprised of individual shapes for each state.

Here's the kicker:
It must be in either equirectangular or cylindrical equal-area formats. Essentially, any format where the latitude lines are perfectly horizontal, and longitude are perfectly vertical.

I've found numerous resources in elliptical format (like Wikipedia's Blank_Maps collection). These are unnacceptable.

Your help will be greatly appreciated!

Who drew it?

Soliloquy — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:05:38 -0800

Help me find the artist/stock image CD these fantastic illustrations are from... A friend sent me these gorgeous illustrations recently. They're probably pirated stock illustrations but there's no data under File Info, and I'd like to find the artist or stock image site where I can buy more like them. I've tried searching for the filenames on Google and relevant keywords on istockphoto but no luck. They were originally in .ai and .eps formats.

Best software for animated vector illustrations?

thedevildancedlightly — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:44:47 -0800

What is the best software that can be used to create a vector animation of a business process for use in a video? (MI) What is the "gold standard" software for creating animated vector illustrations? I'm creating a one-minute animation of a business process flow that will be used in a video? I have (via software lab) access to just about any imaginable program and (because of my current life status) the time and interest to learn how to do it myself.

The end result will be based on a cartoon storyboard, but I don't want it to look cartoon-y. It should be a slick illustration (and I'll do some post-processing on it separately).

I've seen Synfig in this context, but I'm not sure if it's simply the most popular based on the price (free).

By "gold standard" I mean the equivalent of Photoshop for still pixel images; Photoshop is the standard for that market, what's the standard for this one?

Thanks!

Vintage Indian bike vector graphic needed

AnyGuelmann — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:35:18 -0800

Looking for vector graphics of 40's or 50's Indian bikes I need a vector drawing of an Indian motorcycle from the 40's or 50's. It doesn't necessarily need to be an Indian, as long as it looks somewhat like this. I do need it to be in profile, though. Not much detail needed, even a silhouette may be ok.

Free is always best, but I am willing to pay a few bucks if it's the graphic I need.

Is there an easy way to manage extensive amounts of .eps & .ai files (Adobe Illustrator) into a .pdf catalog format?

cheero — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 04:37:55 -0800

Is there an easy way to manage extensive amounts of .eps & .ai files (Adobe Illustrator) into a .pdf catalog format? I often buy vector pack cds that come with vast amounts of eps/ai files but there is almost always a single .pdf file that has a catalog of all the files in one for easy browsing. Is there a tool that does this automatically?

SVG task - is it the right tool for the job?

dance — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:14:19 -0800

Resources/information on layering with SVG I'm interested in working with SVG. I have some fairly intricate but simple vector (AI format) digitizations of some drawings I made. I'd like to display these on a webpage with a raster image of the original context 'beneath' the SVG image (does SVG do transparency?).

What is key is that the layers within the SVG (which I create as layers in Illustrator CS2 presumably) are clickable on/off and the raster itself is clickable on/off also - presumably using JavaScript.

Is this possible? Does anyone have any resources or information on how this could be accomplished? I can't find a great deal on the www about this aspect of SVG although similar projects have clearly been done - although that example doesn't have the raster background I am looking to achieve.

In addition it would be great if the layers could be searchable, perhaps through an XML sort/filter...

Any thoughts?

Give me the finger

mjbraun — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:19:40 -0800

I'm looking for a large version of the classic Victorian "this way finger". A vector file would be ideal, but any large enough raster images would do as well. Also, what exactly would you call that thing? I know it would be considered a dingbat but I can't imagine shopowners ordering signs saying "Give me that finger thing, you know, the uhh, finger?" I was able to find some pointing fingers but they're too clean. The Victorian style in the first link is what I'm looking for.

vector sound/audio waves

mrunderhill — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 08:16:44 -0800

How would I go about getting sound waves in to Illustrator? I'm looking for an application (Mac or PC) that let's me export vector (or at least high resolution) sound wave graphics..

Any ideas?

Thanks!

illustrator live trace: simple outlines

pinto — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 17:10:55 -0800

livetrace / illustrator cs2: how would I go about tracing only the outline of a complex image (in this case, a cutout of a building) so as to create cut lines for a printer? my only thought would be to create a selection or path in photoshop, stroke it, import that image into illustrator, trace that, and then insert my original, detailed image, inside that tracing. there must be an easier way!

Extracting a vector image from a .pdf file

PercussivePaul — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 10:10:50 -0800

How can I extract a figure from a .pdf file and save it as a vector image? I need to include a figure in a latex file. It must be a vector image - either .eps or .pdf or another format from which I can convert to one of those two. I have a .pdf file of a paper that includes the figure and it is a vector image, but I don't have the original source. (don't worry about copyright issues, what I have in mind is fair use. also I don't have time to contact the authors and ask for the original source.)

My supervisor suggested printing to postscript and copying and pasting the figure from the postscript source. I tried this and was able to locate the figure based on some of the figure's text appearing, but I don't know enough postscript to figure out where the figure starts and ends.

Acrobat has the little screen-cap tool of course but my understanding is that this is not a vector image - and in any case I tried pasting the result into GIMP (running Linux) and it didn't work.

I have access to typical Linux tools and I can probably find a Windows workstation somewhere too. Oh yeah, and it has to be free, too.

What Ever Happened to Chesspiece Face?

king walnut — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:42:15 -0800

Anybody know where I can get free vector art of nice-looking chess pieces? Adobe Illustrator or Postscript (EPS) format preferred.