Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
N
Complexity
After you've clicked Trace, a legend just
below the Trace Preview box at right tells you how many
shapes will be created and how many control points
are going to be generated. Expect a lot if you're tracing
a photo, but if the legend tells you 900 lines (closed
paths, shapes) and a bazillion control points have been
calculated—for a two-color logo—rethink your settings.
Reset Settings
N
This button undoes all changes in
Bitmap Tracer, restoring all settings to those defined
when you first opened the utility.
Save Settings
N
Bitmap Tracer saves your current
settings when you click this button. There are not
unlimited undoes nor is there an option to save a preset.
Therefore, it's a good idea to always click Save Settings
before clicking Insert. Then, if you're close but not quite
there with a setting for a specific bitmap, you can refine
the saved setting an hour—or a week—later.
Bitmap Name
N
You don't have to have a bitmap image
selected on the page to have Xara trace it. In fact, you
don't even have to have the bitmap onscreen; any bitmap
imported to a page can be displayed in the preview and
traced. All you need to do is use the drop-down list to
specify which of the bitmaps you've imported should be
auto-traced.
Trace Mode
N
In the world of bitmaps, you have
color depths. Digital photographs usually accept the
Photographic tracing mode the best, although there will
be exceptions, based on the quality of the bitmap image
and your intended creative use for a tracing. The 256
Colors (Limited color) tracing mode is generally a good
one for imported GIF images such as the logo you'll
trace in the following section. The Bitmap Tracer will
add vector shapes to your document in this mode, with
a maximum search performed on the bitmap of 256 or
fewer unique color values. The Grayscale mode ignores
color in a bitmap entirely and traces objects whose colors
correspond to 256 levels of black. The Monochrome
trace mode is best suited for what scanner manufacturers
call line art. The Bitmap Tracer assigns black or white to
shapes it creates, moving color values to either black or
white based on the bitmap's original brightness levels.
Passes
N
Only available in Photographic mode, you can
specify from 1 to 5 evaluation passes. Higher settings
