I need addvice on inkscape usage

If output quality (#nodes ~ filesize) is the biggest issue, the most effetive way I know is to do vector it "manually" (redraw mostly with bezier tool.)

You can also try to "optimize paths" in the trace bitmap 2nd tab, but the result is usually better with redrawing.

Thanks Mc.

Some of the bmp art I would like to use is very detailed, doing this "manually" would prove to be very time consuming.
I will play with both suggestions and see if anyone else has an idea to share.

Allen

it would be easier to help you with samples of what you want to vectorize.
black/white ? gray ? color ?
clean ? noisy (jpeg converted as *.bmp)?
simple colors ? gradients ? patterns ?

Vince,

Thanks for responding.

I was waiting to see if anyone was interested in helping and what details they might need before going into this too deeply.

I have a bmp of my company logo that would make a really good example of what I'm trying to do, I see no way to attach a file here in Launchpad.
Any suggestions on how to proceed with an illustration?

I'm working with black/white only for now.
At the moment, "clean? noisy" makes no difference, I just need to understand the process.
I'm trying to generate tool pathes by way of vectorization, a bmp traced and saved as a dxf.
I see I can import an svg straight into Pycam, I'm working on that now.
(If this is the case, and it works, it could save me a lot of time).
I'll concern myself with colour images later, again it's the process I need to wrap my head around for now.

Thanks again, Allen

I don't understand

>For now all I need to do is convert a .BMP to a “Vector” drawing,
>(I have been using .DXF to import into my CAD program).
>My attempts so far generate huge files that only the most powerful CAD program I have can deal with.

vs

> I just need to understand the process.

From (1) I understood you already know the trace function from inkscape (=import a bitmap then menu bitmap/Trace bitmap...) but this resulted in a too large file.

(or did you mean you attempted to vectorize from a tool other than inkscape ?)

But (2) confused me.

Anyway you need to trace the bitmap and, as Mc said, if the file is too big you need to tweak the settings in the options tab to simplify the output.
The trace function in inkscape is "only" a wrapper around the potrace program (http://potrace.sourceforge.net/). So you could have a look at potrace site for a more in depth explanation of settings.
Possibly you could run the potrace program directly as it could output dxf directly and it has some settings that are not available from inkscape.

clean vs noisy input image matters, because more noise means heavier file (=more path to represent unwanted speckle)

Thank you.