Hi!

I am a newbie! I am using Inkscape 0.91 running on Windows 7 Pro, 64-bit, w/ Service Pack 1.

I have a .JPG file of the image of a black car (just one color) w/ a white background. I am trying to convert the image from raster to vector so that I can isolate the car from the background, copy it, and paste it over another image.

How do I do it?

Thank you!

Dr. T

1. Uninstall Inkscape
2. Visit https://inkscape.org/releases
3. Install the current Inkscape version which is 0.92.3 (this is because files from 0.91 are partially incompatible with the newer version, so if you start using it, better start with something recent).
4. Follow the instructions in this post: https://goinkscape.com/how-to-vectorize-in-inkscape/

For a list of tutorials, see https://inkscape.org/learn

While it's always nice to have the most current version, it's not necessary to convert your file. Depending on the image, you can either trace "by hand" using the Pen or Pencil tool, or you can auto-trace using Path menu > Trace Bitmap.

If the image is already like a silhouette, Trace Bitmap should work fine. But if you have trouble, you can always show us the image, and we can give you tips.

The easiest way is to use a raster image editor like GIMP, add an alpha channel, select the white color, delete and save to PNG file - ready to compose.
As long as you don´t want to significantly upscale the artwork no vectorising is necessary.

Cheers

Dear Moini,

Thank you for your reply.

I read there are "bugs" w/ v. 0.92. True?

Dr. T

Less so than with 0.91 now. There are always bugs, only they are different from version to version. The current 0.92.3 is quite reliable and stable by now.