Firstly, thank you to anyone who responds and is able to help...

I am brand new to Inkscape and I think it is pretty amazing so far.
I have a bmp/jpg/gif logo and had been searching the web to find a way to convert it to a vector so I could adapt it to any size with no loss of resolution.
Thus I stumbled across Inkscape.
I looked at some tips/tutorials/YouTube/forums/etc. but am still stuck on one problem...


QUESTION:

How do I get rid of the light green border (stroke?) in my vector?
I want a solid, clean vector.

I have attached my logo as a GIF and the current SVG I have traced.



PLEASE HELP!!
Thank you!

You can play with a copy of your svg and see the trace makes a number of objects stacked. Ungroup and drag them around to get the picture.

I would probably recreate the simple logo using the drawing tools for a cleaner version than the trace will provide.

The tutorials in the help menu should be sufficient to learn from for this level work.

Interesting. This looks like it may have originally been a vector image.

Anyway, there may be a few ways to approach this. It looks like you must have traced with a multiple scan, Colors option probably. And since it is a Group of 9, you probably traced with 9 or 10 scans (colors). But there are essentially only 3 colors there. So one way might be to try the trace again, with only 3 or 4 colors, instead of 9 or 10.

Another approach would be to delete the 6 colors that you don't need. It's not just a light green border that you have there, there are some light blue ones, and some others. To delete them, first you'll want to Ungroup the Group of 9 (Object menu, or button on the command bar, or key shortcut). Then using the Selection tool, together with the Alt key, you can select the objects below the 3 main colored ones.

So click once on the green shape, then press Alt and click again. That selects the object below the green one. Looks like it's a medium blue. The next couple of objects below are lighter blue, and just keep deleting the objects that you don't need, until you end up with only 3 objects (a blue, a green and a black).

Or yet another way, and probably the way I would do it -- not use Trace Bitmap at all, and trace by hand using the Pen tool. It takes more time. But with those bold clear shapes, it should be fairly easy.

Whoops, tyler posted while I was typing. That's yet a 4th way to approach it

Thank you both so much for your help. Inkscape is really powerful, but a little intimidating as a first-time user.

This helps so much. Now I can isolate the layers I need.
I just have to learn how to erase next since the colored layers include more than what I need and they do not overlap perfectly.

Thank you again for your help!

If you go back and do the trace with only 3 colors, you won't have to deal with the objects/colors that you don't need.

Which parts do you need to "erase"? I just want to make sure that you don't try to use the Eraser tool, if you don't have to. A lot of newbies don't understand how it works. And it doesn't always work anyway, in my experience.

Thank you Brynn. I did try to use the eraser and I can see it is not the ideal tool.

I can do the trace with 4 colors to minimize the layers (3 makes the background green... I'm assuming it counts white as a color since the source is a bmp so it has a background).

The only two problems I have are:

1) Since the green and blue layers have eyes (which I want black only), there is a small overlap of green


2) The centerpiece of the glasses I would like to be rounded or flush with the color frames and not blocked off (also shows a little green layer overlap)



Sorry for the noob questions but you are very helpful.

Ok, those things can be fixed by editing the nodes. Here's a brief introduction to node editing. (And btw, this is why I said that I would have hand-traced the image with Inkscape's Pen/Bezier tool, rather than use Trace Bitmap. But this is how you learn )

For the top screenshot, select the green object with the Node tool, and you'll be able to see the nodes. You can drag nodes with the Node tool. (It's just like dragging objects with the Selection tool.)

Select a node with the Node tool, and you can see the node handles. You can grab the tiny circle of the node handle, and drag it, to adjust the path.

Since your screenshot doesn't show the nodes, I can't tell you specifically whether you need to drag a node or drag a handle.

For the 2nd screenshot, you may need to add new nodes or change the node type.

To add a new node, you can either select the 2 nodes (where you want the new node to be between) and click the Add Node button on the control bar; or you can double-click on the selected path, and a new node will be placed right there where you double-clicked. (Note that the Node tool pointer will change to a little hand when you're in the correct position to add a node.)

There are 4 kinds of nodes, but generally you'll only use 2 -- smooth nodes and corner/cusp nodes. Corner nodes can have zero, 1 or 2 handles which always move independently. So you have to adjust them one at a time. Smooth nodes always have 2 handles, which always move together. If you move one handle of a smooth node, the other handle moves too.

Sometimes you might need to change the type of node. After you select the node, you can click either "Make selected node smooth" or "Make selected node corner" button on the control bar. (Or there are key shortcuts for every button, if you prefer. You can look them up in Help menu > Key and Mouse Ref.)

Brynn....

Thank you so much for your response again.

Hypothetically, if a fella like me were to politely try to sweet talk someone... let's say someone like yourself... into making me a nice clean vector of this logo.... What kind of response might I get?

Translation = You sound like a pro and could you do it for me... pretty please?


In all seriousness, do you or anyone else in these forums offer their time for a little compensation perhaps?

I'm interested to learn more on InkScape but right now I only need it for this one image and may not have a need for application much outside of that for a while.

Espermaschine....

Thank You!

I really appreciate you doing this.