Hi. I have what may seem a crazy question. So, I'm going to ask it. Can I get a better tracing result by scaling up a raster image in the Gimp 150% with Lanczos3, saving as PNG (by the by, what format does Gimp use that Inkscape likes to trace most accurately?), opening it with Inkscape, and tracing it? Or am I simply adding an extra step for nothing, causing the whole process to take longer, using more memory, and possibly adding abnormalities, than just cutting straight to the trace with the original raster? Curious. Jason

PS How large (in megapixels) of a raster image will Inkscape safely trace on a Mac PPC (1 G RAM) osx 10.5? Can Inkscape trace film reel quality raster images of 20 megapixels or so? & can I add RAM via USB cable to my other MacMini? (to give Inkscape more power?)

Oh. And, by the way, thank you for welcoming me to the forum Brynn.)

I know this post is full of juicy questions and may need to stew around a little while before you guys have time to reply. It's OK. Don't hurt yourself (ves). I may (when I have time) find out myself (doing my own independent research), in which case, I will make available for any curious parties browsing.

I kind of feel like Clue from the original movie, "Tron", where I am an advanced program assisted by a parity bit checking for security leaks of the MCP! LOL I hope I can uplink in full duplex once my user queries! LOL

Jaso

PNG seems to be the best way I"ve found thusfar. I didn't find any better results scaling prior to trace. However, I think maybe it thickened the image a bit. (Which may serve useful in situations) And I have yet to work with large file sizes. I don't see a problem though, especially if all one has to do is break the image into pieces, doctor them individually, and recombine. K. Laters, Jaso

Hi again Jaso,
I was hoping someone else would answer this, because I'm not sure. And I certainly know nothing about Macs. But I don't think Trace Bitmap prefers any one or some formats over any others. However that's an interesting thought about scaling up an image in hopes of getting a better trace. I don't know. I've never tried it, and you're the only one I've ever heard of who did.

So you said it made the image "thicker"? I wonder if it might provide better detail?? Detail is what I find lacking in that trace engine. But I've only used that and the RO IT Systems engine. Both lack in details, although the RO IT Systems one I think is a little better. But "thicker" sounds like it might remove detail...??

Well, I guess I'll have to try it myself

As for the size of image that will trace -- it depends on how much RAM you have, and how long you're willing to wait, lol. I suppose there IS an upper limit of image size, but I don't know what it is. For some reason, the preview window is so SMALL for me, that I it's almost useless. Even if I maximize the window, the preview stays small. I haven't figured out if it's just me, or if it's like that for everyone. But at the size I see it, a very large image would be really hard to work on, using the preview window.

Regarding

Can Inkscape trace film reel quality raster images of 20 megapixels or so?

No clue. Maybe someone else??

Sorry, I wish I could be more helpful

OK. It wouldn't let me post a reply unless I logged in. Then it wouldn't let me post because I wasn't logged in. 6 paragraphs are lost with all kinds of goodies for all to see!

I will go over a few now.

For thickening, I would use modo. But for enlarging a small raster image that needs its boundaries re-path'd, it would be appropriate. Lancoz 3 did make some big stair steps.

As far as detail, InkScape is very happy in my domain, 1080p. I have yet to try film reel sized digital overlays nor high resolution digital photo's.

As far as Inkscape, I would like to see a minimum requirement/ maximum preference spec link, but I think that would just be a luxury. However, I do wonder if http://www.lightbeamsystems.com/ makes a workstation that would run InkScape.

Let me know if you have an image you want me to preserve detail with or need any techniques and recommendations. I just listed my personal angle of attack (6 paragraphs worth). I find InkScape impeccable.

Thank you very much! jaso JasonNailmeetsrealJasonNail@gmail.com