I am pretty new to inkscape, I am getting pretty good at cutting out images, but now, I am in need of turning images of people into more of a simple image for shirts. Here is an example. Can someone give me a detailed explanation of how I would go about doing this? Thanks so much!!

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

There are a couple of ways you might approach this. And I'm not sure if one would be any better than the other.

1 - Path menu > Trace Bitmap. This will convert the image to vector. But since you need such a simplified image for the t-shirt, you'll probably have to do some node editing, to remove a lot of the odd bits and pieces which will inevitabley result from doing the automated trace. I would suggest trying the SIOX Foreground Selection technique: http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL ... -SIOX.html. It might not work, but if you get the settings right, it might be perfect.

2 - Trace it by hand using the Pen or Pencil tool. You would Import the photo, and then just draw right on top of it, around the hair and face, to create a vector path.

I suspect the automated trace might be a little easier, but I guess it depends on your Inkscape skills.

What about changing the picture to white and black, and then playing with the contrast? Wouldn't that do the trick?

I guess it might, but that might better be done with a raster graphics editor (such as GIMP). But you could try Extensions menu > Raster > many options there. Or there might even be a filter that would work. I'm not familiar enough with this kind of raster techniques, and would just have to do a lot of experimenting. But I'll leave the experimenting up to you

However, you may find, in the end, that the t-shirt printer needs a vector file. If that's the case, you'll still have to use Trace Bitmap to vectorize it. But if you've managed to achieve the black and white portrait before tracing, the trace might go much easier than if you used the color photo.

EngineerGuY, how did you convert that image at the top to the one you overlayed on the red t-shirt? i am looking to do the same with a facial image but am having trouble. Thanks!!!

Welcome to the forum
I don't think EngineerGuY did that. I think he found the images somewhere, and asked us how to do it. And I think he came up with his own best answer. Use a raster graphics program, change it to b/w, then play with the contrast until you have something close to a single shape. Then import it to Inkscape and use Trace Bitmap.

You might be able to do it, with Trace Bitmap alone, by adjusting the threshold and other settings. It's hard for me to know without actually trying it.

I actually quite enjoy fractals. How did you make it? Some fractal programs have fairly sophisticated color controls, so you might be able to get a lot of the way with that program. I can't remember which one at the moment, but one of the ones I have will do a grayscale version. Although I guess you didn't say you made the fractal. So that might not help you.

The GIMP has some very sophisticated extensions/filters to separate an Image from its background that are not available in Inkscape. If you just want that kind of one bit image (high contrast one-color) then the GIMP will even savethe path as an SVG that you can open in Inkscape.

druban wrote:

Off topic:

Fractals??? Am I missing a post here, Brynn, or are you responding to a PM?

Apologies for misreading