pattern cleanup programs

[lucky788scroller]

Since the design contest thing, Ive been really into drawing up stuff,trying to design a few patterns I've had on my mind.Ive got a few things drawn up that I think are pretty nifty designs,but all my drawings are just that,pencil drawn. All the quality patterns have thin,precise lines,where mine have fine lines,which get a bit unfine as the pencil wears.For me to cut the designs with these its no biggy,but if I were to try producing a quality pattern, what type of program would I want that can straighten out the teeny variations from a pencil line,to a crisp fine line that would look much neater?I looked at the programs listed on SAW website,but without downloading any of them (the free trial versions that is),I didnt really understand much.Also,Im concerned with sucking in a batrillion diffrent spams and popups if I download any free trial anything,should I be worried about that? Any help would be great, Thanks. Dale

[Jediscroller]

Most folks who do original artwork use Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw. I've used PSP for my drawings, while it improves them, it doesn't have the features of the prior ones for converting original artwork (it's why I just bought Corel, hehe).

Kevin

[Rick-H]

Programs

As you know I use Corel Draw and have good luck with it. I have some short video clips on my web site how to do things in Corel. That might let you see some of the things that program will do for you. It is an advanced program and takes some time to learn but I find the learning time to be well spent. I have helped many people with Corel via Yahoo Messenger, kind of individual lessons for any problems they are having.

[CanadianScroller]

There are two basic styles of graphic programs out there, raster based and vector based.
Raster based programs are paint programs, most scans you make with a scanner will be raster.
Vector based programs are draw programs, with lines and fills, such as Corel.
You can take a raster based picture and convert it to vector. There are many programs out there that will allow you to do that. All of them will take some tweaking to refine the output image to something that is usable.

There are a couple of programs I use right now, one is for converting a photo into a portrait, the other is for most other patterns I make.
Meonapumpkin, is low cost, around $20. and it does a pretty good job of making portrait style patterns.
For other patterns I use Serif's desktop publishing software.
It allows me to draw with lines and fills over any image I have scanned or imported.
Once I have the drawing I want, I can delete the original picture and then export my final file to something anyone can use.
You can get the Serif program here The free version will not allow curved lines but for a $10 upgrade you get the full blown version and a free digital camera.

If you already have Corel. check out Rick's home page, I have sent many people there, his tutoriasl are great. I will never have to buy a folding basket pattern again <grin>

[Grizz]

I'm with Rick on this one. Corel does a great job! I've been trying some amateur patterns and find it quite challenging.

[Neal Moore]

I downloaded a trial program called RasterVect 9.7 a few months ago. It's a raster to vector conversion program. You can't save anything to disk with the trial version but you can print the vector (fine line) conversion and then scan it back into your computer. I had no problems with spam etc. The program works well for creating pierced/shadow portraits from photos. You can probably do a search for RasterVect 9.7 and find it as I don't remember where I found it. It will also turn thick pencil lines into fine lines.

[Sawdust King]

For what I've done I've used Corel. I've downloaded a couple free patterns imported them into Corel made vector curves of the pattern and then added my own interior cuts. This allows me to smooth out some of the curves that appear slightly flat or sharp and to also increase the sharpness of other points and allow me to print the pattern with a thin line.

What would be nice in Corel is if I could grab a couple of points and set their curves together.

[GrayBeard Phil]

Sawdust:

Corel Draw version 12:-- (If you don't have Corel Draw you will not understand this post.)

- If you have two Bézier curves,

- Click on shape tool (left hand tool bar, 2nd down, Fly-out tool # 1)

- hold down Shift key and click on both lines, this will select both lines for Bézier edit.

- With mouse (or other input device like a tablet) pointer on one of the lines, right click to open context menu.

- About 2/3 down, select Join.

- You may have to reopen the right mouse click context menu and select the Delete option to remove an extra Bézier Node where the join junction occurs.

HTH
Phil

[Rick-H]

What would be nice in Corel is if I could grab a couple of points and set their curves together.

Check the videos on Corel on my web site and it shows how to do that. http://www.scrollsaws.com