Bitmap to Vector conversion

Bitmap & vectored graphics.

If you are not sure what constitutes a bitmap or vector graphic please [ see here ].

Why would I need a vectored graphic?

There are a number of reasons why you may need a vectored image:

1. Your logo is essentially made up of 2 or 3 colours for instance, and in its bitmap state can only be produced as a 4 colour job (CMYK). To keep costs down, you need your logo in a colour-separable state, i.e. a vectored image. An Adobe Illustrator .eps file is considered the industry standard.
   
   
2. Your logo is in a .tiff format and you've just decided to have your company vehicles sign-written. If your logo was originally sized to fit a letterhead, or business card then enlarging this to fit a large panel on a van for instance would look pretty bad as once you resize the image greater than its original size, then it will start to look very 'jaggy'. Vectored images are totally scaleable and do not suffer from enlarging.
   
   
3. Many start-up businesses create an online presence first and quite often the only artwork they have is what their web designer created for them. Nine times out of ten, this is artwork is a low-res 72dpi web graphic, perfectly acceptable for onscreen viewing but utterly useless for printing purposes. Rather than going back to the designer and getting him or her to recreate the artwork at 300dpi it's often far better to get the image in a vectored state, as this can then be used for printing on clothing, vehicles, stationery, magazine ads. etc. with no loss of quality.

Creating vectored images, should I attempt this myself, or employ a professional?

You may be familiar with the tracing function in Illustrator. If so, then you will know that certain images are fairly straightforward to do. However, once you attempt to trace text, or more complicated images/logos for example, then you will quickly realise that the task is not as easy as it first looked. Getting a professional to do the work will often save you hours of grief! Where a professional will score is when you have a graphic that is pretty rough, with a lot of detail missing. The pro will be able to 'visualise' the missing parts and may be able to add them in.

To give you an example of what is possible please see the following images courtesy of the guys at www.bitmap2vector.com :

	Original photograph.
	Illustrator outlines.
	Now if only I could do that!!
* Click here to visit the Bitmap2Vector.com feature page *
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