Image Processing – How to Convert Poor Quality Bitmap to Vector

bitmapsimagesprocessingvector graphics

I'm designing a website for a group which has lost the original digital image for their logo. The only file they have of it is a jpg which was embedded into a word document. The image has everything possible wrong with it:

  • Anti-aliased onto a white background where it should be transparent
  • Image artefacts
  • Resized downwards poorly.
  • Lines that should be straight and solid aren't.

I've currently used the wand tool to get rid of the white background, and stuck it on the website, but it's poor quality makes it stick out like a sore thumb. I need a few different sizes of it to use, so how would I go about creating a vector image based on it?

Best Answer

I think there's also an open source solution for this, besides Adobe software: Inkscape

I've had the same problem a couple of years ago with a dozen of logos, and were able to solve it with Inkscape this way:

  1. Open the bitmap image.
  2. Left click on it to select it.
  3. Path / Trace Bitmap
  4. Now you have to start experimenting with the possible settings, and refreshing the preview on the right side of the dialog. "Inkscape incorporates the Potrace program (http://potrace.sourceforge.net) to provide this functionality, and in-depth documentation about the function of this feature can be found at the web site for Potrace." - from Inkscape documentation.
  5. Save as SVG.
Related Question