Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I saw Vector Magic mentioned in a post yesterday so I went to their website , and downloaded the "desktop" demo version. I opened a Photoshop image of some designs I made to see how well it actually turned a bitmapped image into vector.
I was blown away with how well it worked. It gives you alot of options to fine tune if want to or a one click button thats down and dirty. I tried it several different ways and was impressed with it every time.
Is anybody using this? I see where it was sort of a freeware product before and now the designers are selling it outright and as a monthly flat rate charge.
All the comparisons I read say it has better algorythms and produces a better vector that either AI or Corel Draw. Any body have any experience with it?
Just looking for some opinions. Personally I think it's pretty slick. If it were cheaper I would definately buy it, and still might.
John
I've used it for a year now and it "gets you by." I have found that clients are getting much better at providing true AI, CDR or EPS files, but, still get the fake ones too (where someone renames their JPEG an EPS).
In the past few months they did the subscription thing and now have a desktop version. For $299, I think the desktop is a little steep, but, it all depends how much you use it. The bigger question you need to ask yourself is "am I happy with the job that it does?" So far, it has been good...we'll see where it goes.
I agree I think the price too high also. I know Illustrator enough to get me by, but I'm pretty fluent in Photoshop and It's a great way to change my bitmap designs into vector. I was just impressed how easy it was to do it.
John
The prog. works very well but you arent going to get great results from any trace if you feed it junk. I have AI, Corel and Flexi all with trace progs. I have also sampled another three or four that I downloaded and junked.
In my opinion VM was pretty impressive. I do switch between Corel and Flexi simply because I dont really want to pay for another prog.
I can do all node and line editing in Flexi as Its so simple to use.
It works for my purpose now,,If i have to redo something sent in wrong format, Now if they would make a program with inverting, color for burning screens for screenprinting,, and taking color out of the background,, i would be in Heaven, Sandy Jo
I have tried it with free trial. It is OK. CorelDraw X3 and X4 will work just fine with bitmap trace function. It does not cost anything if you have CorelDraw. Just have to go through the learning curve. This is true with any application software.
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Luis MAD Scientist JR. AKA MS2 Digital Artist. My canvas is t-shirt and my paintbrush is heat press.
I use Inkscape and I like it better and it is free here is web site Inkscape. Draw Freely.
Do you use this app for 100% of your jobs, or is this just another tool in your box to help get jobs done?
I downloaded v0.45 for Mac OS X awhile ago but have not tested it to compare against Adobe Illustrator. This seems more geared to true drawing artists instead of those like me who scribble!
I just downloaded Vector Magick and tried it on a moderate difficult bitmap; it was impossible to judge if Inkscape or VM gave the best result. Inkscape was significantly faster than VM.
I wouldn't like to edit further with VM. So, no doubt IMO, Inkscape is the best choice of the two.
I use inkscape for 100 percent and I do like it and it is free so for just using it on my own stuff.
I do have pics of transfer that I have used it on .
Nice! Do you cut vinyl/heat applied materials from inkscape?
A member here just had that question in the Vinyl Forum which I thought was a good question. I have downloaded and installed the current Inkscape version (Mac). I browsed a number of sites of artwork done in Inkscape which looked great.
It would be nice to have Vector Magic in the goodie box as well, though a Mac version is not currently available.
Anyone tried Vector Magic? It's cool. 
Re: Anyone tried Vector Magic? It's cool. 
Sandy Jo
MAD Scientist JR. AKA MS2
