[barbaraburns]

All you do is import the bitmap/jpg/whatever into corel draw. Then right click on it, then select "trace bitmap" they'll be a flyout menu, you can either do quicktrace or select an option below.

You'll be able to fine tune the tracing options in a separate window. It'll have a before and after preview as well.

THANK YOU so much for this tip! I just started using Crel Draw X3 at work - I hadn't used it since like version 7 and I haven't done much with it but this will be an absolute terrific time-saver for me at work & at home once I buy the program for home. I've been using Macromedia products - versions about 2 back that I haven't upgraded yet and this is just the nudge I needed to put Corel Draw higher on my priority list of what to buy first.

I do not rave about PhotoShop or Illustrator - both are very user UN-friendly IMO - that , cost & mostly making Net graphics at work at that time was why I bought Macromedia instead of Corel back then.

Corel Draw & Photo Paint are MUCH easier to use than Adobe ... now & then! They are much more user-friendly & make it easier to just open & work with very little learning curve.

Enjoy! I am enjoying them at work again!

 

[barbaraburns]

The autotrace feature works great with the CP sized images (3000 x 3000 pixels). I just coverted like 6 of my cafepress designs to vector graphics in minutes.

That alone was worth the price of the upgrade for me. i had been paying artworksource.com to convert my bitmap graphics to vectors until now

LOL .... that was my second thought ... I cannot afford to get it this month or next month (I'm saving for San Francisco plane tickets & a hotel room in October!) ... but no more fighting with the trace features ...that will be well worth the price of the full program to me - I generally do not do any tracing any more unless I am forced into it kicking & screaming ... it was always such a horrendous pain for me and very time consuming for results not being what I needed ... this sounds awesome! I'm magic wand impaired too LOL Fireworks does a great job on my vector dragonflies but the paintings are less than spectacular unless I create them at large sizes and I haven't figured out how to paint seascapes & landscapes in vectors LOL