Inkscape Trace Bitmap Tutorial: Multiple Color Scans | Watercolor Effect | Spray Tool Clone vs. Copy

[@rajshah5524]

despite being an ocean full of knowledge you're so humble Rick!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thank you so much!!

[@paolabueso]

Thanks you for sharing the quick tip on how to cover the transparent areas!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Anytime, thanks!

[@CharlesHyslop]

Always look forward to your tutorials. I learn better with your project-based, "here's how its done" teaching style, as opposed to a tour of all the tools and "remember what they all do" type of lesson. I've learned a ton from you. Please keep up the great work!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thanks so much! So glad to hear. That's exactly what I'm trying to do with these project based tutorials.

[@minday767]

Thank you for instilling a new found creativity in digital graphics. Wonderful tutorials! Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thank you!! I really appreciate the support!

[@heidiyue]

I'm getting better understanding on Inkscape when I got to your channel while randomly searching for some tutorials. Wow! Thank you for this video! I just subscribed to your channel. 💪

[@IronEchoDesign]

Just saw this. Thank you so much!!

[@heidiyue]

@@IronEchoDesign You're welcome! 😊

[@NinjaMidget1969]

Dood, you do some amazing things with Inkscape. I love the easy to follow format that you use. I've used Inkscape for years to create vector files for vinyl cutting and things like that, but I had no idea it was this versatile. Keep the great content coming and you'll hit 100k subs in no time!

[@andymcdonald8922]

This is really helpful. You go through things nice and slowly and explain everything that you are doing so that it makes sense. Love the spray can explaination too. Subscribed!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thank you so much!!

[@WhiskeyBlack777]

You made this so easy I think a total newbie like me can do this. And I just already happen to have that exact fish that I snagged yesterday for a difft project.

[@IronEchoDesign]

Nice! Thank you! It's a good looking fish, you know?

[@katemccarthy2463]

Love it. Yes please can you do a tutorial on resizing photos for Inkscape

[@RobCLynch]

If this helps, resizing photos in inkscape is a bit messy but doable. However, I use Paint...if you're using a windows machine...because it's so much more straightforward. It allows cropping and resizing quite easily.

[@fatimah1487]

Through your content I'm learning a lot Thank you

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thanks, and I'm so glad to hear.

[@bazz1376]

Hey Rick, Great vid. Photopea has always been my go to, But you are very quickly changing my mind :-)) Thanks

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thanks!! Inkscape has some good potential. I'll have to give Photopea a try.

[@RUSTICW0LF]

Thanks Rick. another great design tutorial. I'm thankful for the help understanding the trace bitmap tool. Whenever I try it I never quite get the look I'm after . cheers mate. Your a real artist. 👍🐺👍

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thanks so much, my friend! You're the real artist. I'm just a guy who loves to make stuff on the computer. Ha.

[@RUSTICW0LF]

@@IronEchoDesign Your too kind Rick. Keep up the good work. Your videos are a great reference to call on when an Inkscape design gets a bit tricky. Take care mate have a great weekend with your lovely family! 👍🐺👍

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thanks, you too!

[@WhiskeyBlack777]

I'd love a vid about clippijng out the best parts of a single image (or multiple!!) to composite them into a new one.

[@IronEchoDesign]

That's a cool idea. I was working on a poster design that incorporated that skill. I'll see if I can find the original files and finish it. Did you have a theme in mind?

[@marwasaleh4065]

Man you answer all my questions.. thank you!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Nice, thank you!!

[@tengboonkhoon]

Very useful. Thank you very much!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thank you!!

[@ullakristiansson7718]

I like this tutorial, easy to follow.

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thanks! I try to make them straight-forward and simple.

[@haresheranga]

That water color trick to stable the fluid is awesome. I was always wondering how to change the scale once the desired effect is applied.

[@IronEchoDesign]

I know, right? It's a quirky tool, but I love it.

[@haresheranga]

@@IronEchoDesign another thing resolved thanks to you. Thank you 😊

[@NoviatbDraws]

Waow, thank you for the tutorial 🙏🏻😊

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thank you!!

[@SurgzSeattleEvents]

Love this!! Thank you ! Im still learning inkscape!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thanks!! That's what I love about Inkscape - we're all always learning.

[@Victoria-Hope]

You rockstar. Thank you so much! ❤️

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thanks so much!! I love doing these.

[@SKMRify]

Excellent feature in Inkscape.

[@stevo6572]

Nice work Rick...appreciate it !!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thanks so much!!

[@pythonjava6228]

Thanks man! You're the best!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thanks!! It is you, in fact, who is the best.

[@LOLITSCOURTNEY]

Hi Rick, Thank you for the videos that you do. I am new to all this and trying to get familiar with inkscape. You are the best at these tutorials because you put it in a way for better understanding. Thank you for that. I am getting into screen printing and could use some expertise. I was wondering if you could produce a tutorial on working with images like converting an image to a vector, breaking down the color separation 1,2,4,6,8 colors and mirroring an image for heat transfers. Also how to make the drawing pallet larger for getting the image onto a larger silk screen. This would all be helpful to me and I am sure to others. Thank you and I hope you are doing well.

[@charliefinn320]

mate I wish I could kiss you Ive been trying to figure out how to change the colour of my traced bitmap for hours this video saved me

[@IronEchoDesign]

Haha! Thanks so much! 😊

[@somecunninglinguist]

Would definitely like a composite tutorial

[@tasneemshaikh9368]

Hi Rick, can you please show how to use actual watercolor painted image (hand painted) and make vector file ? Thanks

[@IronEchoDesign]

I've been experimenting with doing just that. Great question. Watercolor is a filter effect, and it has been difficult to get consistent output, that can be repeated easily. If I can solve it I have some themes I'd like to do in videos. Is there a style or theme you're looking to do?

[@tasneemshaikh9368]

@@IronEchoDesign thank you Rick for getting back. I do watercolor paintings and I want to create patterns out of it without losing the actual watercolor effect, want to keep of original but I am not sure if Inkscape offers this feature

[@inhalethewild]

I don't have the multiple scan option anywhere, had something changed that I'm not aware of? Single scan only.

[@wordofknowledgeknowledge8526]

Hey sir I don't know if you're still doing Inkscape stuff, but if you are can you do some lives for beginners kind of like having school classes and projects at the end. I'm learning but it's like I'm all over the place.

[@IronEchoDesign]

Still at it, over here, and I'm filming a new tutorial tonight. I posted a Beginners Course on this channel last month that walks you through all the basic tools and shows some simple techniques. Let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[@RahulSharma-vm1fz]

Rick, is it just a matter of downloading an image from pixels that is below 3MB? So that Inkscape does not crash. Cheers.

[@IronEchoDesign]

It could be my computer is not powerful enough. I find resizing the source images to 3MB or 5MB tops works better. Your system may be stronger and be able to handle full size images. Hope this helps.

[@RahulSharma-vm1fz]

@@IronEchoDesign Sorry I think I worded that wrong. To bring the file down to the 3MB size. Do you just download the source image at a lower file size?

[@carletonmanormosaics]

Hi Rick, Can you point me to a tutorial for deconstructing a logo? I'm an artist and want to make something for my brother, who's a Boston Bruins fanatic, so I want to create a stencil/cut file from the logo (basically removing the background, white, and gold). I'm new to the CNC world, but belong to a local makerspace that has a Glowforge, Boss laser, and CNC plasma cutter (woohoo!!). I'm thinking I'd like to create a cut file for just the black portion of the logo, then put white/gold glass in the openings to create a piece of wall art or a light box. Any hints would be greatly appreciated!

[@BettyMullins]

Have you tried the 1.3 version yet? If so how do you like it?

[@IronEchoDesign]

I downloaded it for a quick try because I wanted to see how the new Shape Builder tool worked. I had an immediate crash (same thing happened when I moved to 1.2 last year) so I uninstalled 1.3 for now. I’ll wait until the official release I think.

[@omerkalelioglu]

Hi.When I convert images, there is a loss of color, this does not happen with Illustrator. When I zoom out, the contours appear badly and when I export it, this is clearly visible. How can I fix this?

[@OzeiasQueiroz]

Muito bom!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thank you!!

[@michellehuntemann6147]

whats a good number for rezing. I tried 100 pixels and it made it blurry. It was around 500 to begin with but that was causing my computer to slow down

[@IronEchoDesign]

Good question. Inkscape crashes for me all the time if I push it too much. 500 pixels is still pretty small. What is the DPI on the image. That may have more heavy lifting than the actual size.

[@BaconTheRabbit0]

02:15 Could you explain about this please?

[@IronEchoDesign]

For sure. If you have a design that looks really good after Trace Bitmap is done except there is a part that is too dark or too light, you can run another Trace Bitmap at a lighter or darker setting to get that part looking better. Then you can use edit-paths-by-nodes tool to choose the good parts of each Trace Bitmap result and delete the rest. You combine the best parts of each to get one final design.

[@BaconTheRabbit0]

@@IronEchoDesign thanks

[@Jelly-rj8fz]

interesting! I never tried the resizing after adding effects to make them stable, I usually group it(yes even withonly one item! :) ) so I must give that a go, thanks

[@IronEchoDesign]

I like the group method too!

[@jpmiyuka]

My inkscape does t have the multiple scan option next to single scan. Where can I find it?

[@IronEchoDesign]

Let's fix this. It should be on there. What version of Inkscape are you using?

[@logosbyraihan]

nice

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thank you!

[@BeyondTshirts]

Happy Monday, Rick! I have a png image that I need to cut out one part of the image and resize it so it doesn't get all pixelly then need to convert to an SVG cut file for my Cricut. I'm really, REALLY new to Inkscape. The original image is one that a friend at church took of a diaper cake with a baby deer and a sign in front. All she wants is the deer and the sign, so I'm trying to pull out the deer into one cut file and the sign into a separate cut file. I cropped out the deer part and it's only 226px x 304px. The sign is 359px x 260px, or roughly about 3-4 in. each. I need to resize the files to about 8-10 in. to cut them. Am I asking the impossible? LOL Thanks!

[@IronEchoDesign]

Hello! I think this can be done and it's a good skill to learn too. One of the best parts of using a vector program like Inkscape is you can scale things without details getting pixelated. I think you're on the right track. First step is to isolate the baby deer graphic and sign. One thing that will help Trace Bitmap is if you can get a clear source image and adjust the brightness contrast so it looks sharp. The. You can use Trace Bitmap to create a vector version of the part you want, and clip it to your liking. Once it's a vector image, you can scale it to any size you'd like for your project. I do have a another Trace Bitmap tutorial (the one with the astronaut in the thumbnail) that shows how to do this step by step. Hope this helps! Let me know if you you get stuck somewhere. Thanks!

[@BeyondTshirts]

@@IronEchoDesign Thanks, Rick! I actually got frustrated working with the original image; looks like it was in a magazine or on a website and they just grabbed a picture of it. I found a free jpg online that's really close to what she wants, so I used an online converter to make it a png, then converted it again to an SVG and followed your tutorial to get it into layers. I used another tutorial for working inside Cricut's Design Space and it's ready to cut! I have to wait for the cardstock to ship, so I'll repeat the process with the signage part of the images. Love your tutorials, BTW! I'll get the hang of Inkscape eventually. LOL

[@IronEchoDesign]

Thank you! So glad to hear of the solution. Inkscape is really fun and can do a lot. Have fun creating!

[@BeyondTshirts]

@@IronEchoDesign Trying! hahaha

[@Unaomnia01]

X ray mode isnt showing me the picture underneath...

[@IronEchoDesign]

Very good point. Is X-Ray showing the crossed red lines?

[@jcgdigitalle7047]

Hi, I tried to take off the background of a vintage music sheet to make it as an overlay but I’m struggling to get the best result can you help me?

[@IronEchoDesign]

Just saw the other video comment. You're on the right track. Open the vintage sheet music image in Inkscape and use Trace Bitmap to extract just the notes, bars etc. You can adjust the Brightness cutoff so the background is gone when you create the new vector. I just tested it now, and it works really smoothly. Let me known the results you get!

[@jcgdigitalle7047]

@@IronEchoDesign ok how many brightness threshold you used

[@IronEchoDesign]

I ran a clean scan at .420. It was a vintage, yellowed image. Unclick "Smooth Corners". That should help clean it up.

[@jcgdigitalle7047]

@@IronEchoDesign oh thank you I will try that it’s a yellowish background and still working on it I’ll let you know when I’m successful

[@jcgdigitalle7047]

Hi, just got the notes at .420 but the notes are not perfectly shaped as it is in original note shape I wanted a clean notes and bars visibly clear hopefully

[@anaf4072]

What I get after clicking Filter > Texture >Watercolor is completely different. Some rough texture, not at all watercolor-like. I downloaded the latest version in April 2022. Nobody mentions this for some reason, which makes me think it's either a bug or I'm doing something wrong.

[@IronEchoDesign]

It's a tricky setting. I just last week posted a troubleshooting video on how to fix this. Its the video on my channel with the Easter egg in the thumbnail. I walked through this exact scenario because its so common. Please let me know if it helps!

[@anaf4072]

@@IronEchoDesign Awesome! Watching it right now.

[@IronEchoDesign]

Nice! I love watercolor in Inkscape but it changes almost every time I open up the program. If you have other questions I'm usually here!

[@anaf4072]

@@IronEchoDesign You know, crazy thing, I was following your other vid super closely and nothing worked. I was still getting that weird rough texture. It was very frustrating but then... in desperation I closed Inkscape and opened it again and lo and behold everything worked as it should. What was happening probably is that I was doing a bitmap tracing earlier on the same document and Inkscape got messed up somehow... When I reopened that junk got cleared away. Whew! Anyway, all is well... I'm enjoying your tutorials very much! Thanks!!!!

[@IronEchoDesign]

I've been there! Same experience for me sometimes with needing to restart Inkscape to make things work.

[@andie_pl]

Texted the arch text tutorial and still not getting the results i want :( wish inkscape had a simple skew option like adobe illustrator does

[@IronEchoDesign]

I hear you. What's the result you want? Maybe I can work a solution into the next video??

[@andie_pl]

@@IronEchoDesign i would like to see the text more upright rather than curved. for example like harvard’s logo or other athletics departments

[@IronEchoDesign]

Got it. Perfect explanation. Here's one way you can do that in Inkscape: 1. Type out your HARVARD text and adjust the kerning so there is extra space between the letters. 2. Make a very large circle so the arch will not be too steep. 3. Text- Put on Path. 4. Position the curved text so it's level. 5. Select the Text and choose object to Path. 6. Now double click on only the H. You want to see the selection arrows on the H only. 7. Click again on the H so you have the turning arrows on the selected H. 8. Hover over the top Left-Right arrow of the H. When it turns green you can skew the letter by holding shift while clicking and dragging the arrow left or right. Hope this helps!