Clean up graphics

If your job includes preparing logos and other graphics for production you know that it can take several hours if the original graphics aren't good. When you get a logo on a piece of paper or download the graphics from the Internet you might need to convert it to vector graphics if the logo should be enlarged or used in sign cutting, engraving etc. Vector graphics can be scaled up to any size without any loss in quality.

Imagaro professional Z turns the scanned or imported graphics into vectors. This is called auto tracing and creates objects consisting of lines and curves. If the original image has high resolution you can probably use the traced image right away. But lets face it, how often do you get perfect originals. And even if the objects look good, small flaws and winding curves appear all too clearly when you enlarge the image. The only way to fix the graphics is to restore the parts in the logo with the original shapes.

Imagaro professional Z has a set of tools which are developed to do this. First of all the FontEye™ tool can identify the font in texts and then replace the traced objects with the actual font. The result can't become any better. Secondly there is a set of tools which can replace almost any common shape with just a click. Squares, circles, ellipses, triangles and rectangles become perfect and even rotated shapes are recognized. Another nice little function is that you can make repeated shapes identical. If you for example have a bunch of stars in a logo which all have the same shape but have different sizes and are rotated differently, you can node edit one of the stars so that it looks good and then click the others to transfer the shape. Imagaro professional Z makes sure that they still keep the correct size and rotation.

Another issue that usually creates a problem in logos and other graphics is outline effects. When you vectorize a text with an outline, it usually does not look good when you take a closer look at it. And when you replace the text with the correct font using the FontEye™ tool, the contour effect will look as if it was hand made. In Imagaro professional Z you can re-calculate the outline by selecting the text and then clicking the Show outline button. The software automatically calculates the distance for the outline and when you click apply the traced contour is replaced with a perfectly calculated outline. Some shapes can't be restored to their original shape because they are hand drawn or come from some clip art graphics. If there are any flaws in these objects you most probably can fix them with the clean-up tool in Imagaro professional Z.
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Get better tracing results

When you trace a bitmap image it is converted to shapes consisting of curves and lines. To get good looking and easy to edit graphics it is important that the lines, curves and corners are placed in the right places.

A curve or a line is defined by a starting point and an endpoint, these points are called nodes. A curve also has two handles which determine the start and end direction of the curve. When a professional artist draws shapes he places nodes and handles in a certain way to get objects with the right look that are easy to control. Nodes should be placed in every corner and in every maxinum point of a curve, and at the maximum points the handles should be placed absolutely horizontal or vertical. You can look at any typeface to see for yourself that professional graphics are built this way.

Comparison between the tracing methods of Corel Power Trace, Adobe Live Trace and Imagaro professional Z.

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Corel Power Trace places two nodes at every maximum. These nodes are connected by a line, which gives the shape an edgy look. It will take a long time to fix the graphics from Corel Power Trace.

Adobe Live Trace puts really few nodes in the shape but it doesn't place them at the maximum points of the shape. When you get curves that are this long it is harder to control the curves.

Imagaro professional Z places one node in every corner and one node at every curve maximum. The handles at the maximum points are either absolutely horizontal or vertical. This is the way a professional artist would place nodes.

Finding out what font it is when the text is curved

How many times have you asked yourself: What font is this? Imagaro professional Z can help you to identify the font in almost all situations. Even when the text is arced or aligned to a curve this program will identify the typrface.

When you want to identify a curved, arced or tilted text you use the same procedure as when you identify the font of any normal text with one small difference. You must set the rotation angle for the letters. Just hold down the SHIFT-key and click and drag to set the rotation for every letter in the text. When you have done this you only need to click the "Find" button to see what font it is.

Set the rotation for every letter before you try to identify the font in an arced, tilted or curved text.

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Tools that will clean up the nodes

Imagaro professional Z has several tools that will clean up poor looking logos and other graphics.

Sometimes when a logo is vectorized, you will discover that some parts of the image looks good while others don't. Usually large objects have a nice look while smaller objects tend to look rougher. In Imagaro professional Z you have the option to re-trace selected objects with new settings. You can for example use higher accuracy on smaller objects.

Imagaro professional Z has tools that will restore common shapes, texts, repeated shapes and outline effects to their original look, but sometimes you have hand drawn shapes and clip-art that needs to be fixed. For this purpose Imagaro professional Z has a clean-up tool which will fix flaws and smothen out rough looking objects.

When you have a poor looking original with rough edges you can use the clean-up tool in Imagaro professional Z.   Adjust the smoothnes lever and the clean-up tool in Imagaro professional Z draws a preview of the cleaned object on top of the original shapes. Click Apply when you are satisfied with the settings.   The result is a smooth looking fish with few nodes which is easy to edit if you feel that you want to adjust any part of it.

Another way to smoothen graphics is to remove and adjust nodes and handles with the node editing tool. This will take much longer time but on the other hand you are completely in control of the graphics. Imagaro professional Z has a few node editing features which can help you if you want to edit the graphics manually.

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Identify the font

Have you ever had a text in front of you and tried to figure out which font it is? And after spending hours looking and asking around still havent come up with an answer. Well, your'e not alone. The font identification question is a pain for everyone working with graphics.

Look no further! Imagaro professional Z can identify more than 66,000 typefaces from leading font foundries around the world. Import or scan a logo or text into the program and in a minute Imagaro professional Z will show you exactly which font it is, and you can be 100% sure that it is the right typeface since the found font is projected on top of the text.

The found typeface is drawn with a red outline on top of the text so that you can see that they match.

The program will also tell if you own the font and where you have it. The software keeps track of all of your typefaces even the ones you haven't installed in the computer. You just let the program scan through your font CD:s and typeface libraries when you install it. If you don't own the identified font, Imagaro professional Z can show you if you have another typeface which looks the same or almost the same. There are lots of typefaces from different manufacturers which looks virtually the same but have different names. You can save money every time you have a similar font since you don't need to buy the other. Imagaro professional Z has the answer to the question: What font is this?
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Even tweaked texts

Now you know that Imagaro professional Z can identify more than 50,000 fonts from leading typeface manufacturers all over the world plus all the typeface collections you own yourself which can be scanned by the software plus all the fonts you have installed in your computer. But it doesn't stop there!

You can see exactly how much a typeface has been stretched or compressed.

A truly amazing part about Imagaro professional Z, it can recognize the font even if the text is stretched, compressed, arced or aligned to a curve. Even script texts where the letters are connected can be recognized. Even when the text is so distorted that no one can say what font it is, Imagaro professional Z can. The software also tells you exactly how much the text is stretched or compressed. This allows you to create new texts with the exact same look even when the original text is tweaked. Top of page.

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Restore texts

A scanned text or the text in a small logo taken from the Internet is practically useless when you need to enlarge it. To get good looking scalable texts you'll need to replace the texts with the correct font.

Imagaro professional Z has not only the ability to recognize fonts, it can also replace scanned or imported texts with the right typeface. This means that the texts become regenerated as they once were created. Even if the texts have been stretched out, are compressed, arced or aligned to a curve you can use this program to get perfect texts.

Imagaro professional Z can identify more than 66,000 fonts and when the font is identified, you only need to click the Replace button to turn the text into the correct typeface. You must naturally own the font to use this function. However if you don't own it, Imagaro professional Z can also show you if you own other fonts which looks almost the same. Many fonts are very similar but have different font names when they come from different type foundries.

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Keep track of all fonts

Do you know exactly which fonts you own? Do you have fonts which are similar to other typefaces that you can use instead? Do you know where you can buy and download missing fonts in seconds?

Imagaro professional Z answers all of these questions in only a few seconds. You can enter a font name into the program or a part of it and Imagaro professional Z will instanly show you what the font looks like and tell you if you own it. If you dont have the typeface, the program can suggest similar fonts that you own, which can be used instead. The application draws the suggested font on top of the original typeface so that you can be absolutely sure that the fonts look the same. Even when you have used Imagaro professional Z to identify a font, the program can tell you if you own another similar typeface.

Sometimes you might not have a font or a typeface which looks the same. In this case, Imagaro professional Z lets you search several different font sites on the Internet directly from within the program. When the software has found the typeface, you can directly buy and download from the selected site. It has never been easier to keep track of the fonts you own and all others too.

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A better way to node edit

When you have traced a color logo, the different color fields are traced edge to edge so that no gaps or overlaps are created in the image. But when you start editing the graphics you will get gaps or overlaps everytime you try to change something in the image. This means that you have to edit the other object to close the gap and it is almost impossible to get perfect edge to edge graphics again.

In Imagaro professional Z the nodes of the different objects are connected. So when you move one of them the other object will change automatically so that no gap appears. It doesen't matter what kind of editings you do, the graphics will remain tight edge to edge.

Usually when you node edit adjacent objects you will cause gaps or overlaps.

In Imagaro professional Z the borders remain attached when you edit the nodes.

If you want to node edit the traditional way in Imagaro professional Z and separate the objects, just press the ALT-key when you edit and the borders between the colors will become separated.

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Identify the typeface in script texts

In some texts, the letters are connected. This happens when a script font is used or when two characters are too closely kerned. In either case Imagaro professional Z can tell you what typeface it is.

When you identify a font with Imagaro professional Z you must type in the same text as the one you have selected in the graphics and then you must connect the correct objects in the graphics with the correct character in the text. This becomes a problem when several characters are connected so that it is impossible to select only one letter. The solution is to connect all the connected letters to a group of characters. When you have connected the letters correctly you just click "Find" and in just a few seconds Imagaro professional Z will tell you which font it is.

Connect the charcter "V" to the V in the graphics and then connect the characters "elvet" to all of the remaining objects.

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