Frequently I see folk give up because there is not enough resolution in a jpg to get a decent vector in Inkscape. Increasing the contrast cleans up the “almost white” and the “almost black” that is the hallmark of a jpg image. Do it too much and you will have all the pixels either all white or all black and thus extremely jaggy at the edge. Double the pixels and suddenly gray is back along those edges.
The key to vectors is the masking. There are a great many ways to manipulate the masking, adding, subtracting, smoothing, etc. At that point, it is very easy to save the mask as a vector ( Gimp calls it a Path) and you can even manipulate the path (though not as easily as in Inkscape). At that point, you can export all the paths as an SVG and bring it to Inkscape. Inkscape is somewhat weirded at the details but by insisting it keep all the results you can use Union on each vector and it will lose the outline around the fill but that is easy to restore.
At that point I clean up whatever I missed cleaning up of the vectors in Gimp and Voila you have a very much better result than just taking the jpg and trying to have Inkscape tell jaggies from actual corners.
I’m not laughing at you! We all have to start somewhere. And some people don’t make ANY of their own designs! So kudos to you for trying and for asking for help!
I was such a newbie when I started and downloaded Inkscape…it doesn’t take long to understand it and everyone here is helpful if you get stuck!! Good luck!
And now, with the responses, I think I’m going to have to download Gimp and give it a try. BTW, I also have Illustrator but have gotten so used to Inkscape, end up switching to it because that’s what I started with and understand!
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will the glowforge cut or engrave on vinyl records?
You should NEVER cut or engrave anything made of vinyl. It is toxic to you and will corrode and destroy your Glowforge immediately. We have seen a few photos of the insides of machines after vinyl has been used and it’s pretty ugly. I’m glad you asked before trying it.
What @Xabbess said! if you want to make a cut record start with thin black acrylic and go from there. You can add good-looking recording lines and make it look like the real thing.
Yes, me too…! Thank you!!!
Thank you.
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