This came from the Modeling the Frisco, General Workshop Wednesday thread: http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/workshop-wednesday.10880/page-164#post-98206 That is a stroke of brilliance!
Wish I still had enough brain left to do the artwork in Vector instead of Raster. I simply have no grasp of how to do it.
When you mentioned Vector vs Raster my mind flood with memories of using paint and 3D apps on my Amigas.
I wish there was an easy way to just save the artwork as Vector without having to resize, etc. I just can't seem to absorb it.
If my memory serves me correctly. Raster does not scale and Vector can scale. A example being the fist Doom game (Raster) Vs. F18 Flight Simulator (Vector ). Elite Frontier is when they figured out how to add texture to Vector graphics. But this was before 3D accelerator cards. So are you looking for Vector Fonts? Fonts that can scale without pixelating. Creating a Vector image is so much different from creating a Raster image. I have never looked for any conversion tools. I think I will do some research. I have an Embroidery application that can convert Raster images to Embroidery files (with a lot of help). I figure it would be a similar process to convert the Vector. <Update.> I did a quick application research and catch up. And it is still what I thought it was. Vector being geometrical shapes linked together to create an image Vs Raster being altering the color of a pixel on a grid. Application wise Coreldraw and Adobe Illustrator seem to be the top two picks for creating Vector art. Coreldraw essentials has a basic converter. And Coreldraw standard has PowerTRACE. There are several online convertors. Most have a free trials. I take you already have an application that can edit Vector images? I do not think I own one. But I will check though my software library.
The old APLS printer I use, is still using win98. And I use a Print Artist (hey, free in 1998) to use for artwork. I have made a lot of decals over the years, sometimes it takes a few prints to get what you want. I have many floppy disks of fonts to choose from. Geese my PC skills are older than old. I do have a new project tho. But Brother Don Wirth, is the Master of SL-SF steam decals, no matter how he gets it done.
Thanks guys. I do have Coreldraw and haven't made any progress with it. Joe Collias was a graphic arts supervisor for a can company. He created the artwork by hand and I have it. I've scanned it at 1200 dpi. Most of it is 2X and it scans in raster. Tiny jagged edges which most people don't see, but I do. I worked with Glacier Park models with their 4500s. Their lettering work was fantastic. It was like a waterslide decal. you would apply it, get it positioned and let it dry. When it was dry and set, you would take a hair dryer or similar and heat it until the film lifted and wrinkled and then peeled the film off and were left with the lettering which had the look of a quality pad print or silk screen. Its supposedly very expensive but is a work of art.
All of my art software is Amiga based. But this thread got me thinking. I have been using MS print (what comes with Windows) to create my army tokens for Warhammer games. And I am having the scaling issue. Were I have redo every line edge pixel by pixel when when it was resized. I never though about doing them as Vector image. Thank you. I also had the same issue with my layouts touch control panel. Every time I resized it would get jagged edges. I wonder what the industry name is for this type of decal? I have used decals some very similar to this type that came with a few RC airplanes. The end results where great, until "neeeeeer...crash!". I think I will download a trial copy of Coreldraw. And see how it is for creating tokens.
