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http://www.getvectorpro.com http://www.getvectorpro.com It's an iPhone app that does raster to vector conversion similar to Adobe Live Trace. It started out wi

http://www.getvectorpro.com http://www.getvectorpro.com It's an iPhone app that does raster to vector conversion similar to Adobe Live Trace. It started out with a friend saying 'I want an app that does this'. My response was 'ok, cool' and then 'wow, I have absolutely no idea how'. It was challenging and lots of fun (what more can you ask for). I used a computer vision library for some of the image filtering but ended up having to write the blob extraction algorithm from scratch. The final version (the one that shipped) came to me in a bout of insomnia. I actually had it out a few days before Xmas and found a bug that had somehow made it through my testing (and Apple's) and made the unpleasant decision of pulling it until it was sorted. Since they lock down over Xmas I missed the best sales of the year. The fixed version went up just a few hours after iTC went back online (they were graciously fast approving the fixed version).

cloudwalking 16y ago
Out of curiosity, what's the point of doing this on the phone?
- mbenjaminsmith 16y ago
  I find it useful for two things: I use it for digitizing sketches when I'm out of the house (I use my iPhone more than a laptop when I'm out). Tracing is an inexact (lossy) process so I appreciate the tight feedback loop of drawing/tracing. I use it at home too (instead of Live Trace) since it handles photos better. Live Trace really expects even lighting to get usable results (scanner is the easiest way) whereas I've designed this specifically to handle photos from the iPhone's camera. I don't have (or want) a scanner so the photograph->sync->place->trace->repeat process I was going through with Illustrator got a bit tedious. That's not where the idea of the app came from but what I had in mind when I designed it.
car 16y ago
Congratulations, great Job! I once wrote such a program for Atari ST computers, and recall vividly how challenging and fun it was. It was called Convector, and could tie into a bitmap/vector drawing program that friends had written (called Arabesque). This was with 4 MB of RAM :) It also used outlining, which you seem to use too, judging from the Vectorpro demo video. Do you convert into Bezier curves?
- mbenjaminsmith 16y ago
  I can't remember the lineup (where the ST fit in) but I learned how to program on an Atari 400. I'll never forget jamming my fingers into that terrible 'membrane keyboard'. I spent much more of my time playing Star Raiders though. It does convert the polygons to Bezier curves in the last step, although you can turn that off by changing the 'Curve' parameter to zero. Thanks, happy New Year

cloudwalking 16y ago

Out of curiosity, what's the point of doing this on the phone?

mbenjaminsmith 16y ago
I find it useful for two things: I use it for digitizing sketches when I'm out of the house (I use my iPhone more than a laptop when I'm out). Tracing is an inexact (lossy) process so I appreciate the tight feedback loop of drawing/tracing. I use it at home too (instead of Live Trace) since it handles photos better. Live Trace really expects even lighting to get usable results (scanner is the easiest way) whereas I've designed this specifically to handle photos from the iPhone's camera. I don't have (or want) a scanner so the photograph->sync->place->trace->repeat process I was going through with Illustrator got a bit tedious. That's not where the idea of the app came from but what I had in mind when I designed it.

car 16y ago

Congratulations, great Job! I once wrote such a program for Atari ST computers, and recall vividly how challenging and fun it was. It was called Convector, and could tie into a bitmap/vector drawing program that friends had written (called Arabesque). This was with 4 MB of RAM :) It also used outlining, which you seem to use too, judging from the Vectorpro demo video. Do you convert into Bezier curves?

mbenjaminsmith 16y ago
I can't remember the lineup (where the ST fit in) but I learned how to program on an Atari 400. I'll never forget jamming my fingers into that terrible 'membrane keyboard'. I spent much more of my time playing Star Raiders though. It does convert the polygons to Bezier curves in the last step, although you can turn that off by changing the 'Curve' parameter to zero. Thanks, happy New Year