Potrace
 | |
| Developer(s) | Peter Selinger |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 2001 |
| Stable release | 1.16[1]
/ September 17, 2019 |
| Repository | |
| Written in | C |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Type | Raster-to-vector conversion |
| License | GNU GPL and Potrace Professional |
| Website | http://potrace.sourceforge.net |
Potrace[needs IPA] is a cross-platform, open-source software which converts bitmapped images into vector graphics. It is written and maintained by Peter Selinger.
Properties[]
Various graphical frontends are available for the command-line application Potrace. Notably, it has been integrated with Inkscape, giving Inkscape its Trace Bitmap action.[2] FontForge can use Potrace to import a bitmap image into a font. Potrace is also used by the music engraving program LilyPond.
Potrace's input and output is black and white (colored images are greyscaled before processing). However, Inkscape is capable of producing color images by decomposing each channel into several black and white images and tracing them separately with Potrace. The commercial Total Vectorize program also uses Potrace as its core.
The program is dual-licensed as "Potrace" under the GPL and as "Potrace Professional" in a proprietary license by Selinger's company, Icosasoft Software, Inc.[3]
Examples[]
Traced with Potrace in Inkscape to an eight-color SVG image in 2006 (50 KB)
Traced with Potrace in Inkscape to an eight-color SVG image in 2012 (336 KB)
Traced with Potrace in Inkscape to a twelve-color SVG image in 2012 (608 KB)
Traced with Potrace in Inkscape to a sixteen-color SVG image in 2012 (743 KB)
See also[]
- Comparison of raster to vector conversion software
References[]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to potrace. |
- ^ Peter Selinger (2019-09-17). "ChangeLog". SourceForge project potrace. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
- ^ "Inkscape tutorial: Tracing". Inkscape. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
- ^ Dual licensing program for Potrace
Further reading[]
- Peter Selinger, Potrace: a polygon-based tracing algorithm, Sep 2003
- (in French) Elisa de Castro Guerra, Inkscape: Apprenez, pratiquez, créez, Pearson Education France, 2007, ISBN 2-7440-2158-X, pp. 108–111
- Yannis Haralambous, Fonts & encodings, O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2007, ISBN 0-596-10242-9, pp. 500–501
- Karel Píška, Creating Type 1 Fonts from METAFONT Sources: Comparison of Tools, Techniques and Results in TeX, XML, and digital typography: International Conference on TeX, XML, and Digital Typography, held jointly with the 25th Annual Meeting of the TeX Users Group, TUG 2004, Xanthi, Greece, August 30 - September 3, 2004 ; proceedings, LNCS Volume 3130, Editor Apostolos Syropoulos, Springer, 2004, ISBN 3-540-22801-2, pp. 240–256, preprint
External links[]
- Official website on SourceForge
- Vince Vatter, How to make slides from handwritten notes using potrace
- Online version of Potrace ported with WebAssembly
- Free raster to vector conversion software
- Free software programmed in C