How to vectorize an image

The different types of digital images

Generally, when we talk about digital images we imagine a image composed of a grouping of pixels of different colors, but although this is the predominant way of presenting visual content in digital media there are other types of images that go unnoticed and that work completely differently from the former: the vector images.

Vector images work and store image information in a different way to traditional images. The first encode the pixels of the image in order to store it, depending on the extension and the way it is used, this data will be saved in one way or another, but in all cases the final representation will be some dots colored according to saved information, which makes sense since in the end those colored points or pixels will be the ones that the screen will later represent so that we can see them through the physical pixels of these. Vector images, however, store their information in geometric figures of different characteristics, such as rings, circles, lines, squares… which will be saved in a file in “.svg” format indicating their color, position with respect to the other figures, order and other information to later be able to represent them again.

This way of working has some advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional images, for example, a clear disadvantage is that having to represent everything with forms only simple figures can be represented, so that most photos will lose quality when transformed. On the other hand, they have a very big advantage, and that is that since they are not made up of pixels resizing them does not lose qualitysince the geometric bodies that would form the image are generated in a larger size instead of expanding on the pixels as would happen in a normal image.

Given the advantages that vector images have can be useful in some casesfor example, are widely used when make logos, since these usually have not very complex geometric shapes and it is very useful to be able to resize them and work with them without deforming or losing quality. That is why in this guide we will explore how to do vector images and how we can transform normal images that we already have into vector files.

Programs to make vectorized images

vectorized images they are not made in the same way as traditional photosSince they are made up of geometric figures, we cannot take a camera and take a picture of anything and a vector image will come out, nor will we be able to make a doodle in Paint or a similar program and a vector will come out of it.

So to create them we will need or process an image that we already have for a program to derive geometric figures from it and a vector equivalent of the image, or use a dedicated program to generate vector images for example inkscapewhich is free and can be downloaded from the following link. Apart from Inkscape there are also other paid equivalents or other drawing tools that can work with vectorized images like Photoshop or Gimp, although they are not focused on them and it can be more difficult to make and edit vector images with them.

Inkscape is an open source program that offers everything you need to create and work with vector images, being able to add different geometric shapes, text, curves, lines and other geometric elements to our creations and edit their color and style, having to choose from a wide variety of options. Then we can export our work in the vector file format svg or if we want, we can also export a traditional version of the image that we have created in formats PNG or JPG.

Convert a normal image to a vectorized one online and offline.

As we have commented previously, it is also possible to transform normal images into vectorized images and for this we will have the option of download a program or use one of the online utilities intended for this purpose.

If we want to use an online utility we will have, for example, the web of https://picsvg.com/ which is dedicated exclusively to convert photos up to 4 MB to SVG format and it is very easy to use. The only catch is that the resulting image will be in black and white and will be centered on the shapes and strokes of the original image as we can see in the following image.

Another web option to obtain results closest to the input image will be the website of Adobe SVG conversion, which will allow you to upload a photo to transform it into SVG like the previous one, although with a result that will now be closer in quality to the original version. Although we do want to maintain all the quality, it is best that we use the following offline option.

If we need an offline tool we can use the previous one mentioned inkscapewhich in addition to serving as an editor can also transform normal images into SVG and in this case maintaining all the detail and quality of the original. If we want to use Inkscape to get the SVG version of a photo we will have to follow the next steps and have the program installed on our system.

1. Create a new project. which we can do opening the program directlyor if we have configured the program differently following the steps in the window that will open to create a new project.
2. Open the file that we want to transform. For this we will have to go to the drop-down “Archive” and there click on the option “Open…” to import the image to transform.

   

3. Select the image we want to transform. A file explorer window will open where we will have to select the photo to import from our computer.

   

4. Configure the import. Once the file is selected, we will have to select the import options from the window that will open in Inkscape. Generally it will not be necessary to touch anything and we can click on the “ok” button to continue.

   

5. Save the project. Now all we have to do is save the project using the dropdown “Archive” and there clicking on the button “Save as…”.

   

6. Converted image. In the window that will open we will have the option to give a name to our file and if we look closely we will see that we are already saving it in SVG format, so by clicking on the button “Keep” We will have finished transforming our photo into one in vector format.

Other offline options will include programs such as the well-known image editors Photoshop or GIMPalthough we have omitted them in this guide because the first one is paid and the second requires the installation of a additional module to be able to do the conversion, so it will be much easier use inkscape for this process.

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