Vextractor

Vextractor is a comprehensive graphic editing application designed to transform raster images into vectors with various file types. It comes packed with a few intuitive tools that should be quickly to figure out.

The GUI is easy to navigate and has a well-structured layout. Images can be scanned or opened from file with the BMP, JPG, TIF, GIF, TGA, PNG, ICO and other formats via the file browser only, since the drag-and-drop method is not supported.

The raster image can be previewed within the main frame next to the original photo in a separate pane, along with the vector.

The vector toolbar lets you select objects, create new lines, polylines, spline polylines, circles and arcs, edit an object's properties, move it around, delete or duplicate it, as well as to move and delete points.

Meanwhile, the raster toolbar enables you to customize the color palette, invert colors, remove speckles and isolated spots, mirror the photo horizontally or vertically, as well as rotate it by 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise.

More vector and raster effects can be found in the menu bar. For example, it is possible to set the vector coordinate system, examine and modify vector size and reference information (e.g. measurement unit), filter polylines and remove all vectors, or convert the image to greyscale or black and white.

You can also configure image segmentation by tweaking the smoothing factor, color tolerance and gradient threshold, use a canny edge detector and adjust the Gausian standard deviation, high and low threshold, and apply smart blur effect.

A simple wizard is accessible to users looking to carry out a task in no time. They simply need to select the image from file or scanner, pick the type (e.g. photo, drawing, map, outline), select the conversion method (e.g. convert to monochrome, edge detection), apply filters (e.g. median, despeckle), and vectorize the picture automatically or by specifying parameters manually.

A batch processing mode is available for raster pre-processing when it comes to converting the image to black and white or processing it in color. For the first option it is possible to depeckle the pic by indicating the radius and threshold. What's more, the vector can be saved to DXF, DXB, SHP, EMF or other vector file types.

Polyline ends and nodes can be shown in the project, users can zoom in and out, the interface language can be changed, the toolbars can be hidden from sight, while the vector can be easily saved to file or backed up to VFF format.

The program had minimal impact on computer performance and worked smoothly in our tests, without hanging, crashing or popping up errors. To sum it up, Vextractor is backed by a wide range of options and configuration settings for turning raster photos into vectors, and it should meet the requirements of most users.