Vector Magic

Usually, if you resize a regular bitmap image to a higher resolution, the result is an extremely pixelated picture. Vector Magic Desktop Edition is a handy tool that can be quite useful with this type of problems by turning the image files to scalable vector art.

The software enables users to transform digital pictures into vectors with just a few clicks thanks to the built-in wizards. The program supports various file formats, such as BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, PSD and TIF. These can be imported from the computer or simply dragged and dropped into the app’s window. It’s also possible to paste the images to ClipBoard.

The software supports batch processing, which means you can apply the same customization options to all the loaded files.

Vector Magic Desktop Edition comes packed with step-by-step wizards to help transform the pictures with ease. The program provides three modes for this task.

The “Fully Automatic” mode transforms the files to vectors with just one click of a button, by applying the default options.

The second mode is called “Basic” and requires the user’s input a few times. After loading the picture, it is required to choose the type of image (photograph, artwork with blended edges or artwork without blended edges) and to select the output or input details, depending on the previous choice.

There are also three color modes available. The recommended choice is “Unlimited colors”, but it’s also possible to opt for “Two colors” or a custom set. For the latter, the program suggests a series of color palettes to choose from.

The last step allows users to review the result by modifying the detail level and the color scheme.

“Advanced” is the last mode you can select. It lets you select the color palette, a few image segmentation options, such as complexity, minimum number of pixels and anti-aliasing artifact rejection, and to define the path smoothing process. The background of the pictures can be removed with the help of a clipping tool.

The software supports a few output formats, such as EPS, SVG and PDF.

Vector Magic Desktop Edition is a program that’s very easy to use thanks to the complex wizards it comes with. However, in order to create scalable vectors in the “Advanced” mode, you need at least some previous experience with this type of image editors.