Inkscape: Path Simplification

Inkscape version = 0.43
Blender version = 2.41

Having traced a logo (Path>Trace Bitmap) I would like to be able to import the logo into Blender and extrude the path

After importing the resulting SVG path, it was clear I had ended up with far too many nodes - Blender was extremely sluggish

I proceeded to use Inkscape’s Simplify Tool (Path>Simplify) to reduce the number of nodes

The trouble is the simplification was far too harsh - The logo is now distorted and unacceptable

It seems that you can control the threshold, though I don’t quite understand the only documentation I could find

Quoted from
http://www.inkscape.org/doc/advanced/tutorial-advanced.html

The amount of simplification (called the threshold) depends on the size of the selection. Therefore, if you select a path along with some larger object, it will be simplified more aggressively than if you select that path alone

Sorry if this is a bit of a stupid question I’m very new to Inkscape

In the meantime I thought I’d work with the oversimplified .SVG and even that doesn’t seem to be working out for me lol. That’s for another thread I think. I’ll link it in once I’ve written it

I dabbled a few times with this. A month or so ago Blendernation had an article about an architectural/historical group transfering old floor plans in SVG format from Inkscape to Blender. I duplicated their suggestion with a simple design, but it came out with a curve bezier format. Anyway, it was more trouble than it was worth, considering that you could just do a background image and trace that in Blender well enough for most purposes. Check BN’s archives if you’re determined. (It might have worked better if I had changed the bezier handle type.)

It’s a curse, granted. That’s what computing horsepower is used for. Do you really think we need this much crap to get our apps running? An OS that takes more HDD space than even was possible for under $50,000 twenty years ago?

Nope! Everyone wants a shortcut. That’s why the amount of programmers who work in machine code on a daily basis are getting as rare as the ones the wrote COBOL programs on punch card machines. Everything’s interpreted. Everything’s an IDE. Who’s got time to MOV manually?!

So if it’s too slow, get a faster computer. :smiley:

I can take a bitmap and export it as SVG and load it into Blender in 10 seconds… and yes, it’s got about 100,000 more faces than it needs when I mesh it. BUT - It took 10 seconds.

Decimate will destroy it, just like the Simplify tool… you want it to be efficient? Then it’s not going to take 10 seconds. You’ll have to model it.

You still got to pay for it, one way or the other. Like the time you just wasted reading a long post that really didn’t tell you anything you didn’t already know. :stuck_out_tongue:

We share your pain.

+++
On a side note, try different bitmap to vector conversion programs - some generate more efficient paths than others… (google for potrace and it’s --longcurve option)

Yes I want a shortcut - Is that so crazy?

All I’m asking is to control the amount of resultant nodes (Pretty sure Illustrator does it) Having two levels, way too complex and way too simple, isn’t very handy

Potrace is the program Inkscape uses for bitmap tracing, though I’m assuming the functionality you highlighted is not implemented / accessible in Inkcape

When I find the botheredness to check that out I’ll let all you blender artists know

No, you misunderstand… it’s the logical axiom of Speed (Power), Efficiency (Time), and Cost (Resource)… Pick two.

You say “sluggish” but I’ve got a converted path running on a dual screen 2880x1200 desktop with about 500 points, when converted to a mesh and subsurf’d it’s got roughly 150,000 verts and faces, and I can spin it around in realtime… So could it be you are running software OpenGL or an old computer? (at least 8x AGP GeForce4 and/or above?)

Quite so! The ‘botheredness’ of it all. :smiley: 3D work is always resource intensive, but I’m willing to wait until someone more motivated than us writes a better SVG optimizer.

re: potrace & InkScape, ah, probably not then, didn’t know that… but there are other vector -> bitmap conversion proggies out there.

If you’re a Windows guy, check out Vector Eye and Vextractor. (both provide functional demos)

I’m assuming you know about AutoTrace.

Update: In playing around with them some, I’ve started liking the output of autotrace. if you’re up for it, grab autotrace and one of the frontends (I like the java one, decimate.)

It’s got a lot of control over curve creation and control point culling. It’s still not perfect, but… well, both are small downloads, give it a try.