The trace an image function works great. However, on inspection it often creates a very large number of nodes even if the traced profile is relatively smooth. As an example, I have just traced an easter egg shape, but it has a lot of nodes and as a result the laser vibrates as it tries to follow what is a smooth curve but with microscopic steps. I tried adjusting the smoothing and thresholds in the trace function but can’t improve it much.
So, the question is this; is there a way of highlighting a profile after tracing and smoothing the whole line out? I have tried making changes in the ‘edit nodes’ e.g. deleting some nodes and smoothing others but there are simply too many to deal with.
I’ve Googled and looked at tutorials of course before resorting to asking in this forum. I specifically looked at a tutorial video that shows how an imported DXF can be smoothed using the ‘Optimise selected shapes’ tool. That appears to be what I’m after but of course I’m not using an imported DXF but a traced image instead. And for some reason I can’t get the tool to alter my shapes. Maybe I’m doing something wrong. In answer to your question about the three functions in the tracing bit then yes, I have used the threshold etc to get the best trace I can get but it still has the multitude of points that I’d like to simplify.
I’ve just been experimenting further. A shape I created can be affected by the optimisation tool; the number of points can be varied with the slider. However, the traced image does not respond to the same. The number of points does not change and nothing happens. Maybe I’m trying to do something it can’t do?
The shape optimizer doesn’t work with things that are already curves, and the trace tool will produce those. In the trace window is a control called “Optimize” - increase that to reduce the output node count, and 'Smoothness" can be increased to help this too.