Auto Trace for Sketch.

[boatingman44]

When using a drawing in the background, it can be time consuming to hand trace the shapes. Corel Draw, Lightburn (best) and others have an autotrace feature which can save hours of work. Ideally, this feature could allow for xxx mm outside or inside the shape as well as centerline Trace. Is this possible?

[BenedictJason]

This would be fantastic

[henmedia]

@boatingman44 @BenedictJason good idea. A PNG or JPG through Import is already traced into an outline today, but not the picture under a sketch. Now the sketch's reference image has a "Trace" section: choose the dark or the light part and a threshold, and "Trace outline" turns that part into sketch lines right where the picture lies, at its size, so you can edit them like any other lines. For a distance outside or inside, use the stroke of the sketch body (outside or inside its lines) or the Offset tool. A centerline trace is not part of it. It comes with the next version.

[henmedia]

@boatingman44 @BenedictJason Trace outline for the sketch's reference image is out now in layerling 1.127.0: https://github.com/henmedia/layerling/releases/tag/v1.127.0

[henmedia]

@boatingman44 @BenedictJason Trace got a big update in layerling 1.129.1: the outlines now come as curves and corners with as many points as you choose, shown in red before you apply them. On a photo, Object takes everything that stands out from the background as one outline, you can click areas such as a window to make them holes, cut away a shadow, and the magnetic lasso follows an edge by itself where no colour separates the shape. The guide has the details.

[boatingman44]

Thanks for doing this Stefan. It works fine and it will certainly help me move along with my projects. I also discovered another way to create a similar result and maybe it's something you can include it in a future update. I tried using the box (hollow) feature, but I received a warning. The shape is pretty basic and the warning did surprise me.

On the other hand, Cookie Cutter did it without any problems. I just removed the base, split the top to remove the blade and increased the size. The only additions you would need to make are:

Remove base Y/N
Remove Chamfered Top Y/N
Wall Thickness
Wall centered, outside, inside.

Here's the shape I've been using and the finished product using Cookie Cutter.

[henmedia]

@boatingman44 thank you, I am glad Trace works for you, and thanks for showing your way with the Cookie cutter, the picture makes it clear. I have noted the wishes (without base, without the top edge, wall centered, outside or inside), but I cannot say if or when that comes. About the Hollow warning: what did it say? If you can send a bug report from the editor (Bug report link) or the .lyl file, I can see why it did not work for your shape.