: Tracing a raster image to simple paths with stroke but no fill I have googled extensively on this, and am running around in circles. I have a program that outputs isobars - lines of equal

@Sherry646

I agree that Illustrator is completely overkill for tracing images into vectors. Use Inkscape and use the Trace Bitmap tool.

Select the image in Inkscape. Then use Path menu and select Trace Bitmap.

Click on the OK button to try the default settings.

It creates a vector object (a path) on top of the original, so you have to deselect everything, then click the black part of one of the lines (because it will be the vectored path set) and drag it off to the side. Then you can delete the original if you want. But you might feel safer keeping things on separate layers.

Keep all your work in .SVG for future edits, and export it in whatever format you need to open in Omni-whatsit.

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@Sarah814

beg, steal or borrow a copy of Adobe Illustrator (sorry for an ancient version but it still works and does not want regular payments)
work some basic tutorials or get a friend to help
paste or "Place" your bitmap image onto empty work in Illustrator
select the bitmap
choose Object > Live Trace > Tracing options
put the preview on and try to find proper combination (see the screenshot). The settings are essential for different kind of images to get the wanted features well traced
press Trace
select and kill the unwanted parts (you should preclean the bitmap image in a photo editor to keep the tracing results manageable)
insert the texts and other needed new data
save your work




Another option is to use online services. Here is a preview of VectorMagic's output. Probably very good result as a scalable version of your photo. Unfortunately the bad quality texts and the scale were not wiped off before sending it to Vector Magic. These should be inserted afterwards by hand in Illustrator or any Vector Graphics program. NOTE: Commercial services -as usually - want some money.



A third option: Try a dedicated program that is intended for those who scan technical drawings and want to have a DXF (=standard format in technical documents) . Running the trial reveals the usefulness. Do a web search "convert image to dxf" to find them. WinTopo is one example.It has free and paid versions. WinTopo

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@Correia448

Hopefully this will help you out! These are the steps I took to create a line only (no fills) version of your graphic.


Open your png or jpg file in Illustrator. (Alternatively you can create a new document and drag or place the png/jpg in)
With the graphic selected, choose Image Trace > Make from the Object menu.





Open the the Image trace Panel (Window > Image Trace).
Choose Line Art from the Presets drop down.





Adjust the Threshold to something pretty high (I used 249.
Twirl down the advanced options and make sure that the Stokes toggle is picked and the fills is not.





You may want to play with the Advanced sliders a bit too, to get yourself a better result. This is always a play around and see what happens part for me.
Click the Ignore White Toggle
Once you are happy with what you are seeing on screen, choose Object > Image Trace > Expand
You should have a nice line art image to use. You may need to tweak some of the previous settings if you want things like the type to come out clearly.

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