Nov 16 2010, 05:12 PM

Posted by James and Jacob

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know that we at Vector Magic have launched a new service:

http://www.YoHDR.com

YoHDR lets you upload three exposure bracketed photos and convert them into an HDR photo.

HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography is a technique used to create photographs of scenes with both very bright and very dark sections without the result becoming either washed out or too dark. Done right the results can be quite spectacular.

This is accomplished by taking multiple photos of the same scene with different exposure times. These separate photos are then combined in a smart way to create a result that has good exposure across the entire image.

Previously you had to download and install some pretty complicated software to accomplish this, but with YoHDR you can now do this easily online - just upload your photos and get your result right away.

Best, James and Jacob

May 26 2009, 02:39 PM

Posted by James and Jacob

A new version of Vector Magic Desktop Edition has just been released! The new version has a brand new background removal feature, making it easier than ever to produce print-ready artwork from bitmap originals. Get it now at:

http://vectormagic.com/desktop

Background Removal

Background Removal allows you to easily remove the background of a vectorized image with only a few mouse clicks. Get rid of undesired white backgrounds and selectively remove other shapes that you don't want in your final result.

On the Review page there is now a Remove Background tool that you can use to simply click away any background portions of the result.

Other Features

This adds to a growing feature set, which includes:

• Batch processing of multiple images at once
• Support for bitmap images with transparency
• Exporting to AI, EPS, PDF, SVG, DXF, and EMF
• Advanced export options to maximize compatibility with your software
• Super easy drag-and-drop interaction with Adobe, Corel, and others
• An easy and intuitive user interface
• Advanced processing mode for the expert user

Free to Try

Vector Magic Desktop Edition is free to try! Download the trial version now at:

http://vectormagic.com/desktop

Upgrading

If you already own a copy of Vector Magic Desktop Edition, there is no additional charge for this update. To upgrade, just download the latest version from:

http://vectormagic.com/desktop

and install it.

Have a great day!
James and Jacob

Apr 06 2009, 11:52 AM

Posted by James and Jacob

A new version of Vector Magic Desktop Edition has just been released! New additions:

• Batch processing of images
• Fixed anti-virus false alarms

Batch Processing

Select 'Batch Processing', drag and drop your images onto the application, make a few simple selections, and then let Vector Magic do the rest!

You can use convenient presets, or your own custom configuration. It has never been easier to convert a large number bitmaps to vector art with Vector Magic!

Fixed Anti-virus False Alarms

Previous versions of Vector Magic would sometimes be incorrectly labeled as a virus by some anti-virus programs (see http://vectormagic.com/desktop/antivirus). Since anti-virus programs oftentimes auto-quarantine the software when this happens, this was causing a lot of headaches for some users.

We've fixed this in the latest release, so you should now be able to download and install without any problems.

Upgrading

If you already own a copy of Vector Magic Desktop Edition, there is no additional charge for this update. To upgrade, just download the latest version from http://vectormagic.com/desktop and install it.

As a side-effect of the anti-virus fix, you will need to re-activate your copy of Vector Magic. Re-activating on the same computer as a previous installation will not count against your total number of allowed activations. We're terribly sorry for this inconvenience.

Vector Magic supports all major bitmap image formats, and exports to the AI, DXF, EPS, SVG, and PDF vector formats (and EMF on PC).

Have a great day!
James and Jacob

Feb 26 2009, 05:38 PM

Posted by James and Jacob

A new version of Vector Magic Desktop Edition, the world's easiest to use and most accurate tracing software, has just been released.

¡Ahora también disponible en español! (Now available in Spanish)

Download it now at: http://vectormagic.com/desktop

New Features:

• Now export to AI, DXF (in addition to EPS, SVG, and PDF)
• On PC, export to Microsoft Office EMF format
• More export options (group by color, stroking mode)
• More compatible EPS output
• Also available in Français, Deutsch, Italiano, and Español (¡nuevo!)
• Support for non-Latin filenames on Mac and PC

Have a great day!

James and Jacob

Dec 02 2008, 04:47 PM

Posted by James and Jacob

Just wanted to let you know that Vector Magic Desktop Edition is now available in four languages:

• English
• Deutsch
• Francais
• Italiano

You can download the latest version (1.09 for PC and 1.12 for Mac) here:

http://vectormagic.com/desktop

Have a great day!

James and Jacob

Sep 23 2008, 09:22 PM

Posted by James and Jacob

Vector Magic Desktop Edition is now available for both Windows and Macintosh! Convert bitmaps to vector graphics on your own computer using cutting edge artificial intelligence technology.

http://vectormagic.com/desktop

Download your FREE trial today!

Key features that set it apart from the Online Edition:

• Runs on your computer
• Super-convenient drag-and-drop interface
• Single-click vectorization
• Advanced vectorization mode with fine-grained control
• Transparency support
• Bitmap export of any size
• Show paths and nodes in the vector result
• Vectorize very large images

If you have made any purchases on the site, have any current token balance or ongoing subscription, then your full credit for these is automatically shown and deducted from the list price on the purchase page.

Please note that this release supports Mac OS X 10.4 or higher. If you would like to buy the Desktop Edition for Mac OS X 10.3, please send us an email.

Have a great day!

James and Jacob

PS. Some anti-virus programs incorrectly flag the program. See http://vectormagic.com/desktop/antivirus for more information.

Jul 21 2008, 09:15 AM

Posted by James and Jacob

Vector Magic Desktop Edition for Windows has been released! Convert bitmaps to vector graphics on your own computer using cutting edge artificial intelligence technology.

Check it out:

http://vectormagic.com/desktop

Key features that set it apart from the Online Edition:

• Runs on your computer
• Single-click vectorization
• Advanced vectorization wizard with fine-grained control
• Show paths and nodes in the vector result
• Bitmap export of any size
• Transparency support

If you have made any purchases on the site, or have any current token balance or ongoing subscription, then your full credit for these is automatically shown and deducted from the list price.

The Macintosh version is expected to be released in the August-September timeframe.

Have a great day!

James and Jacob

PS. Some anti-virus programs incorrectly flag the program - see http://vectormagic.com/desktop/antivirus.

Apr 22 2008, 04:34 PM

Posted by James and Jacob

Vector Magic Unlimited is now available – it’s a new subscription plan featuring unlimited downloads, giving you full tracing freedom without having to pick and choose which results to download.

Sign up now to lock in a price of only $4.95 per month: http://vectormagic.com/unlimited

There are no signup or termination fees and you can cancel at any time. If you have already purchased tokens, no problem: any remaining tokens in your account are fully creditable towards a subscription.

At roughly the price of a meal at the local fast food restaurant, this plan is a great deal for anyone who would like to trace as few as 2 images or more per month.

We’re very excited to be offering this new worry-free plan and hope that you will find it a great option.

Best,

James and Jacob

P.S. The desktop application is still in the works. It’s just taking a bit longer than we had hoped, so we wanted to give you a better deal with the online service in the meantime.

Mar 04 2008, 03:45 PM

Posted by James and Jacob

Thank you to everyone who has signed up!

Enough users have expressed frustration with the new pricing structure that we would like to address these concerns in this blog post.

What is a token worth?

Multiple surveys indicate that tracing an image by hand or with other tools takes on average about an hour, including clean-up.

The same surveys say that Vector Magic drops that time to about 15 minutes, also including clean-up.

This means that on average you save about 45 minutes of labor on each image.

Given the prevailing wage and overhead costs in the graphic design and print industries, these 45 minutes are worth about $20, of which we are asking for about $2.50 on average.

This price is aligned with our costs, and given projected volumes will allow us to continue operating and improving the service.

We understand the frustration of seeing a free service starting to charge, but these prices are simply essential to having the service continue to operate.

Can't you just have ads instead?

Experiments show that ads are not even close to sufficient to cover the costs, so some kind of fee is essential to the service being offered at all.

Subscriptions?

We are considering adding volume limited subscriptions (like cell phone plans), but there is no date set for that at the time of this writing.

We hope this helps clarify the issues. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Very Best,
James and Jacob

Feb 20 2008, 11:49 PM

Posted by James and Jacob

To celebrate the transition away from Stanford and to reward all the early adopters, we are offering an additional two free tokens upon sign-up, above and beyond the two free tokens normally given (for a total of four).

For those of you interested in a desktop application version of Vector Magic, the first $50 of your token purchases are, for a limited time, creditable towards the purchase of a copy of the desktop application when it is released. Please see the full offer details.

Finally, we will be applying an across-the-board 25% discount on all token purchases until March 5th.

Thanks for all your interest and support during the research project. It has made the countless hours of development effort a pleasure.

Very Best,
James and Jacob

Feb 20 2008, 11:39 PM

Posted by James and Jacob

We have added support for PDF, a widely used document format that also happens to be an excellent vector art format.

Most computers have a PDF viewer installed, but the latest version can always be downloaded at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Please let us know if you have any trouble with the PDF files we generate. We've tested them on the latest Acrobat reader, but backwards compatibility is always a tricky business.

Best,
James

Feb 20 2008, 11:38 PM

Posted by James and Jacob

Vector Magic has officially moved away from Stanford and is operating independently at http://vectormagic.com

Online Service

Just as before, you may upload, vectorize, and view results using the interactive web application, all free of charge. We also allow you to download a free bitmap version of the vectorized result.

If you wish to download a vector version of the result, however, you must enable the download by exchanging a token for it. Once enabled, you can download that result in all the available file formats and re-vectorize it as many times as you'd like.

In order to give new users a chance to try out the site, and to check whether the output is compatible with their software, we give each user two free tokens upon sign-up. To encourage you to sign up now, we are doubling the number of free tokens to four until March 5th.

Tokens may be purchased via our secure servers for the published prices. Substantial discounts are given to users buying in bulk. We are also giving a 25% discount on all token purchases until March 5th.

We understand the frustration of seeing a service that used to be free starting to charge.
Please keep in mind, however, that servers, processing capacity, storage, bandwidth, and programmers all cost money. In order to continue operating the service, we must earn money in some way. We did some experiments with ads and found that they can only cover a small fraction of our operating expenses, which is why we are going with the current approach.

Desktop Application

We are working hard to release a desktop application. For a limited time, the first $50 spent on the website will be creditable towards a copy. Read the full details on http://vectormagic.com/info/desktop_application

General

We have added several sections to the website, including some new resource pages on the uses of vector images, and on the tools that can be used to view and edit them. We've made it very easy for you to make suggestions on these pages, so please help us improve the content by clicking the "Edit" links that appear next to each section on those pages.

Thanks for all of your interest and support these last several months.

Very Best, James and Jacob