VectorMagic Project Ending

[Mac the Knife]

A Disclaimer to begin: I'm in no way affiliated with the VectorMagic project, other than as an addicted user.

In checking VectorMagic this morning I learned that the VM project will soon be coming to an end, presumably in preparation for the launch of a commercial VectorMagic product (no surprise there). On the site I took part in a survey, in which I answered questions essentially related to the market viability for a Vector Magic product, both in online and offline formats.

Among the survey questions were ones asking if I would use the online product on a pay-per-use basis (which I might) or on a monthly subscription basis (which I would if unlimited use was permitted), how much I would pay for a stand-alone version of the product, etc. VectorMagic seems to be a product that could put vectorization capability in the hands of a number of us who otherwise would have no other reasonably priced tools to do so. "Hobbyists" such as myself, however, often lack the financial wherewithall to afford the latest and greatest copies of Adobe Illustrator and other products; alternately, those of us who can technically afford it could probably think of myriad other things on which we could spend such sums.

With that in mind I'd like to encourage everyone here who has taken part in the VectorMagic alpha/beta testing to go to the site and fill out their online survey - specifically advocating:

(1) An online service offering unlimited use per month for a set fee, and/or

(2) A stand-alone product at a price point aimed at expanding the scope of buyers tremendously (i.e., $100 or less).

Currently the questions they are asking seem to be skewing toward what the developers believe the product to be worth. They are not wrong in doing so - quite the contrary; they should be able to charge whatever the market will bear. However, I think they might be making an incorrect assumption about their target market - they seem to be pricing it for professional graphic designers as opposed to "tinkerers" such as myself. While a professional will spend hundreds of dollars for software they do so reluctantly in most cases; also most pros already have tools that accomplish the results that VM provides, just with a little extra effort. Several "tinkerers" meanwhile will likely drop a hundred on the software at least on a one-time basis, but would never consider buying the product (or Adobe Illustrator, et al) at a cost of several hundred dollars.

If you've liked the VectorMagic web site as much as I have, and gotten as much out of it as I have, please take a few moments to go back and fill out their online survey. Perhaps in doing so you will be instrumental in establishing a product that's priced so that everyone could afford it.

So "tinkerers" and cheap bastards everywhere, unite!

[Davidson]

they are going to try to sell it to adobe. it will just replace live trace.

i cant see it staying as a pay per use/ subscription service if this happens,

as im sure they would want exclusivity on the product.

unfortunately i think their core business would more than likely be graphic designers.

i cant see many 'tinkerers' spending the money you are prepared to. i think it would seem

a lot for joe public.

[Drew22]

Dang, they would lose a lot of people by getting rid of it. I use it, but I will stop if it turns to cost.

[quantum]

Dang, they would lose a lot of people by getting rid of it. I use it, but I will stop if it turns to cost.

Why should they care if they lose a lot of users of a free service? It's not a popularity contest. It's a beta run for a commercial venture. IMO, it is not a bad product, but it certainly isn't perfect. I don't see it as a killer app.

[pagan696]

i like it fine. it does much better than live trace and streamline.

as a designer, i feel it's very good for quick traces of more complex items. the options it gives you are much better than the previous software offerings.

i would continue to use it in either of the senarios mentioned.

thanks MadMac for the heads up!

[Mac the Knife]

i cant see many 'tinkerers' spending the money you are prepared to. i think it would seem

a lot for joe public.

That's precisely my point - perhaps if there are enough people who express the thought that price-point would be a concern, they'd consider going lower in search of more overall sales.

[Mac the Knife]

Dang, they would lose a lot of people by getting rid of it. I use it, but I will stop if it turns to cost.

Why should they care if they lose a lot of users of a free service? It's not a popularity contest. It's a beta run for a commercial venture. IMO, it is not a bad product, but it certainly isn't perfect. I don't see it as a killer app.

No, it isn't, but if you look at their survey, they're anticipating pricing it as if it were one, thus the post. I don't mind shelling out a reasonable amount for it, but if it costs me even 1/10th of what I could buy Illustrator CS3 for, I'd buy Illustrator first.

[Davidson]

i cant see many 'tinkerers' spending the money you are prepared to. i think it would seem

a lot for joe public.

That's precisely my point - perhaps if there are enough people who express the thought that price-point would be a concern, they'd consider going lower in search of more overall sales.

no but that is my point. why sell it cut down when they will sell it lock stock to adobe to go into illustrator.

it may hang around till cs5 but it will replace live trace, no question about it. i work with cs4 beta testers

and can tell you its heading that direction in the next year or two.

[gordie_delini]

I see it becoming a CS4 Illustrator plugin. Sadness.

[andrewharrington]

I agree. Adobe is going to eat that shi+ up and replace LiveTrace with VectorMagic in CS4.

[Waffles]

I can't see a lot of people going for this.

If getting a file traced is important enough to a designer to pay for it, than it's probably important enough for said designer to take the time to trace it himself and do a better job.

[ShinyHubCaps]

"Hobbyists" such as myself, however, often lack the financial wherewithall to afford the latest and greatest copies of Adobe Illustrator and other products; alternately, those of us who can technically afford it could probably think of myriad other things on which we could spend such sums.

That sums up my problem. Somehow the Trace Bitmap in my limited version of Flash just doesn't cut it when I want to tinker with results.

I guess I took it for granted that it was free and online. However, I suppose that hobbyists could become lobbyists and keep this thing free.

[Davidson]

it was never going to stay free. nor will it.

this has been created specifically to flog to adobe.

lobby all you like.

[SDX]

it was never going to stay free. nor will it.

this has been created specifically to flog to adobe.

lobby all you like.

Damn right, such a shame its not going to be free though as it is a fantastic resource, especially for those not skilled enough to do vectors themselves.

[ShinyHubCaps]

it was never going to stay free. nor will it.

this has been created specifically to flog to adobe.

lobby all you like.

It was a joke - a play on the word "hobbyist." Although if they think I'm paying Adobe hundreds of dollars to just use Live Trace, then obviously things weren't meant to be.

Back to raster it is, then.

[gingerbreadmann]

This is a college project, no? So is Paint.NET. Couldn't it be free like Paint.NET?

[mohelmets]

In my opinion, VectorMagic still has a long way to go...I wasn't that impressed with it...It did great with high resolution large sized images...Once you get down to low resolution small sized images, it sucked...I think they still need to do some fine tuning and make it better before it gets incorporated into a major program like Illustrator...I've been testing VectorMagic for quite some time now and over time, it has improved, but I'm still not happy with it overall...

Just hope it doesn't get rushed and an average product gets released before it's actually ready...But....it's happened before and will probably happen again...

Mike

[quantum]

Back to raster it is, then.

Or, you could just learn illustrator and redraw it yourself.

The thing is, if the vector to be produced is complex, you're still putting in a lot of time to fix it. In many cases, you might as well redraw the image. I see this as an improvement to the Live Trace feature of Illustrator. As a stand alone program, I don't think even most professionals will use this as often as many think.

[Drew22]

Back to raster it is, then.

Or, you could just learn illustrator and redraw it yourself.

The thing is, if the vector to be produced is complex, you're still putting in a lot of time to fix it. In many cases, you might as well redraw the image. I see this as an improvement to the Live Trace feature of Illustrator. As a stand alone program, I don't think even most professionals will use this as often as many think.

It's not the cheapest thing.

[quantum]

Back to raster it is, then.

Or, you could just learn illustrator and redraw it yourself.

The thing is, if the vector to be produced is complex, you're still putting in a lot of time to fix it. In many cases, you might as well redraw the image. I see this as an improvement to the Live Trace feature of Illustrator. As a stand alone program, I don't think even most professionals will use this as often as many think.

It's not the cheapest thing.

If he is already using vector files, he already has the software. If you're referring to tutorials, there are plenty available online.