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"Just tried your RasterFratz for the first time, Wow! It is fast, accurate and easy to use. I had my first DXF imported into my CAM program in less than 2 minutes of installing your program."

Regular Price: $150 USD  Still On Sale $99!  Demo now available. See Forum for latest news. 

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Teddy Bear Picture
RasterFratz is a new approach to raster to vector conversion software (r2v).  There are already many different programs available that have a variety of features.  None of them are really useful for those of us who need to make cutting files for CNC machines.  Some are free and some are very expensive.  Some severely limit the number of import file formats and some even limit the size of the picture that can be imported. Nearly all have a very complicated process of selecting a file, opening it, fussing with the picture, and finally converting it to some vectorized format or another. The final format is almost universally comprised of thousands of tiny lines that create huge CNC program files.  Scaling of the output is also difficult.

RasterFratz is an attempt to both simplify and automate this process. Load-Convert-Save. Three simple steps that replace all the complexity, wizardry, and irritation of previous attempts by others to provide r2v capability

LOAD

We started with a modern bit map file handler.  It provides thumb nailed directories or individual previews of the files to be opened.  The list of readable formats, reads like a who's who of graphic files JPG , GIF , PNG , TIFF , BMP , DIB , PCX , even AVI, etc.

Plus we added some common vector formats to aid in using various kinds of commercially available clip art and picture files.  ( Formats like HPGL, and WMF).

RasterFratz can also scan pictures directly with Twain compatible desktop scanners, and accepts input from digital cameras!

CONVERT

Bit map files or pictures come in many different styles and sizes.  Very large files can take a long time to process, even with today's multi GHZ processors.  The RasterFratz process is very simple and allows the user to Test a preview of the scanning before committing to the extended computation time required for a large multi color picture.  There are sliders for simple color,  contrast, and outline smoothness adjustments.  Sizing or scaling is a breeze, with either one to one with the picture scale, or user specified height or width.  The image can be cropped to assure that just the desired portions are converted.

There is also a set of Advanced image manipulation functions that can be useful for tweaking the image.  Unlike other software, with Rasterfratz these editing functions are included right inside the program and an additional image editing program is not required.

Once the image has been traced using the convert button, a visible outline can be seen around the image boundaries.  The mouse is used to pan and zoom for close up examination of the detail of the traces.

SAVE

The goal of course, is to create a file that can be used directly on a CNC machine or with a Cad-Cam system.  With this in mind the output capability of RasterFratz is simple yet powerful. The contours are all closed shapes that can be pocketed and/or carved with other Cad-Cam programs.  The output options from RasterFratz are:

1. A flat DXF file with contours drawn in the X-Y plane. 
2. G-code with tool change, feed rates, depth of cut, and connections and retractions.
3. PLC commands to directly interface with the Vector Cad-Cam program with Edit-Paste.

All output from RasterFratz is evaluated for linearity.  This means that if a line is a straight line in the original, once scanned and converted in RasterFratz, it will still be a SINGLE straight line.