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I often use the 'trace bitmap' function in Inkscape to create a vector image from a raster image. However, on larger or more complicated bitmaps, the program completely freezes. GUIs being what they are, I know that a command-line based approach would suit the task. So what's a good way to do that?

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You may have a better chance for an answer on superuser? – Jaips Jan 18 '11 at 6:56
Not an answer, but I can't imagine wanting to do such a visual task in a CLI... – e100 Jan 18 '11 at 11:33
@e100 It's a matter of clicking a tab and choosing a brightness cutoff. I'm not talking about tracing it using a tablet. – ixtmixilix Jan 20 '11 at 16:02
OK - I haven't used Inkscape to be honest, but in other apps tracing generally involves tweaking several factors interactively. – e100 Jan 20 '11 at 18:52

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The software that powers Inkscape's bitmap tracing function is actually a non-GUI program called Potrace, so you're in luck:

http://potrace.sourceforge.net/

Download here: http://potrace.sourceforge.net/#downloading

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