Inkscape - Automating Trace Bitmap with Preset Parameters

Question

I'm seeking guidance on automating the Trace Bitmap function in Inkscape. Specifically, I'm looking to preset parameters like color type, number of scans, and corner smoothing for the Trace Bitmap operation.

Is there a method within Inkscape to create a shortcut or automate Trace Bitmap with predefined settings?

Additionally, I'm curious if there's a way to access or extract the specific settings used during Trace Bitmap after processing an image in Inkscape. Are these parameters stored within the SVG document or accessible through any means?

Any insights or documentation on achieving this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Answer 1

I don't think there is a way to automate tracing inside Inkscape.

However, Inkscape's tracing functionality is based on Potrace (and AutoTrace), which you can download and run directly from the command-line.

Also, the tracing settings used are not stored anywhere.

Answer 2

Instead of using Inkscape, you may also consider using vtracer. From the project repository, it is described as:

visioncortex VTracer is an open source software to convert raster images (like jpg & png) into vector graphics (svg). It can vectorize graphics and photographs and trace the curves to output compact vector files.

Comparing to Potrace which only accept binarized inputs (Black & White pixmap), VTracer has an image processing pipeline which can handle colored high resolution scans. tl;dr: Potrace uses a O(n^2) fitting algorithm, whereas vtracer is entirely O(n).

Comparing to Adobe Illustrator's Image Trace, VTracer's output is much more compact (less shapes) as we adopt a stacking strategy and avoid producing shapes with holes.

You can install it locally and use it as a command line tool (thus, you can automate the process of converting multiple images) or as a web application. For the latter, a demo can be found here: https://www.visioncortex.org/vtracer/