Rasters are visible when looking at large posters from close by or at newspaper images. Rasters also have creative possibilities. Vectoraster is an application that allows you to create raster patterns in vector based formats from an existing bitmap image such as a TIFF or JPEG photo. The resulting raster can then be exported to a EPS-file or copied directly into most layout and vector graphics software applications. The rasters can be generated in different distribution patterns and the individual points can be of many different shapes.

Vectoraster 2 can’t be much easier to use: you drag an image to the primary image well. That image will serve as the basis for the raster points. A secondary image may be loaded as well; that one can serve to give the raster image its colour. In an Inspector --the whole application is a working window and an Inspector-- you set the raster point format, which can be anything from circular dots to polygons. A slider lets you set how much you see of the original image.

And then it’s experimenting all the way. Using the various sliders in the Inspector’s three tabs, you can create an almost endless number of creative raster effects quickly. From the density of the raster to the rotation and the amount of secondary image that you want to let show through; Vectoraster has a slider or a button for it, and lets you change the value within a split second. The main window updates in real-time. If you don’t want that --because you’re on a slow computer, for example-- you can turn the Auto-Generate off and have Vectoraster only generate results when you tell it to.

To export the raster for usage in another application you have several options. First you can save it as a file to use in another program like Adobe Illustrator. You can save the raster in vector format as an encapsuled postscript file (EPS), or as a PDF. You can also generate a TIFF image of the raster.

You can also copy the raster image to the Clipboard. In the Preferences you set the format the clipboard data should be. The default is PDF and EPS. The size of the exported raster is defined by two parameters. There’s the size of the primary source image, and then there are the export units used. You can define the units to use in the Preferences. If for example, you set Vectoraster to use millimetres,
a 100x100 pixel source image will result in a 100x100mm raster and all raster parameters will be treated as millimetres. Millimetres is one option, points is another.

Export formats

I tried exporting to EPS and loading this EPS into Illustrator CS3. Illustrator hung on opening the raster file. When exported to PDF, the file opened fine. I had set Vectoraster to output the raster into millimetres. The image had to be scaled to 12.5% in order to fit on my 1600 x 1200 screen. It looked fabulous. For my review, I used a primary image of a city square and a secondary image of a Photoshop-generated rainbow-colour gradient.

It looks like Vectoraster is going to become another must-have in a designer’s tool chest.