Hi Designers!
I just subscribed to this list, because I'm an FSFE fellow and fairly interested and passably skilled in 2D and 3D designing.
While browsing through the archives in order to get a feeling for the activities of this group, I stumbled over the problem that Matthias had with the low-resolution PNG from xkcd and it stroke my interest. [I can't reply directly to that message, because I found the mail in the archive.]
I know that this thread is old, but maybe some of you find this interesting still. I wouldn't believe that Inkscape can't trace that bitmap with appropriate accuracy. I realized that it would indeed not work out-of-the box, but it can be done with a trick. [see recipe below]
The result is very close to the original, I'd say. Only without pixels. ;) ...attached to this email and here https://owncloud.commonslab.gr/index.php/s/uqpuwXm6wmqqL6m
Other than that, I just want to say "Hello!" and that I'm happy to help designing logos, shirts, flyers, stickers or whatever I can, based on my moderate abilities and limited free time.
Best greetings, Jann
PS: The recipe... For all free software designers here who might run into a similar problem, here's a possible solution: * Scale the image up first (e.g. with GIMP) by an appropriate factor (here 5x-10x works fine) with Sinc (Lancos3) interpolation. * Then run the Inkscape trace-bitmap with a fairly low threshold. * Add some boldness as needed by adjusting the line-width of the path. (You might want to chose rounded joins from the 'Stroke style' tab.)
Eventually I "flattened" the image into a path *without* stroke. (They are easier to import into other programs, e.g. blender.org): * Duplicate the path. * Do "Stroke to path" with one of the copies * Make a "Union" of the two copies: (1) the stroke-to-path and (2) the original. * Remove the "stroke" of the path and leave only the "fill".
This will result in a single flat path. (With the blackness/boldness you chose previously when adjusting the stroke thickness.)