re: Shaper Trace

Nice write up, ducky. I’ve had the Trace since it was released and have found some use for it. I agree, it very much comes down to how clean your initial drawing is…although your use of AI to clean up the image is inspired. Well done! Using a fine tip pen, I was able to get good results using Trace. I’d say it’s best use case is for free form, artistic renditions…drawings that would be much more difficult to properly create in a drafting program. Where I think Trace really shines is the 1:1 scaling. If you can lay out the drawing accurately, even by hand, Trace gives you a highly accurate scan that scales very well in practice. That means that the smaller size of the frame isn’t such a big deal…just scale your drawing down, then scale the file back up after it’s scanned. I’ve found good results with that. That said, I don’t know how large the margin of error gets with major scaling. I don’t know if you could scale cutting paths for inlay pieces well enough for a tight fit beyond a certain range. 

It’s not a do-all product, but it is a great addition to the Shaper Origin, IMO…especially if you want to convert free-form drawings to a cutting file.