Tidying bloated imports with Fix this file in Vectornation
Fix this file in Vectornation by Zaweba gives a clean-up report on bloated imported artwork, so a file sent from elsewhere becomes tidy and workable.
Files from other people are rarely as tidy as your own. A logo that went through three agencies, a PDF exported from an office program, an SVG produced by an online tool or a drawing traced with too much detail can all arrive bloated and awkward. Vectornation by Zaweba has a command meant for exactly this: Object, Path, Fix this file, added in version 0.9.19.
It gives a clean-up report for bloated imports, so you can tidy a file received from elsewhere before you start working on it.
Why imported files get bloated
Vectornation opens a wide range of formats, including SVG, PDF, AI, EPS, DXF and DWG, and each program that wrote those files had its own habits. Some write far more points than a shape needs. Some leave behind pieces that serve no purpose. Some wrap simple artwork in layer after layer of structure. None of it shows on screen, but it makes files slow, hard to select and edit, and sometimes troublesome at print or on a cutting machine.
What the report gives you
Rather than silently changing your artwork, Fix this file reports what it finds. That matters. You get to see the state of the file and decide on the clean-up, instead of finding later that something was altered without your knowledge. For a client's logo or a technical drawing, that control is important.
When to run it
The best moment is straight after opening a file you did not make. Run the report before you start editing, so that you are working on a clean base. If you edit first and clean later, you may have spent time adjusting shapes that were going to be simplified anyway.
It is also worth running before you send a file onward, especially to print or to a sign or vinyl cutter, where heavy or untidy paths can slow the job or cause errors.
How it fits with the other clean-up tools
Fix this file looks at the file as a whole. The other clean-up tools work at a smaller scale. In the same Object, Path menu are clean up, simplify, smooth and remove anchor points, which work on the selection. The Refit and Curve refitter tools rebuild individual curves with fewer points. Remove points and keep the shape trims points without changing an outline.
A sensible order is: open the file, run Fix this file and act on the report, then use the selection based commands on any shapes that still need work, and finally the point tools for fine detail.
Good habits around imports
Keep the original. Before cleaning, save your own copy under a new name so the file as received is always there to go back to. If a client later asks why something looks slightly different, you can compare.
Check the artwork after clean-up at a high zoom, paying attention to small details such as thin lines, tiny text converted to outlines and sharp corners. These are the places where any simplification is most likely to show.
Look at the result in the output you need. If the file is heading for print, preview it there. If it is going to a cutter, check that paths are closed and sound.
A typical case
A sign maker receives a customer's logo as a PDF from an office program. It opens in Vectornation, but every curve has hundreds of points and selection is sluggish. Running Fix this file shows what is wrong and tidies it, the logo becomes light and easy to work with, and the job can go on to be sized and cut. That is the kind of everyday rescue Fix this file in Vectornation by Zaweba is there for.
