Image-to-SVG Tools for Pen Plotters
A photo contains pixels; a pen plotter needs paths. Conversion can trace outlines or reinterpret tones as lines and dots. Simply placing a photo inside an SVG file does not create drawable paths. Choose a method for the result you want, then check detail, physical size, and path density.
Choose a workflow
- Turn a photo into line art
Compare conversion algorithms on the same sample photos and tune the settings.
- Plot in several colors
Split a photo into CMYK, RGB or custom pen layers.
- Crop the resulting paths
Remove geometry outside a rectangle, ellipse, or custom outline.
- Optimize a drawing
Merge and sort paths with SVG Optimizer; check the result before exporting.
- Export for an HPGL plotter
Convert prepared SVGs for supported vintage plotters. HPGL is not CNC G-code.
Filter Tools by:plotter controlsvg generatorimage converterframework Show all
Upload an SVG, position a crop region, and perform a real geometric crop — paths are actually cut at the boundary, ideal for pen-plotter line art. Runs entirely in your browser.
Merge, sort and simplify SVG paths for faster plotting with vpype-style optimizations — compare before/after with a wipe slider. Runs entirely in your browser.
Convert SVG artwork into HPGL for vintage pen plotters — pick your plotter model and paper size, fit the art to the page, and download a ready-to-plot file. Runs entirely in your browser.
See how an SVG will look once plotted — drop it onto a photorealistic sheet of paper, pick a stock and pen width, and check the real-world size against a grid and rulers. Runs entirely in your browser.
Turn any photo into plotter-ready SVG line art with 41 algorithms — squiggles, stipples, hatching, flow fields and more — plus multi-pen color separation and physical output sizing. Runs entirely in your browser.
Rebuild any photo as a plotter-ready mosaic of hand-drawn doodles from the Google Quick Draw dataset, exported as a multi-pen SVG sized for real paper. Runs entirely in your browser.
Tool for creating vector halftone effects, can also produce outlined shapes or lines for plotting
A tool to create single line SVG illustrations from your pictures
Vertigo converts raster images to a circular dot grid or spiral of a variable width.
This is originally for an embroidery machine, but it has some settings that make it flawless for plotters. Once you turn off the the connecting line, turn off resampling, and turn on optimizing, it effectively lets you use Processing as a whole but for line-based drawing.
This program produces a single continuous line from a black and white bitmap image suitable for use with pen plotters.
Interactive STL to SVG converter with hidden wireframe removal, coplanar triangle merging, and red/blue 3D anaglyph rendering.
Some control software (Cricut) can't handle lots of nested groups or large numbers of shapes. This utility processes SVGs to simplify the structure to one path per line color.
This code generate gcode for drawbots, polargraphs or other vertical drawing machines. It takes an original image, manipulates it and generates a drawing path that kinda sorta looks like the original image.
Converts still images and webcam photos to squiggly lines suitable for plotting