FFSMC VectoScan Lab: your scans, photos and plans as clean vector drawings

It turns a pixel image (a scan, a photo, a screenshot, a PDF) into a vector drawing: shapes that stay sharp at any size, which you then take into Illustrator, Inkscape, cutting software, CAD or print. A logo enlarged for a sign, an old plan to clean up, a marking to cut out of vinyl.

An ordinary automatic trace rounds off corners, wobbles on straight lines and bloats small letters. VectoScan Lab tries to redraw what the original designer meant: a circle becomes a true circle again, a rectangle a true rectangle, a corner a sharp angle. Every outline is placed to a tenth of a pixel, with about half the points of a conventional tracer, and the text it reads becomes real letters in a font.

Anyone who has a picture and needs a clean trace: graphic designers, sign makers, screen printers, vinyl cutting, laser engraving and CNC, embroidery, printers, architects and draughtsmen working from old plans, clubs and associations who want their logo back. The ready-made presets cover logos, prints, line drawings, plans and photos.

Yes. Download the installer from this page: VectoScan Lab runs for 7 days with every function, including those of the Complete and Studio editions. A badge at the top right shows the days left.

The software locks. A screen offers the three licences from the ffsmc.fr shop and a box for your key. The trial cannot be reset.

You buy the licence once, with no subscription: €249 for Essential, €349 for Complete, €449 for Studio (Complete on 3 computers). Updates are included for one year.

No. VectoScan Lab is software for Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit.

8 GB of memory is recommended. Calculations are kept light for modest computers: a calculation already done is not redone. Allow a few seconds for a logo and up to several minutes for a whole sheet at the highest quality levels. Automatic colourisation needs about 3 GB of memory while it runs.

French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish and Brazilian Portuguese: the software, the built-in help and the user manual. Change the language in View › Langue / Language.

PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, WEBP, AVIF, HEIC and PDF. You can also paste a copied image (Ctrl+V), drag a picture from a web page or scan straight from your scanner. For a multi-page PDF, you pick the page from its thumbnails.

600 dpi for a logo or a drawing, 1,200 dpi for fine print or a small badge, 300 dpi for a photo. A scan at 600 dpi or more is worked at its full resolution.

Yes: File › Scan… (Ctrl+Shift+N). Every Windows-compatible scanner is recognised. You choose the document type (logo, printed document, magazine, yellowed document, line drawing, plan, photo…) and the matching resolution, mode and preset are applied. The picture arrives at its real size.

Yes. First try Vectorise › Straighten automatically: the software looks for the support (card, sticker, sign, round badge) and offers to flatten it, in its true proportions. Otherwise use the Outline a shape tool (L): draw loosely round the shape and it finds the exact edge. For a logo painted on a car body or a wall with no clear frame, the Image tab offers “Painted logo”. Nothing is applied without your say-so.

The “Curved surface” mode of the Straighten tool (Complete and Studio editions) flattens the part from a grid of marks placed on the photo, from 2 × 2 to 9 × 9. A verdict (reliable, to watch, doubtful) tells you whether the result can be trusted. The more curved the part, the more marks it needs.

Often, yes: “Scanned logo / JPEG” preset, Maximum quality level (or Ultra for a very small logo), then Auto. A picture that has already been enlarged is recognised, so the trace doesn’t follow the ripples of its pixels. But details smaller than a few pixels in the original picture cannot be recovered.

The “Yellowed document” preset brings back the white and the original colours. If the white isn’t quite right, Image tab › “Pick the white” and click an area that should be white. Cleaning can also remove creases and folds and small stray marks (scratches, hairs) while leaving letters and rules alone.

Scan it in pieces that overlap a little (a third of the edge is enough), then Tools › Join several photos or scans into one picture…. The pieces are matched by their lines, put in place and blended, with the scan resolution kept. Complete and Studio editions.

With the “Plan, technical drawing (pure strokes)” preset, every line becomes a real vector stroke, not the outline of a stroke: 0.5 pt for construction lines, 0.25 pt for details, both adjustable. Straight lines are straight, a double line stays two thin lines, and a line broken by accident is joined up. The software only draws what is on the paper, and every correction (circle to complete, rounded corner, leader line) is offered to you: Yes or No, line by line or all at once. Complete and Studio editions.

Yes. The dashes of a hidden line, the chain lines of centre lines, dotted lines and phantom lines are kept as line types (HIDDEN, CENTER, DOT and PHANTOM in the DXF). Dimensions are read if you tick “Recognise dimensions” (Trace tab): a reliable dimension becomes an editable one, the others are only proposed. Reading is reliable from about 100 dpi. It has been checked on plans made for testing, not yet on a real dimensioned plan: check the values.

Yes. Enter the plan’s scale (from 1/10 to 1/1000) in the Output tab: the DXF is written at full size, one layer per colour, screen or texture, with reliable dimensions on the COTES layer. DXF is in the Complete and Studio editions.

A regular screen is redrawn at the same spacing and angle, or turned into a plain area, or removed. A library of 96 vector textures in 12 families (masonry, wood, concrete, floors, metals…) fills an area like a colour, and “Recognise on the plan…” suggests the three textures closest to a pattern you frame.

Yes, version 5 was built for them. The “Print on a background” preset is chosen by itself: background and support removed, one shade per ink across the whole sheet, printed whites kept. Essential handles them at normal quality; the Fine, Maximum and Ultra levels and small characters re-read one by one are in Complete and Studio.

Yes: Tools › Compare two versions of a plan… (Complete and Studio editions). The two scans are laid over each other by themselves; additions show in green, deletions in red, with a numbered list of areas. The result can be saved as a PNG image, a PDF report, or SVG or DXF layers.

Yes. The letters and digits it reads are replaced with a font: the original one when it is recognised, otherwise an existing font with the same letter design. In the SVG, in copy-paste and when sent to Illustrator, they stay editable text, in place. Lettering the reader isn’t sure about keeps its traced shape.

No, never. A character the scan doesn’t show stays as it is traced. Rescan instead at 1,200 dpi for very small text, or with a black sheet behind for white letters on clear film.

Yes, with the font workshop (Complete and Studio editions). A few letters are enough: the others are redrawn from the closest existing font, at the weight and width of your lettering. The font is saved as OTF, TTF or both, and installed in Windows. Start from a good-quality image: a blurry logo would give a poor font.

Latin letters in the software’s seven languages, plus Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Russian, Thai and Hindi. If the picture isn’t in the software’s language, pick its language in Text tab › “Language of the text to read”.

Yes, with the “Text document” tile on the home screen (Complete and Studio editions): a printed or typed page becomes an editable Word file and a searchable PDF, columns, tables and headings included. Always read the text through; handwriting is not read reliably.

SVG, PDF and PNG in every edition; EPS and DXF in Complete and Studio, along with STL and 3MF for 3D relief and OTF or TTF for fonts. File › Export… (Ctrl+E) writes several formats at once, under the same name. If in doubt, choose SVG.

The Illustrator button, next to Export (Ctrl+Shift+E), sends the drawing into the open document, in named layers: the overall view, one layer per colour with its RAL reference when it is close, the white underbase and the cut line. Tools › Install sending to Illustrator… also adds three commands to Illustrator’s File › Scripts menu, including “Vectorise the selection”. For Inkscape, the Inkscape button does the same, and the “SVG Inkscape” export gives real, named Inkscape layers.

“Vinyl cutting / screen printing” preset: Abutting method, so the colours fit together exactly with no overlap. Reduce the number of colours to the number of vinyls, then export as SVG: one group per colour. For printing on film, the Output tab adds a white underbase and a magenta cut outline.

The “Centre line (engraving, cutting)” preset traces a single line down the middle of each stroke, with whole straight lines, arcs and circles. Set the stroke width to that of the beam, then export as SVG or DXF at real dimensions (DXF needs Complete or Studio).

Yes. For a scan, the resolution is picked up and the document’s size respected. Otherwise, set the width or height in millimetres in the Output tab, or measure a known dimension on the picture with the Measure tool (M) and give the scale you want. The export comes out at the right size.

Yes, in the Complete and Studio editions. Each colour becomes a volume of adjustable height, as STL or as colour 3MF for multi-filament printers. The stencil adds the bridges that hold the inside of O, A, D and B by itself; it comes out as STL, SVG or DXF.

Tools › Batch processing… (Complete and Studio editions) handles a folder and its subfolders with the settings of one representative image. With Incremental, ticked by default, a new run only processes new or changed images, and an interrupted batch picks up where it stopped. The original is never replaced.

It restores (dust, scratches, yellowing, faded colours), colourises a black and white photo, blurs the background and turns a photo into a drawing. In Essential: restoration, automatic colourisation and four drawing styles (Manga, Toddlers, Comics, Pencil). The rest is in Complete and Studio. The original is never changed.

Yes, in the Complete and Studio editions: Photo › Colourise or recolour a photo…, the area-by-click tool, then the new colour (swatch, hex, RGB or RAL). Shadows and reflections follow, the rest of the picture doesn’t move. Shift + click adds a piece to the area, Ctrl + click removes one.

Essential is enough for logos, drawings, photos and everyday colour plans, with SVG, PDF and PNG export. Complete, which we recommend for everyday work, adds pure-stroke plans, the Fine to Ultra quality levels, the font workshop, EPS and DXF export, batch processing and the full photo workshop. Studio is Complete on three computers. In Essential, reserved functions stay visible with a small crown, and Help › Compare the editions shows all three side by side.

Yes, paying only the difference: write to [email protected]. The new key is entered in Help › Licence… and replaces the old one, with nothing to reinstall and no settings lost.

No. The licence is for life and bought once. Updates are included for one year.

After buying on ffsmc.fr, you receive a key by e-mail. In the software: Help › Licence…, paste the key, click Activate. You can also enter it on the screen shown at the end of the trial.

On the old one: Help › Licence… › Deactivate this computer. Then activate the key on the new one. The licence covers the number of computers chosen when you bought it.

The licence is checked online from time to time. Without a connection the software keeps working for 14 days; after that it asks you to connect and click “Check now”.

The internet is used for a few specific functions: identifying an image, finding an official logo, looking for a free font on the web. Identification and the internet help on opening go through Google, with your own key; that help can be unticked in the “…” menu so nothing is sent. Colourisation runs on your computer, offline, once its engine is downloaded.

You don’t have to think about it. Once your licence is activated, VectoScan Lab looks for a new version by itself, a minute after it opens and then once a day. When it finds one, it shows you what it brings, with three buttons: Install now, Later or Skip this version. Before installing, it offers to save your work, and it keeps your settings, your licence and your fonts. Nothing is installed without your say-so, and an update is only accepted if it comes from ffsmc.fr and arrives intact. To turn this watch off or back on: Help › Tell me about new versions. To look yourself: Help › Check for updates. Installed from the Microsoft Store, VectoScan Lab is updated by the Store.

Click “More info”, then “Run anyway”. This warning appears for recent software that Windows doesn’t know yet. Only download VectoScan Lab from ffsmc.fr.

No. Raise the quality level by one step (Trace tab) or pick another preset, then vectorise again. Ctrl+Z undoes every setting, and the Tree tab keeps everything you’ve done: a step can be removed, put back or changed, and the drawing is recalculated. The original picture never changes.

Lumpy curves: increase the enlargement (×3, ×4), the outline smoothing, or the tolerance. Too many colours: check that “Unify reflections and shadows” is on and increase “Merge close shades”. Fringes round the shapes: raise “Fringe removal” and turn on “Ignore transition colours”.

In the software: the F1 key opens the help at the page of the screen you’re on, and Help › Complete manual (PDF) opens the illustrated user manual. You can also download it from this page, in English and six other languages.

Write to [email protected]: we reply within 48 working hours. For a result that isn’t right, give the preset and the quality level, and attach the picture.