Help with creating cut file

[ShellyWorld]

I am trying to create cut files for these two pictures. I loaded them into Inkscape, tried the trace to bitmap....nothing! I know it's something simple, I just dont know what I'm doing wrong....Can someone tell me?

[HeatherM]

You could do a color trace on the first image, but on an image like this, it is pretty fast to use a grid with snap and squares to create an image with nice sharp corners.

The second image has more than just the squares, but could be done that way too if you prefer the nice sharp corners. I did one regular trace at the default threshold to get the base and the blue, then did another with a threshold of 0.3 to get the red. I had to do some editing to get the pieces.

I am trying to create cut files for these two pictures. I loaded them into Inkscape, tried the trace to bitmap....nothing! I know it's something simple, I just dont know what I'm doing wrong....Can someone tell me?

What do you mean by "nothing"? What did you try and what happened?

[ShellyWorld]

This is what i'm getting. Do I have to put a black outline around the whole picture to get the bottom layer?

[HeatherM]

The best way to get a base layer is to increase the threshold. I don't remember exactly what the setting was, but I think it was 0.90. I have a post on my blog about tracing images that aren't black and white. http://wp.me/pAgTo-dV