Since, nobody else has chimed in with a response, I'll answer from the
WinTopo Support Team.

1. If you have a choice of fast processor with little memory, or
slower processor with much more RAM, then you should use the machine
with more RAM.
For your large images, you are likely to run out of RAM. When Windows
runs out of RAM is starts to use the hard-drive as extra memory.
However, the hard-drive is very very slow compared to standard memory
access, and so processing then slows by about 1000 times.

2. If you're seeing BMP files being truncated, it may be that you're
using Windows 98. Windows 98 is really only a 16bit operating system,
and cannot satisfactorily handle images with more than 16384 pixels on
an edge. If you are routinely using large images then you need to use
Windows NT/2000/XP or Vista which are 32bit operating system.

If when processing a large image you see that the hard-drive light
stays on constantly, then you know that your PC has run out of memory.
The processing will then take hugely longer then it would take if you
had enough RAM.

To reduce the size of the TIF or BMP file you should consider scanning
at a lower resolution. If you halve the scanning resolution you will
quarter the memory requirement - so it makes a big difference. You
need only scan at a high enough resolution so that you can clearly see
the detail that you want vectorized.

If you are seeing enormous DXF files being generated by WinTopo, then
it is most likely because your image was scanned in monotone
(black/white) and your scanner software has dithered the image to try
and represent grey shades with only black pixels. A dithered images
produces far too many vectors because WinTopo tries to represent the
dither pattern with the vector lines. (See the help page on the Heal
option for an explanation of what I'm talking about
http://www.wintopo.com/help/html/image-heal.htm).
You can cure this problem by scanning in greyscale (or colour)
instead, or by using the Heal option in WinTopo Pro.

3. On the question of whether Zhang Suen or Stentiford thinning is
quickest... well, it depends on the content of the drawing. But
frequently Zhang Suen is quicker. In WinTopo Pro, Best Combination
thinning is usually quickest. (However, Stentiford often produces the
most pleasing result!)

4. Don't forget you can use WinTopo Freeware (or Pro) to bleep out
rectangular sections of drawings - probably quicker than on other
programs - prior to vectorizing.
With WinTopo Freeware you can also use the Brightness/Contrast and
Gamma adjustments to lighten the image background and darken the
lines, so that only the lines that you want get converted. In WinTopo
Pro you have the "Image->Identify Background Pixels..." option to make
it simple to ignore the background. In either version, you can use the
colour thresholding to get rid of the unwanted colour shades.
Of course, none of these facilities will help with a black/white
monotone image - you need to scan in greyscale or colour to take
advantage of these abilities.

--- In wintopo@yahoogroups.com, "coosbaylumberco"
<coosbaylumberco@...> wrote:
>
> Sort of new here, ...