How do I get a single line instead of a double outline?
An ordinary tracer follows the boundary between dark and light, and a drawn line has two boundaries, so every stroke comes back as a long thin loop: the double outline. Centerline tracing, also called single-stroke or skeleton tracing, follows the middle of the stroke instead and returns one line, which is what a score or a pen plotter needs.
Written by the maker who builds MakerWizardChecked against the app's own code on
When you need which
- Filled shapes, silhouettes, logos: an ordinary trace is right. The outline is the shape.
- Handwriting, sketches, hatching, anything to be scored or drawn with a pen: centerline, or you burn every line twice and lose the feel of it.
What can do it today
- LightBurn has a centerline mode in its image trace.
- Inkscape's Trace Bitmap has a centerline option, which works best on clean high-contrast line art.
- Illustrator can do it with a stroke-only image and Image Trace set to line art, though it often needs cleaning up.
Where MakerWizard stands
MakerWizard does not do centerline tracing yet. Its tracer follows outlines, which is right for the flat shapes most personalised items are made of, and wrong for handwriting. It is the clearest gap we know of, and it is on the list; until it ships, the tools above are the honest answer.