bitmap graphics in fireworks

[Kronix34]

This may seem like an easy question to answer but I can't seem to figure it out.

I scanned a logo from a clients advertisement for a webiste and when it saved it went into bitmap format. I saved the image in photoshop 6.0 as a .psd file, and it looks fine because the resolution is high 2550 x 3510pix, then I croped out the logo and it went to 1000w x 457h px and it still looked fine. Then the problem happened when I re-sized the image to 100 x 46px and I saved it as a gif, now the edges are very bad and you could barely see the small print in the logo.

This is a black and white logo with an oval circle with the company name in the middle with small print above the name.

I tried to fix it in photoshop and fireworks but had no luck. Is there anyway to change the bitmap to vector format?
If not how should I fix this bitmap image so it looks smooth and proper?

If anyone has any helpful information please reply back.

I'm looking for a solution to this problem in fireworks MX or photoshop 6.0.

Thanks.

[TGecho]

If you want to convert it to vector, your best bet (of those two) would be fireworks, as photoshop's vector support stinks.

You'd just have to trace it out, and hopefully you know the font they used.

Your other option is to resize by increments, sharpening as you go along.

[mivox]

One idea is to raise the resolution at the same time as you shrink the dimensions. If you start out with a 72ppi image at 8 inches across, move it to 144ppi and shrink it to 4 inches, etc...

Higher resolution images will sharpen better than low res ones, so you can sharpen it as you shrink it... then try stepping down to web resolution once you get it down to the dimensions you want.

[Kronix34]

Ok I will give that a try and let you know - thanks for the idea's.

Is there a better way I should have gone about this? I mean how many people out there scan a companies logo that is plain looking like mine and have this kind of problem? I still think there is a better way to do this from start to finish. Even if I have to re-scan it and do the whole process over I'm willing to learn the right way..

Like I said before - this is a black and white logo, with a black oval circle and the copy name in the middle with some smallier words above the title.

Is there anyway to scan the image as a vector graphic? Was there anything I could have changed in the scanning configuration to make this operation better?

I've even considered making the logo from scratch in vector graphics, but I have other logo's and stuff to scan and do some work to - so I would love to know how to do this right.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[mivox]

If you have a program like Illustrator or Freehand, you could scan it in as a very high resolution bitmap image, and then use the graphics program's "trace" function to create a vector outline of the graphic... That would provide the best scalability short of re-creating the image from scratch.

Personally, I'd try to get the font specifications of the logo image, and re-create it from scratch in your favorite graphics program... As long as it's not hand-written text, you should be able to get the font somewhere. (Charge the customer for the expense if you need to buy the font.)