Complete newbie- trying to transfer images from inkscape to image magick

[suzi717]

I am a complete novice at all of this and am trying to fumble my way through. We just recently started working through Inkscape because of the bonus of being free and some great extensions. We are running into problems when we try to send the image that we have created in Inkscape to another program (LXi) that sends the image to a plotter and cuts it. The image needs to be vectorized, and when it is sent in .png format, after vectorizing it, the image is showing very pixelated (sp) when it cuts. It does not show like this in the original picture. We think it is because of the .png format. .Jpg format does not do this. So after searching, we found an extension for Inkscape that allows transferring the image from .png format to .jpg. It says we must also have Image Magick, which is where this comes in. I have dowloaded the extension into Inkscape and downloaded Image Magick, but I do not know how to proceed to use Image Magick to change the picture to .jpg.

Is there anybody with Inkscape experience that can lay out for us in simple-basically kindergarten steps how to do this? I have tried to look up help articles, and everybody keeps saying how easy it is. I'm sure it is for those with experience, but we have none. Any help would be appreciated!

[snibgo]

A vector image contains instructions like "move to coordinate 12,56; draw a line from there to 765,43". SVG is a vector format.

A raster image contains data about pixels. PNG and JPG are raster formats. Vector can easily be converted to raster, but the reverse direction is more difficult.

The image needs to be vectorized, and when it is sent in .png format, after vectorizing it, the image is showing very pixelated (sp) when it cuts.

I don't understand that. A PNG contains raster data, not vector. Perhaps some process is vectorising the PNG data.

Your plotter probably accepts data in either format, but vector is best. I suggest you find what vector format the plotter accepts, that Inkscape can also produce. SVG may be a possibility.