Getting Started in Five Minutes¶

Five steps. One photo. One SVG. No prior experience required.

If you already have Vexy Lines installed, skip to step 2. If you don't, step 1 takes about two minutes. By step 5, you'll have a vector artwork file you can open in any design application, print at any size, and scale to a billboard without losing a single edge.

Step 1: Install Vexy Lines¶

Go to vexy.art and download the installer for your platform (macOS or Windows). Run it. Enter your license key when prompted, or click Demo to start the free trial. Every feature works except export. For full installation details, see Download, Install, Activate.

Step 2: Open a Photo¶

Launch Vexy Lines. Choose File > New. Drag a photo onto the canvas. A portrait with strong contrast works best for your first experiment. JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and BMP all work.

The photo appears on the canvas. This is your source image: the brightness map that fills will read. It will not appear in your final export. Think of it as the blueprint, not the building.

For details on document creation options, see Creating a New Document.

Step 3: Add a Linear Fill¶

In the Layers Panel (bottom-right), click the + button and select Linear from the fill menu.

Parallel lines appear over your image, their thickness varying with the brightness of the photo beneath. Dark areas get thick strokes; bright areas get thin ones or none at all. You're looking at a vector engraving of your photograph.

If the result looks too coarse, drag the Interval slider in the Properties Panel to the left (finer lines) and watch the detail sharpen.

Step 4: Drag Two Sliders¶

In the Properties Panel on the right:

Interval: Drag left for finer detail (try 0.5 mm), right for bolder strokes (try 3 mm). This single parameter changes the picture more than any other control in the application.
Angle: Rotate the line pattern. 0 is horizontal, 45 gives a classic diagonal engraving look, 90 is vertical. Try different values and watch the character of the image change completely.

That's two sliders, and you already have something worth printing.

For a full tour of every Properties Panel control, see Tuning Your Artwork.

Step 5: Export¶

Choose File > Export. Pick SVG for a scalable vector file you can open in Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Inkscape, or any web browser. Pick PDF if you need to send it to a print shop. Pick PNG if you want a raster image for social media.

Click Export. Done.

Your vector artwork is now a file on your hard drive. Open it. Zoom in. Notice that every line is mathematically smooth at any magnification. That photograph is now resolution-independent vector art.

What's Next¶

You've completed the core workflow: load, fill, adjust, export. Everything else in Part 1 builds on this foundation:

The Workspace maps every panel, toolbar, and control so you know what's where.
Your First Fill goes deeper into the Linear fill and its parameters.
Tuning Your Artwork covers every slider in the Properties Panel.
Hiding and Revealing teaches masks, so you can apply different fills to different areas.
Organising Your Work explains layers and groups for complex compositions.
Getting Your Art Out covers every export format in detail.

Five minutes in, and you've already made the leap from pixels to vectors. Everything from here is control, subtlety, and creative range.