Thread:Mr. Octus/@comment-25473181-20151127021302/@comment-27337536-20151127050505

Inkscape, 100% Free/Open-Source/Cross-platform software :) Site: https://inkscape.org/en/

The steps can vary for each vector image but for those maps I did:
 * 1) Find reference material File:RWBY_Remnant_World_Map_Source_Material_00.png
 * 2) Import reference material (either drag it into Inkscape or use the File -> import)
 * 3) Select the imported reference image then Path -> Trace Bitmap... (or SHIFT + ALT + B)
 * 4) I did Brightness Cutoff with a threshold of 0.460
 * 5) Click the update button on the right or do a live preview (make sure you image is still selected)
 * 6) Click ok to generate an svg scan, this may take a while since we are creating so many nodes!
 * 7) Now move the trace off the reference image with the move tool, first item on the toolbar on the far left (Select and transform object (F1))
 * 8) Now take the "Edit Paths by Nodes (F2)", second tool on the toolbar on the left, and click the image.
 * 9) You should see a ton of nodes (again this may lag your pc)
 * 10) Select the nodes you want to clean-up and click delete (the key); in the reference image above with those settings I needed to remove some of the border.
 * 11) You should now have the image scanned with some good detail and it's an svg!
 * 12) Make whatever corrections you want and add more detail.

Again this varies from each vector image, the symbols for example had to be traced and manipulated manually.

I'll try and make a small video/gif/webm or whatever in a bit if I can.