My bitmap trace came out jagged with thousands of nodes: how do I get clean vectors from an image?

Why this happens

Tracing converts pixel edges to vectors, so the result can only be as good as the pixels. Low-resolution sources, JPEG compression artifacts and anti-aliased (soft) edges all read as bumpy outlines, and the tracer faithfully reproduces every bump as nodes.

The fix

1. Start from the best possible source: highest resolution, high contrast, hard edges. A 200 pixel logo will never trace clean; ask for the original artwork or a bigger export whenever possible.
2. After tracing, run Fit Curves to Vectors (Edit > Curve Fit Vectors, or the Drawing tab icon) with the Bezier Curves fitting type. It replaces strings of tiny line segments with smooth curves and cuts the node count dramatically. Tune the Tolerance: a bigger value gives a smoother result that is less faithful to the original, and a smaller one stays closer but keeps more nodes. The tolerance is a distance, so check which units your job uses before typing a number; a value that suits millimeters is far too loose in inches. Start small, test on one shape and adjust.
3. Hand-smooth the stubborn spots in Node Editing (N): hover a straight span and press B to convert it to a Bezier curve, then drag the control handles until the shape flows; D deletes surplus nodes (fewer nodes means smoother curves); right-click for span and smoothing options. Users report that smoothing works on Bezier spans, so convert first, then shape.
4. Retrace critical geometry manually: for text and geometric shapes, draw over the trace with native lines, arcs and circles. Ten clean nodes beat ten thousand traced ones. For known fonts, retype the text instead of tracing it.
5. Alternative pipeline: pre-process in a free tool such as Inkscape (Trace Bitmap, then Path > Simplify) and import the vector file.

Pro tips

• Jagged vectors do not just look bad. Many short segments mean many direction changes, and the machine may slow at each one, giving slow, jerky, burn-prone cuts.
• Threshold adjustment before tracing (increasing contrast) often does more than any post-trace cleanup.
• Traced line art gives double outlines (an inner and an outer edge for each drawn line). See the duplicate-vectors entry.