- Starting the lesson
- Creating a new document
- Working with basic shapes
- Working with drawing modes
- Using Image Trace to convert images into editable vector art
- Using Text to Vector Graphic (Beta)
- Review questions
- Review answers
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Using Image Trace to convert images into editable vector art
In this part of the lesson, you’ll learn how to work with the Image Trace command, which converts a raster image, like a JPEG, into editable vector artwork. Tracing can help turn something you drew on paper—for instance, a logo, a pattern or texture, or hand-drawn type—into editable vector art. In this section, you’ll trace hand-drawn text that is part of the logo type.
Choose File > Place. In the Place dialog box, select the hand-drawn-text.jpg file in the Lessons > Lesson03 folder on your hard disk, leave all options at their defaults, and click Place.
Click in the artboard to place the image.
If you need to, drag the image you just placed and the bear so they don’t overlap.
Select the TREK image, and to center the image in the Document window, choose View > Zoom In a few times.
With the image selected, click the Image Trace button in the Properties panel to the right of the document, and choose 3 Colors from the menu.
A screenshot shows the black TREK text on the yellow background is selected. A bounding box appears over it. The cursor is selecting the 3 Colors option from the Image Trace menu in the Quick Actions section of the Properties panel on the right.
This image is converted into vector and is now called an image tracing object. You can’t edit the vector content yet, but you can still try other tracing settings.
An image tracing object comprises the source image and the tracing result, which is the vector artwork. By default, only the tracing result is visible. However, you can change the display of both the original image and the tracing result.
Click the Open The Image Trace Panel button (
) in the Properties panel.
A screenshot shows the black TREK text on the yellow background is selected. A bounding box appears over it. The cursor is clicking the Open the Image Trace Panel button in the Quick Actions section of the Properties panel.
The buttons at the top of the Image Trace panel are for converting the image to grayscale, black and white, and more.
Below the buttons at the top, you’ll see the Preset menu. This menu has the same options that you saw in the Properties panel.
The Mode menu allows you to change the color mode of the resulting artwork (color, grayscale, or black and white). The Palette menu is also helpful in limiting the color palette or assigning colors from a color group.
In the Image Trace panel, click the triangle to the left of the Advanced options to reveal them. Change the following options in the Image Trace panel, using these values as a starting point:
A screenshot shows the black TREK text on the yellow background is selected. A bounding box appears over it.The Image Trace panel is open and the Advanced options are showing in the panel.
Colors: 2
Paths: 100% (For path fitting. A higher value means a tighter fit. We get to keep some of the rough edge on the letters.)
Corners: 25% (A higher value means more corners.)
Noise: 50 px (Reduce noise by ignoring areas of a set pixel size. A higher value means less noise.)
In the panel still, select Ignore Color. This lets you sample a color that will be excluded from the tracing.
Click the Eyedropper icon (
) next to the Ignore Color option and click to sample the yellow color in the text background.
A screenshot shows the black TREK text on a white background is selected. A bounding box appears over it. After selecting the Eyedropper in the Image Trace panel, the cursor is sampling the once yellow background to remove the color.
There are a lot of options in the Image Trace panel for you to explore. You will see an option for Simplify. I’m pointing that out because you will learn about a Simplify command with more options in the next section.
Close the Image Trace panel.
With the text still selected, click the Expand button in the Properties panel.
A screenshot shows the black TREK text on a white background is selected. A bounding box appears over it. The Properties panel on the right shows the cursor clicking the Expand button.
The text is no longer an image tracing object but is composed of shapes and paths that are grouped together.
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Cleaning up traced artwork
Since the text image has been converted to shapes using the Image Trace command, you can refine the shapes to make the text look better. You’ll apply the Simplify command to make the edges a bit smoother. The Simplify command reduces the number of anchor points the path is made of without affecting the overall shape much. It can be used to remove imperfections in the traced path when using Image Trace.
With the text selected, choose Object > Path > Simplify.
In the Simplify options that appear, the Reduce Anchor Point slider is set to an auto-simplified value by default.
Drag the slider all the way to the left to remove a lot of points and see what the text looks like.
A screenshot shows the black TREK text on a white background is selected. A bounding box appears over it. The Simplify widget is on top of the text and the cursor is dragging the slider to the left.
A screenshot shows the black TREK text on a white background is selected. A bounding box appears over it. The Simplify widget is on top of the text showing the result of changing the simplification.
Dragging the slider to the left reduces the anchor points and simplifies the path. The closer the slider is to the minimum value on the left, the fewer the anchor points there are, but the path will most likely look different. The closer the slider is to the maximum value, the more it will look like it did before you applied the Simplify command.
Click the Auto-Simplify button (
) in the Simplify options bar to set the default amount again.Click More Options (
) in the Simplify options bar to open a dialog box with more options. In the dialog box that opens, make sure Preview is selected to see the changes happen.You can see the original number of anchor points (Original) of the text and the number of anchor points after applying the Simplify command (New).
In the Simplify dialog box, drag the Simplify Curve slider all the way to the right (Maximum).
This is a great starting point, and the artwork will look like it did before you applied the Simplify command.
Drag the same Simplify Curve slider to the left until you think it looks smoother on the edges. I set the Simplify Curve option to around 65%. See the following figure.
Do the same for the Corner Point Angle Threshold. Drag the slider until there are fewer ripples in the edge of the text. I set it to 94°.
For the Corner Point Angle Threshold, if the angle of a corner point is less than the angle threshold, the corner point is not changed. This option helps keep corners sharp, even if the value for Curve Precision is low.
Click OK.
Choose View > Fit All In Window.
Select the Eyedropper tool (
) from the toolbar and click in the “OUTDOORS” text in the flyer to sample the color and apply it to the “TREK” text.
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Adding the text and bear logo to the flyer
Now you’ll move the bear logo artwork and the text into place.
With the Selection tool (
) selected, drag the bear logo and the text into the flyer and arrange them however you like. Refer to the figure for how I did it.If you want to resize either, do so with the Selection tool, pressing the Shift key to maintain proportions.
Choose File > Save.
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