Live trace in illustrator

So i've drawn something by hand and scanned it in to convert it to a vector image in illustrator. Unfortunately the edges are jagged with about 8 billion extra points. Is there a quick way to smooth the edges rather than having to go in and just delete the points one by one and adjusting the others?

I agree with Harron. There are only two images I have usefully converted to vector using LiveTrace. One was a monotone and the other a duotone. (in other words, extremely simple shapes for Livetrace to interpret). In both instances there was considerable effort to clean up the LiveTrace mess, so that in the end, using LiveTrace turned out to be only slightly better than simply redrawing the artwork with the pen tool.

Similar Messages

Illustrator cs3 unresponsive after live trace

after placing an .psd image into illustrator and using
live trace function, illustrator will only let me save the file. after saving i have to quit
and restart to work on the file again. this process continues on certain lar
ge files. what gives? thanks in advance!

w/ 2gb ram
Not particularly much. Even if AI itself as a 32bit application never uses more than 2GB, it doesn't have it all on your system. You know, operating system and other stuff taking memory, too.... Quite clearly on a heavy live trace with lots of anchor points and paths this could be too much. If it's an option, you might consider a selective approach, i.e. working at lower image resolutions if something is only a large area or by extracting specific features in Photoshop by turning the image into greyscale/ limited color palette images. while there, you may also use selections and convert them into paths, which you then could copy&paste into AI.
Mylenium

Png Illustrator Live Trace Flash

I'm rather new to Illustrator CS2 but I had a plan to take
png images (with transparent backgrounds) into it from Photoshop
and then using Live Trace convert them to vectors. I would then
export them into Flash as swf files. (AI and AEP are huge. Or maybe
I am missing something) It all worked great until I noticed that
the swf files had a white background(like when you save a
transparent psd as a jpeg and not a png.)
My question is, is there a way to make and preserve
transparent backgrounds from placed png images in Illustrator and
Live Trace so that when I move them into Flash I have a "vector
png" to work with? Thanks

Found solution -After you have done the Live Trace In
Illustrator CS2 , click on the background white object and go to
the Select menu > Same > Fill Color. With all your white
object selected, press the Delete key on your keyboard. Export as
an .swf. Import into Flash and you have a vector copy (with
transparent background) of your bitmap .png to play with. A "vector
png"!
Embarrassed by how little I know about Illustrator... But
this might help someone

Problems with black fills in live trace(d) eps images in Word and certain printers

Hi folks, PLEASE help me with this if you know a possible solution. I regularly run Live Trace in Illustrator CS3 on my grayscale bmp or tiff scanned images, save them as an eps, then folks in other departments insert them into Microsoft Word pages. Sometimes these images display in Word with unintended black fills, and some printers print them out with the same corrupted appearance, yet some other printers print them fine (even if the display in Word shows them with the unintended black fills). I THINK this might be a postscript issue (?). I don't have the option of telling everyone to change from Word to InDesign (which would absolutely solve the problem immediately). Is there something I can set while performing Live Trace? They really need the eps files, so I don't have the option of saving them as another format. HELP! Thanks...

I use Mac at home and love it. At work, we use PC platform. I can't save as a pdf because they need to stay vector graphics. he departments want us to save the eps in version 8 because they're STILL using Windows 2003 (ugh). I keep thinking there must be something I can do while in Live Trace because we've never noticed any inintended black fills in graphics not created using Live Trace. Somehow, Word and some printers are not interpreting some postscript language correctly. InDesign has zero issues with it. Some printers have no problem with it, so I assume they are postscript printers. There's got to be a way I can still save as an eps but without the postscript conflict (IF that's what it is).

Can't find live trace

using CS4 XP.
No matter how many tutorials I try to follow, the "live trace" function, which I would like to use to create simple vectors, is no where to be found.
Any ideas why this function seems to be missing ?

Live trace is Illustrator, not Photoshop

How Keeping Batch Live Trace To Fit The Original Picture's Size

to create a Live Trace movie Illustrator suddenly opens up a larger artboard than the actual picture to be live traced, and saves the result with this too large artboard size, so when I import it as an .ai sequence in After Effects, it's an over sized picture that is squeezed down to fit the After Effects composition. Any hint how I can avoid this I'd be grateful for.
regards,
frank

Hi Monika, thx for reply. Ya, suddenly because it didn't do it before. before the original images size was the sithe the live-trace-created .ai was opening with when I imported it to After Effects.
It probably is in conjunction with the pictures size and the size defined in the live-trace-tool from the adobe-bridge. When the picture was 640 x 30 and the output set to 1280 x 720 then the problem occurs. When the picture is 1280 x 720 and the output is set to the same values, then it opens up in After Effecs as desired, direct into place within the 1280 x 720 in After Effects.

I am using Illustrator CS5, how do I remove white outline after live trace?

I am working on a image that will be used as a sticker. I did all the painting in Photshop CS5. Now I want to create a cleaner image by making it a vector. My problem is when using Live Trace it comes out amazing. But this is in Illustrator. When i go and save it as a PDF or TIFF. It has a white line surrounding all the individual vectors.
how do i remove these?
I already did the Ignore White. I did not use the expand button, which is what the saved image looks like when i do press expand. Thats a No NO!
All my settings are at 300 res. I also rasterized the image too. it still came out the same way.
The image on the left i how it looks in illustrator. The left image is how it looks when it is opened as a jpeg or saved as a adobe PDF or Tiff.
Thank you,
Trojan

These could be
gaps due to differences in adjacent fill areas
antialaising issues across adjacent items
general trapping issues
I'm afraid you'll have to do some reading up on all of that and invest some time in manuall cleaning up your documents to fix these problems. Though I honestly don't see the relevance. Your image being quite detailed eitehr way it would be printed using inkjet or classical CMYK processes and beyond the die line for the cutout there would be no need to use any vector data.
Mylenium

Illustrator CS4 - Batch Live Trace all images in one directory?

Hello everyone
I have 200 pages or so scanned at the same resolution from a notepad, which I would like to vectorize.
Since they're all pretty much similar I'd imagine the trace settings can be consistant for all of them
I'd rather not Live trace each one in illustrator, would take ages..
Is there a batch command for this or a recommended alternative method?
Thank you!

Yes, Bridge can do it as well, but as of CS5 it ignores the "Ignore White" option, and another user was advised to use Illustrator. I see this as a bug that needs to be repaired in Bridge. Else, why have the command? There are some other bugs associated with this and other batch commands that need to be fixed up. AI doesn't record "Live Trace" button action (you have to go to the menu item.) And it ignores "Fit Artboard to Artwork Bounds" as well.
They really need to come up with an all-round universal solution to batch processing for the different products.

How can I simplify very complex illustrator file, multiple embedded live traces

Hello!
If anyone has any advice on this I'd be very grateful! I have created a piece of artwork in illustrator which is to be printed 4x3m for a wall mural. Therefore the file I am working with must either be a vecor or a large enough raster to be printed at such as size. I have set it up at 1 to 10 so its currently A3ish size. Each component of the collage is a separate ai file and contains many points as they are all live traces. It was no problem linking in all these initially but I now need to embed them so as I can give the printers a complete file. I have succeeded embedding every image apart from one last complex one which is crashing the whole thing. Are there any settings I may be able to change to reduce the file size or simplify the graphic (whilst remaining vectors.) Below is the file with the linked images and also the outline of the embedded version so far. The problem I am having is basically because of the final output size required.
The only thing I can think of doing is opening each separate component and saving as a raster then relinking these - but will this be even more problematic for illustrator that thousands of vector points? I can do it in photoshop if needs be but as the final image is to be printed 4x3m will this be too large to handle? The ai file with all images linked was 25MB but now 500MB with the sky still to embed.
Thank you!

Rosie,
4x3m is quite large, and the comfortable/relevant viewing distance is so much larger than the one you use to read this that you should be bold here, bolder than just saying 150DPI which may be used at normal reading distance depending on printing method.
You may (literally) see it this way: the viewing angle is important: when you look at a larger image, you move back until you have a comfortable viewing angle, and at the same viewing angle, the viewing distance is proportional to the size. This means that you can determine how the actual final size in pixel x pixel looks under a certain viewing angle at normal reading distance.

Script to Perform Live Trace then in Illustrator Run Action... Please Help

Hello Everyone, I am brand new to scripting and need some help... I would like to create an inter-application javascript (.jsx) file that will perform the following steps in sequence:
1) Target Bridge CS3 and:
a) Automatically select files (thumbnails) (the names of, and path to these files never change so scripting them is no problem). Path & Files are: C:\files\1.psd, C:\files\2.psd and C:\files\3.psd.
b) Run Tools > Illustrator > Live Trace [Live Trace Dialogue Box Settings (Tracing Preset: Color 16, Save & Close Results (checked), Document Profile: "Basic RGB", Width: "576", Height: "720", Units: Pixels, Destination: "C:\files\, File Naming: Document Name + .ai)].
After Live Trace finishes, C:\files\1.ai, C:\files\2.ai and C:\files\3.ai are created.
and then....
2) Target Illustrator CS3 and:
Run my Illustrator precreated Action: "Add Border". This action adds a precreated border to the files. The action is coded with the paths and file names of the .ai files as well as saving instructions.
To summarize:
1) In Bridge, run Live Trace on precreated .psd files
2) In Illustrator run an action on the files that were live traced
That's it. It seems straight forward when I write it out but trying to figure out how to script it is boggling my mind.
Thank you for your help!

I will go check that error meantime try this… The Photoshop export looks OK to me but I have no idea about SVG files as I don't use them… This should be getting closer… You will need to make the same 2 typo changes…
#target illustrator
while (app.documents.length) {
app.activeDocument.close(SaveOptions.PROMPTTOSAVECHANGES);
var traceFolder = new Folder ('~/Desktop/Live Trace/');
var fileList = traceFolder.getFiles(/\.psd$/i);
if (fileList.length > 0) {
     var svg = new Folder(traceFolder.fsName+'/SVG Files');
     if (!svg.exists) svg.create();
     var psd = new Folder(traceFolder.fsName+'/PSD Files');
     if (!psd.exists) psd.create();
     var ai = new Folder(traceFolder.fsName+'/AI Files');
     if (!ai.exists) ai.create();
     main(fileList);
} else {
     alert('This Folder contained NO Photoshop PSD files!');
function main(fileObjs) {
     with (app) {
          var orginalUIL = userInteractionLevel;
          userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevel.DONTDISPLAYALERTS;
          for (var i = 0; i < fileObjs.length; i++) {
               if (fileList[i] instanceof File) {
                    var fileName = fileList[i].name.slice(0, -4);
                    var docRef = documents.add(DocumentColorSpace.RGB, 576, 720);
                    with (docRef) {
                         var thisPlace = placedItems.add();
                         thisPlace.file = fileObjs[i];
                         var thisImage = placedItems[0].trace();
                         redraw();
                         thisImage.tracing.tracingOptions.loadFromPreset('Color 16');
                         thisImage.tracing.expandTracing();
                         redraw();
                         var svgOptions = exportAsSVGFile();
                         svgFilePath = new File(svg.fsName + '/' + fileName + '.svg');
                         exportFile(svgFilePath, ExportType.SVG, svgOptions);
                         var psdOptions = exportAsPSDFile();
                         psdFilePath = new File(psd.fsName + '/' + fileName + '.psd');
                         exportFile(psdFilePath, ExportType.PHOTOSHOP, psdOptions);
                         var aiOptions = saveAsAiFile();
                         aiFilePath = new File(ai.fsName + '/' + fileName + '.ai');
                         saveAs(aiFilePath, aiOptions);
                         close(SaveOptions.DONOTSAVECHANGES);
          userInteractionLevel = orginalUIL;
function exportAsSVGFile() {
     var svgOptions = new ExportOptionsSVG();
     with (svgOptions) {
          compressed = true;
          coordinatePrecision = 3;
          //cssProperties = SVGCSSPropertyLocation.ENTITLES;
          documentEncoding = SVGDocumentEncoding.UTF16
          //DTD = SVGDTDVersionSVG1_0;
          embedRasterImages = true;
          fontSubsetting = SVGFontSubsetting.ALLGLYPHS;
          fontType = SVGFontType.CEFFONT;
          includeFileInfo = false;
          includeVariablesAndDatasets = false;
          optimizeForSVGViewer = true;
          preserveEditability = true;
          slices = true;
          sVGAutoKerning = true;
          sVGTextOnPath = true;
     return svgOptions;
function exportAsPSDFile() {
     var psdOptions = new ExportOptionsPhotoshop();
     with (psdOptions) {
          antiAliasing = true;
          compatibility = PhotoshopCompatibility.PHOTOSHOP8;
          editableText = true;
          embedICCProfile = true;
          maximumEditability = true;
          resolution = 150;
          warnings = true;
          writeLayers = true;
     return psdOptions;
function saveAsAiFile() {
     var aiOptions = new IllustratorSaveOptions();
     with (aiOptions) {
          compatibility = Compatibility.ILLUSTRATOR12;
          compressed = true;
          embedICCProfile = true;
          embedLinkedFiles = true;
          flattenOutput = OutputFlattening.PRESERVEAPPEARANCE;
          fontSubsetThreshold = 0;
          overprint = PDFOverprint.PRESERVEPDFOVERPRINT;
          pdfCompatible = true
     return aiOptions;

Illustrator Live Trace Tips

Hi guys,
I have to make a colorful image into a black and white or at least one color silhouette for printing on a T-shirt. I tried Illustrator Live Trace which look nice -here is the sample-
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1F4NmH9Q0D7IVqUDUeGPegdwKETC1
but when doing a close zoom the interesting texture has some bizarre effects like this one and all the
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1NPI8WpLvPBttbbMCe3LmiKuZjcj4
This image will be printed in an A4 Size and i am worried that the detail could look strange. The other option is to use Photoshop.
Any special tips when using Live Trace, exporting a PDF and Printing?
Thanks for any info!
Cheers,
Sebs

As far as I know, that is conversion artifact inherent to Illustrator.
You have to put the work in if you want to avoid your art looking like it was done via Live Trace.
It can be tedious, but using the eraser tool, the direct selection tool to select/delete (is there, or will there ever be a keyboard shortcut for this?)
to delete some of those artifact, makes a huge difference.
You might try to bring it into Photoshop, throw a median over it, bring back into Illy, and retrace. Play with the 'smallest pixel detail that will be traced' thingy. Depends on the image, but either way, it is rare to convert a detailed image and have it perfect.
I'll follow this thread for any additional tips!

Does Photoshop Elements have a live trace tool like Illustrator?

I use Illustrator at school but annoyingly only have Elements at home, and six weeks of school holidays in which I need to use the Live Trace tool... Does anyone know where the equivilent tool would be in either Elements or Photoshop, or if one even exists?

It doesn't exist in PSE (or any image editing program). Tracing is a feature of vector editing programs because it creates vector shape(s).
Ken

Can Live Trace be added back for complex B&W illustration vectorizing?

Image Trace might work great for vectorizing color photos, but it is terrible at vectorizing complex B&W illustrations. Live Trace in CS2-CS5 was great at this. It's crazy that a new feature would break a previous functionality.
This is a pen & ink style illustration I was going to vectorize so that it would be easier to set up for a t-shirt:
As you can see from this comparison image, Live Trace does a much better job at converting this illustration to vector. It's very close to the original and has a very clean appearance. After trying every setting possible, this is the best result I could manage in Image Trace:
It seems like Image Trace can't handle the complexity that Live Trace used to work so well with. I noticed if I cropped out just the chicken, Image Trace did a better job with just that part of it. Live Trace could handle the entire thing, though, and cropping an image in to sections just adds more steps and more work.
Whatever engine Live Trace used to have, please please please add it back in for B&W art vectorizing. Right now I have to keep my old copy of CS4 installed just so I can use Live Trace. It seems like this is a problem that people have been mentioning: http://forums.adobe.com/message/5908553

Thanks for taking the time to comment, rcraighead.
Your version does look better, I agree, but the higher threshold is filling in a lot of details with black (like the eyes). The feathered lines are also rounding off at the ends, which happens in Image Trace, but never was a problem in Live Trace. It kind of gives it a "stamped" feel, like the ink is bleeding over.
The original image is about 8.5 x 11, 300 ppi. I guess I'll just have to keep CS4 installed to use Live Trace. I tweeted at Adobe Illustrator with my issue and they told me to post here

Illustrator CS5 Live Trace stuck at "Tracing"

I'm trying to "Live Trace" an image and AI says "Tracing" in the layers pane and just sits there forever. See image below:
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

What do you expect it to do? Have you tried using Expand from the object menu?

How can I live trace a hand sketch line work and cut from background to apply to new coloured backgr

I placed a hand drawn scanned photo of artwork to illustrator cs4 in an attempt to trace the lines and remove from paper and add the line drawing to a brochure artwork. this to give illusion of an old artist's manuscript with drawings. first attempt with the psd file in trying to apply trace as a "hand drawn " method crashed illustrator. I tried again and used ink drawing which came out blotchy. Tried simple trace and got a warning that the file was too large. I'm thinking that the drawing itself is very soft and the paper around it is grainy and dim. I had tried to brighten and lighten in the scan mode.I did get it as far as a trace at one point and used outline stroke but then couln't fill in the lines or cut it out. I have taken it to photoshop and drew a pen selection around the soft lines and used a transparent background on it, hoping to stroke it in illustrator and drag it off over to the brochure template .But didn't try it yet. I also just made the resolution 250 and the size document to 6 x 9 in approx. But now am fearful of another experiemental attempt. Am I on the right track or is there another method to bringing in a line drawing that is not defined well and getting it to trace and remove from it's background to apply onto the illustrator document being worked on. I have done placing and tracing before but not a line work. Any suggestions that won't crash my program would be welcome. As an artist I will want to do this again and again so want to know the proper method or what I am missing. I've been using illustrator for 7 months now.

Maybe Li[ve trace] is not t]he way[ to go
I have some suggestion one leave it as is and use a blending mode of multiply to give it a color background like this
leave it as is make it a grayscale tiff import int Illustrator and color it it in Illustrator like this
Or trace over it with the brush tool aand then give it a color ground.
Or do the original over and do a cleaner job with no tone or a minimum of tone. Then Live trace.

Live trace in illustrator

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