Utah PHP Users Group

better results with Illustrator’s live trace

Sunday, 15 April 2007 @ 20:25

Does anyone have any tips or tricks that they would like to share for achieving better results with Illustrator’s Live Trace feature? Are there any custom settings or image prep steps (such as tweaking contrast in Photoshop for example) that you have discovered to improve it’s acurracy?

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  1. fubbs2007/4/16 @ 14:33

    I start with dropping the image to greyscale, then bumping up the contrast & brightness to just below blowout. Finally, I sharpen it up with unsharp mask to get the most defined edges possible.

    Once in Illustrator, I usually start playing around with the different trace presets, then dial it in once I’m close.
  2. jaredts2007/4/17 @ 11:23

    Similiar to what Fubbs just said, but I’ve found better results in Photoshop selecting color ranges, and cutting and pasting my paths into illustrator. I really have never had great success with live trace. Its nice for simply comping, and as a band-aid fix, but to truely get great results I have always looked elsewhere.
  3. wade2007/4/17 @ 11:42

    What other utilities do you use?
  4. fubbs2007/4/17 @ 14:52

    i like the trace bitmap function in flash (and it’s been around for years)
  5. bchild3112007/4/17 @ 16:10

    I second the Flash Trace Bitmap function. I still use it. The live trace seems to work well for complex artwork and translates to print well too. Anyone see the green monster billboard Omniture did? Live Trace …
  6. Vuel Egham2007/4/19 @ 14:18

    Yep, it has it’s place, and certainly is the perfect solution for large scale, long distance readability, but it will never trace a bitmap logo well enough.