Live Trace! Turning an Image into Vector Graphics

-Made up of a grid of pixels with fixed resolution
-Will get “fuzzy” when zoomed in
-Photographs, some Illustrations
-Adobe Photoshop images
-File formats: jpg, gif, tiff, and png


-Made up of points that are joined using a mathematical formula
-Can be enlarged to any size with no loss of resolution
-Graphic Illustrations, logos
-Adobe Illustrator images
-File formats: pdf, eps, svg (scalable vector graphic)

Live Trace in Adobe Illustrator allows you to convert a raster image into an editable vector image.

  1. Choose an image of a person or an animal for this exercise.
  2. File>Place your image into a new Illustrator document. Copy and paste so you have THREE.
  3. With oneof your images selected, go to Object>Live Trace>Tracing Options.
  4. When Tracing Options pops up, choose Black and White, check “Ignore White” and click “Trace.”

  5. Your image has now transformed into a black and white traced version of the original photo. You must now press the “Expand” button to finalize the process of turning the image into vectors.
  6. Repeat steps 3-5 with your other two images, but this time in the Tracing Options, choose “Grayscale” for one and “Color” for the other. You should have three versions of your original image that look sort of like this:

    Black and WhiteGrayscaleColor (6)

Play with these images!!
1. With your black and white image, I would like you set a colored background and play with the paintbrush tool to define your subject.


  1. Create a new layer.
  2. Draw a rectangle box over your image.
  3. Choose a color.
  4. Drag this layer below your illustration.
  5. With the paintbrush tool, define areas of your subject that got “lost” in the Live Trace. Use the eyedropper tool to match your paintbrush color to the background.

(paintbrush strokes to define bird)

2. With your grayscaleimage, I would like you to experiment with deleting areas of value (with the Direct Selection Tool) to define the subject. Then use the Direct Selection Tool to move anchor points and manipulate the shape of your illustration.

(deleted areas)

(moved anchor points to make funky tail)

3. With your color image, I would like you to “paint” your illustration in different colors than the ones Live Trace defined. Select an area of color with your Direct Selection Tool, and then choose a new color in your Color Swatch Panel. Remember to use your eyedropper tool for repeating colors.

Orange

Blues