Illustrator

Trace artwork

If you want to base a new drawing on an existing piece of artwork, you can trace it. For example, you can create a graphic based on a pencil sketch drawn on paper or on a raster image saved in another graphics program by bringing the graphic into Illustrator and tracing over it.

The easiest way to trace artwork is to open or place a file into Illustrator and automatically trace the artwork with the Live Trace command. You can control the level of detail and how the tracing is filled. When you are satisfied with the tracing results, you can convert the tracing to vector paths or a Live Paint object.

Before and after tracing a bitmap image with the Live Trace command

For a video on using Live Trace, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0043.

Automatically trace artwork

  1. Open or place a file to use as the source image for the tracing.
  2. With the source image selected, do one of the following:

    • To trace the image using a tracing preset, click the Tracing Presets and Options button  in the Control panel, and select a preset.

    • To trace the image using the default tracing options, click Live Trace in the Control panel, or choose Object > Live Trace > Make.

    • To set tracing options before you trace the image, click the Tracing Presets and Options button  in the Control panel, and choose Tracing Options. Alternatively, choose Object > Live Trace > Tracing Options. Set tracing options, and then click Trace.

  3. (Optional) Adjust the results of the tracing.
  4. (Optional) Convert the tracing to paths or to a Live Paint object.

Use template layers to manually trace artwork

Template layers are locked, nonprinting layers that you can use to manually trace images. Template layers are dimmed by 50% so you can easily see any paths you draw in front of the layer. You can create template layers when you place an image or from existing layers.

  1. Do one of the following:

    • To place an image as a template layer for tracing, choose File > Place, select the EPS, PDF, or raster image file you want to trace, select Template, and then click Place. A new template layer appears below the current layer in the panel.

    • To trace an existing image, make sure the image is in its own layer, double-click the layer in the Layers panel, select Template, and click OK; alternatively, select the layer and choose Template from the panel menu.

    The eye icon  is replaced by the template icon , and the layer is locked.

  2. Trace over the file using the Pen tool or the Pencil tool.
  3. To hide the template layer, choose View > Hide Template. Choose View > Show Template layer to see it again.
  4. To turn a template layer into a regular layer, double-click the template layer in the Layers panel, deselect Template, and click OK.