New to Illustrator, Creating images

[cyad]

I'm an extreme newbie to Illustrator who needs to create images for a web animation. For this reason, the small footprint of Illustrator vectors are very appealing. The only problem is that I have no idea how to use the tool.

I have images that were scanned into the PC, and I've imported these images into Illustrator to layer 1, with a blank layer 2 on top of it, and tried to trace over the image on layer 1. The results are not turning out very well. Is there a better way to get the image in an Illustrator format, like some kind of auto trace function? The images are very basic.

I'd like to really dive deep into Illustrator one day, but right now time is not on my side. Is there a better method than using Illustrator for what I'm trying to do?

Thanks in advance

 

[dimoj]

hi cyad

Well, you'll see there actually is an Auto Trace tool (its behind the blend tool in the main tool bar) but unless the image is very simple with highly contrasting colours you will not get a very accurate trace of it.

The BEST way IS what you are doing, using the pen and shape tools etc to redraw the image on a new layer. The Illustrator tools take a bit of practice to master. <shampoo commercial>It wont happen overnight, but it will happen</shampoo commercial>.

Two other alternatives are to either get a piece of software like Adobe Streamline or Corel Trace that convert bitmaps to vectors (results vary again) or you could open the image in Photoshop and select individual parts with the magic wand (or other selection methods) and convert the selections to paths (in the Paths palette). Then export those paths to Illustrator. The fill and stroke attributes etc will have to be completed in Illustrator.

 

[artguy]

If you have Flash, flashes auto-trace tool works very well. (I know, you asked about Illustrator, but just in case you have Flash, it'll work better IMHO.) You are most likely never get a perfect rendition from your scan without doing it by hand, but you will get acceptable results for the web.

good luck.

 

[cyad]

Actually, Flash would be perfect. Could you tell me how to trace using Flash, because I can't find it.

 

[artguy]

Import your image. With your image selected, go to &quot;Modify&quot; menu and select &quot;Trace Bitmap...&quot;. There are several options you will have to tweak until you get the desired results. If the image is contrasty, it will work very easily. The default settings usually don't work for me. You may have to set the curve fit to &quot;Very Tight&quot; and adjust the &quot;corner threshold&quot; till it looks acceptable. If too much detail is lost, adjust the minumum area to smaller pixels to pick up smaller details. If it is picking up every defect in the scan set it higher. (I could go on and on.)

If the scan isn't very sharp, you may have to go back to photoshop and fine tune the image and re-import.

Just play with all settings. It may take several minutes to get something acceptable but it works. I guess it just depends what you are expecting for the output. You can adjust the results with the vector tools in Flash or take it into Illustrator. Good luck.

bob