Raster to Vector via Illustrator's CS2 Trace functions

[Trebeck]

Hey all

This is a very specific question.
I've been playing around with Illustrator's Tracing abilities and have been getting nice results but not great results.  Can anyone guide my in this?  What kind of default settings do you prefer?  Can you see anything I should be doing differently? (See pic)

Thanks to anyone who can  guru me here

Beck

www.trebeck.ca

[Flip_Willie]

   If you are wanting it to be highest quality, then the settings in the attached picture should be what you want.  Be warned, it will take a while to trace with these settings.

   I am no expert, however.  Just play around with the settings till you get something you like, it really depends on what you want it to look like.

   EDIT: Also, checking and setting up "resample" will improve the quality of the picture.

Just as it is,
Flip Willie

[zorg]

I've been playing around with Illustrator's Tracing abilities and have been getting nice results but not great results.  Can anyone guide my in this? 

the best settings for autotracing is DON'T USE IT, unless you want to trace some noisy and crappy part.

[Flip_Willie]

the best settings for autotracing is DON'T USE IT, unless you want to trace some noisy and crappy part.

This is true for the most part.  It's like I said, it depends on what you want. ;•)

Just as it is,
Flip Willie

[stephenp1983]

I saw a tutorial on the live trace feature, which I wasn't aware of because I'm just a novice user.  I thought it was awesome in theory but when trying it go mediocre results at best.  Its neat, but I never could get anything usable out of it.

[zorg]

I saw a tutorial on the live trace feature, which I wasn't aware of because I'm just a novice user.  I thought it was awesome in theory but when trying it go mediocre results at best.  Its neat, but I never could get anything usable out of it.

hehe....

live trace may be usable in a really few case, some random noisy patterns, but except for that it's useless.

you will spend more time tweaking, the autotraced path than tracing it by hand.

[Trebeck]

Crap.
Thanks for the advice guys.  Ah well, gotta do it the old fashioned way.

 

[melarky]

I have had better results with auto tracing bitmaps into vector with inkscape (http://inkscape.org/ - it's a free open source graphics editor program).  I use it all the time for my CNC machine, so it's a different application, but it does seem to trace better than illustrator...

[zorg]

I use it all the time for my CNC machine, so it's a different application, but it does seem to trace better than illustrator...

CNC machine, I guess you let inkscape trace some straights lines and some nice curves, not complex patternns and shapes like the ones reqested to trace some artwork.

[melarky]

I use it all the time for my CNC machine, so it's a different application, but it does seem to trace better than illustrator...

CNC machine, I guess you let inkscape trace some straights lines and some nice curves, not complex patternns and shapes like the ones reqested to trace some artwork.

I have a sign carving program that accepts vector images, so if the person that wants the sign has a logo or something they need in it, and they don't have a vector version, 9 times out of 10, inkscape can do a good enough job of tracing it for the sign (some are fairly complex tracings).  I have just found through personal experience that inkscape always does a much better and cleaner job of tracing than illustrator (which is frustrating since illustrator costs so much).

[melarky]

Also, just as a quick side note, I only use inkscape for the tracing, I hate everything else about it interface wise (way clunkier than adobe products).  If I could get the same results out of illustrator, I would gladly stick with it for tracing, but I think LiveTrace is garbage...