vector tracing with illustrator

[malelanct]

Hey guys, 

  Vector tracing existing artwork (raster) with illustrator is something i'm interested in.   Was wondering if someone had a reasonably easy guide that I could follow to learn the basics.  I did a quick search on the forum but came up with alot of other stuff.  Although I'm sure this has been posted before.

Currently using Illustrator CS3 although I'd imagine any version of Illustrator Guide would be fine

The only solid piece of information I've been able to find regarding this is to NOT use the live trace feature. 

[malelanct]

nevermind, read the sticky posts , please delete this quickly before too many people read it!

[zorg]

many of us started using this excellent tutorial Frostillicus tutorial

I'm pleased to see you found one of the mos valuable tip for tracing DON'T use automatic tracing tools 

[malelanct]

thankfully the stuff i had planned to start with isnt overly complicated. its mostly linework, i'll check out that tutorial, thanks again.

[malelanct]

Hey guys, process has been going good, i had a few questions and after navigating the help files for illustrator, and some online resources i figured i'd ask here.  i'm posting this in my old topic because i feel its the title is broad enough and that my questions are still relevant to vector tracing


my first question is, is there any way to duplicate a layer in illustrator like you can in photoshop.   i cant seem to find anything on this, and the reason i want to do this is so that i can have the same piece of art with different color schemes saved, and i can toggle the different variations by turning the layers invisible.   i have the image outlined completely, but i cant find any way to copy my outline to another layer.

my next question is using the outline stroke feature,   i have a simple outline on simple linework, and i was wondering if i could double the lines to create an outline.  i used "outline stroke" and it did exactly that, but for some reason i cant seem to control the width of the outline stroke.  changing my actual stroke size on the top bar doesnt seem to effect the outline stroke feature.  is there any way to do this?

thanks guys i appreciate any help you can offer.  its more then possible that these answers are BLATANTLY placed in the help files or online resources, if this is the case i am obviously searching for this wrong. so any hints to that would be great too.

[zorg]

To duplicate a layer, it's easy on the layer panel window, select the layer (attached pic 1) you want to duplicate, and on on the popup window located on the upper right corner of the window select the submenu "duplicate layer" (attached pic 2)
Pics are in french, and I'm running MacOSbut menu are located in the same place. and pics are quite self-explanatives

regardin the outilie stroke, I odes not understand the question, what do you want to do ?

[malelanct]

awesome, i'm on my way out the door to lunch when i get back i'll try this out and post a better explanation of my second question.

[malelanct]

ok the best i can explain is this,

when using the outline stroke feature. on a single vector edge, it basically creates a second vector next to it, forming a line shape, instead of just an edge.

so if i trace the outline of an object, then i use the outline stroke tool, it will basically turn my outline into a small shape that traces around the edge. like a small line, about 2 pixels wide, this is great, its exactly what i need it to do.

the only problem is, i can't seem to make this any wider then 2 pixels, is there a setting i'm missing? when i use "outline stroke" it doesnt give me any options or anything, it just applies.


also, the duplication layer thing worked perfectly.

[BradC]

When you use the outline stroke command, you are basically taking the shape of your stroke (the first image) and turning it into a shape (the second image.)

In the first image, you see the red line running down the middle of the shape. This means that the path is defined as the red line, and then the stroke extends out from the path. When you "outline stroke" you are converting it from the red path in the middle to the whole shape. Now, the object is defined by all of the red lines and points. It is no longer a stroke where you can control its width, it is a shape with NO stroke.

What you have to do is set the stroke size BEFORE you do the "outline stroke" command. Then it will keep the width of the entire object.

I hope this makes sense.

[malelanct]

Thanks Brad, i actually thought that was the case, but i did try that, i tried again after i read your reply

what i did was set the stroke to 6pt, instead of the default 1, and when i hit outline trace, it gave me the same result,

please see the updated picture.

[zorg]

OK I see

I don't use this option, I alway use "decomposer" from the "Object" menu  (see captures)

it will allow you what to `extract' from the oath you are working on.

give it a try
just one thing, if the inner of the path is set to transparent, when using this technique, you will loose the inner part, in case you want to keep it, set the inner to any color before using "decomposer"
I'm not sure that my english explanations are really clear
 
just play with the tool and you'll see by yourself

[malelanct]

i'm pretty sure that translates to the "expand" tool, my french is not so good


i will experiment with this tool tonight and post any feedback tomorrow, i'm leaving work in just a few mins

thanks for all your help

[malelanct]

after messing around with this i finally figured it out

the outline that i had created, i filled with paint, inorder to do that i had to convert it into a "live paint group"  once i did that, no matter how much i changed the size of the stroke, when i clicked on expand (decomposer) or outline stroke, it would always revert back to the size of the original stroke (which was 2pt)

anyhow, i retraced it again, didnt' convert it into a "live paint group" and it worked just fine.  thanks for your help everyone

[BradC]

Glad you got it working. Illustrator can be confusing, but it's also very powerful.

[malelanct]

yet another illustrator question

i have attached a diagram below to help explain my problem

what i am trying to do is cut a piece out of  a vector object, for instance i want to fill an object with color EXCEPT for a piece inside the object.

on my diagram below, i want to fill the outer ring with black while the inner ring remains transparent in this case white.

the rings are made up of 2 circle objects, objects 1 and 2 , if i select the outer object and fill it with black paint, i get just a giant black circle, like the object on the right side of my image.


any ideas?

[hng]

you have to go into pathfinder and ... this is where I always get lost and it takes me 20 tries... select both (or possibly one?) of your objects. click on "add to shape" (or is it intersect ?) then "remove"... or something like that.

I'm not sure of the exact procedure, but for me it always includes a lot of "undo-ing".

Hopefully this will get you headed in the right direction.
 

[zorg]

Path Finder is your friend

Put path you want to "drill" (object 1) under the one you may want to use to create the "hole" form (object 2)

then in the path finder tool palete select the following tool while.

play with the pathfinder, using various path and combinaisons, (holding or not option key) it's a powerfull tool

[malelanct]

thanks guys,

i actually ended up using the compound path tool, which seems like a less advanced version of pathfinder.  this helped me to do exactly what i was trying to do.

going forward i'm going to try to use pathfinder more, because it definately has alot more options and i'm sure i'll need that later.