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How do I trace an image in Illustrator?

If you’re a professional or a beginner, it’s the best way to create a vector image. Here are few helpful hints for tracing a picture in Illustrator.

  1. You must first determine which image to use in order to turn it to a vector.
    • Click on the File menu and locate the Place option (Shift+Ctrl+P).
    • Now you can choose your image and place it where you want to trace.
  2. After you’ve added your image, you’re going to have to make sure you go back to the Select tool.
  3. Now that you have your image and you’re set to select, open the Window menu. There you’ll find the Image Trace option nestled between Graphic Styles and Info.
  4. Once you select Image Trace, you should see a menu pop up on your screen. On this menu, select Preview at the bottom left corner and then select your color mode. Modes can be grayscale, black and white, or color. Once you’ve set your mode, you can drag the slider that will either say Color, Grayscale, or Threshold to select your color density.
  5. Hopefully, you haven’t had enough of sliders yet because it’s time for three more. Select the Advanced tab in the Image Trace window. Next, you’ll adjust these three sliders:
    • Adjust Paths until your image looks clear.
    • Drag the Corners slider until the edges of your image are crisp but not sharp and jagged.
    • Use Noise to decrease the total number of extra pixels.
  6. That’s the manual work done, so now you can click Trace and let Adobe Illustrator do the rest!

A little bit of hard work and instruction can help you to start creating incredible artwork from your mobile.

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