Trace an image

This guide shows how to place a raster image, such as a scan, a sketch or a flat-color logo, and trace it into paths you can edit. You pick a preset, adjust the tracing while the preview updates, save the settings you like as your own preset, and then expand the result into ordinary paths. The following image shows the picture traced in this guide, a flat-color landscape saved as a PNG file, placed in a document and selected.

Place the image

1. Choose File → Place… (Ctrl+Shift+P, or Cmd+Shift+P on macOS) and pick the image file.
2. In the Place dialog, choose how VectorCraft places the image:
   • Link keeps a link to the image file instead of only embedding a copy of it. Link is on the first time you place a file, and the dialog then keeps the last setting you used.
   • Template puts the image on a new locked template layer below the current layer. VectorCraft dims the template layer and does not select the image.
   • Replace swaps the one selected object for the image and keeps that object’s place in the stacking order and its transform. Replace is available only when you place one file and one object is selected. If Template and Replace are both on, VectorCraft places nothing and shows an error.
3. Click Place. VectorCraft places the image at 100% of its physical size, using the resolution saved in the file, or 72 ppi when the file has none. One image goes in the center of the view. When you pick several files, click to place each one at 100% or drag to set its size. The arrow keys switch between the files, and Esc skips one.

With the image selected, the Properties panel shows its Linked File or Embedded Image section and an Image Trace button. The Contextual Task Bar under the image also has Image Trace and Crop Image. To change how a new version of a linked file takes the image’s place, click Links in the Properties panel to open the Links panel, and choose Placement Options… from the panel’s menu. Placement Options… is also on the Control bar, in the menu that opens when you click the file name. The Essentials workspace does not show the Control bar; choose Window → Control to show it. Work with placed images describes these settings.

Tip

To draw over a sketch by hand instead of tracing it, place it with Template on. Organize with layers and symbols covers template layers.

Trace it

1. Select the image.
2. Start the trace in one of these ways:
   • Choose Object → Image Trace → Make. This traces the image with the Default preset, which gives a black and white result.
   • Click Image Trace on the Control bar, in the Properties panel or on the Contextual Task Bar. The button traces with the Default preset. On the Control bar and in the Properties panel, its arrow lists the other presets.
   • Choose Window → Image Trace to open the Image Trace panel, choose a Preset, and click Trace.
3. The traced object replaces the image on the artboard, and the source image stays inside it. With the traced object selected, the Control bar shows its preset, its view, a button that opens the Image Trace panel, and Expand. The Properties panel shows the same preset and view in an Image Trace section, with an Image Trace button that opens the panel and Expand and Release buttons.

Object → Image Trace → Make and Expand traces with the Default preset and expands the result into plain paths in one step.

Command	Result
Make	Traces the selected image into an Image Trace object that you can still adjust
Make and Expand	Traces the image and expands the result, leaving only paths
Release	Puts the source image back in place of the Image Trace object
Expand	Keeps the traced paths and drops the source image

All four commands are in Object → Image Trace. Release and Expand are also in the Image Trace panel’s menu.

Note

VectorCraft still traces an image larger than 1500 pixels on a side, but more slowly, and the status bar shows a message about it. A lower-fidelity preset or a smaller copy of the image traces faster.

Choose a preset

The Preset list in the Image Trace panel holds these built-in presets. Presets you save yourself follow them at the end of the list.

Preset	Mode	Colors
Default	Black and white, threshold 128	2
Auto Color	Color, with the image’s own colors for flat art and as many as the tones need otherwise	Set by the image
High Fidelity Photo	Color, overlapping	64
Low Fidelity Photo	Color, overlapping	20
3 Colors	Color	3
6 Colors	Color	6
16 Colors	Color	16
Shades of Gray	Grayscale, overlapping	8 grays
Black and White Logo	Black and white, threshold 128, white left out	2
Sketched Art	Black and white, threshold 150, white left out	2
Silhouettes	Black and white, threshold 200, white left out	2
Line Art	Black and white, threshold 128, white left out	2
Technical Drawing	Black and white, threshold 128, white left out	2
Outline	Black and white, traced as strokes instead of fills	2
Flat Logo	Flat Logo, for logos made of flat colors	Up to 8 found in the image, plus white

Tip

Every built-in preset except Flat Logo shows an Enhanced checkbox under the Preset list. The enhanced version also turns on Auto Grouping, and Shapes for every preset except High Fidelity Photo. Presets you save have no enhanced version.

To keep your own settings, click the Manage Presets button next to the Preset list and choose Save as New Preset…. The same menu renames or deletes a preset you saved. Built-in presets cannot be renamed or deleted. Save your own preset gives the steps.

Adjust the tracing

The following screenshot shows the Image Trace panel with the 6 Colors preset and the Advanced section open.

1. Keep Preview checked at the bottom of the panel. Preview is on by default, and VectorCraft traces the selected object again each time you change a setting. A slider applies its value when you release it. With Preview off, your changes wait in the panel until you click Trace or turn Preview on again.
2. Set Mode to Black and White, Grayscale, Color or Flat Logo. In Black and White mode, Threshold sets how dark a pixel must be to become black. In Color mode, Palette chooses where the colors come from: Limited, Full Tone, Automatic or Document Library.
3. Set the slider under Mode. Its name and range depend on the mode and the palette, as the following table shows.
4. Click Advanced to show the rest of the settings.
5. Check the counts above the Preview checkbox. After a trace from the panel, they show how many paths, anchors and colors the current tracing has.

Changing any setting turns the preset name into Custom.

Mode and palette	Slider	Range	What it sets
Black and White	Threshold	0 to 255	Pixels darker than this value become black
Grayscale	Grays	2 to 256	The number of grays
Color, Limited palette	Colors	2 to 256	The number of colors that best represent the image
Color, Full Tone palette	Colors	0% to 100%	VectorCraft uses as many colors as the image’s tones need. A higher value keeps more of them.
Color, Automatic palette	Colors	0% to 100%	Flat art keeps its own colors, and any other image is traced as with Full Tone
Color, Document Library palette	Colors	2 to 256	The most colors to take from the library, which VectorCraft uses exactly as they are
Flat Logo	Colors	2 to 10	The number of flat colors to find in the logo

With the Document Library palette, two more lists appear:

• Library chooses where the colors come from: Document Swatches, or one of the color swatch libraries.
• Colors appears when Library is Document Swatches. It traces with All of the document’s swatches or with the colors of one color group. Fill, stroke and color covers swatches and color groups.

Setting	What it does
Paths	Sets how closely the paths follow the pixels, from 0% to 100%. A higher value follows them more tightly.
Corners	Sets how many corners the paths keep, from 0% to 100%. A higher value keeps more corners.
Noise	Leaves out areas smaller than this many pixels, from 1 to 100 px.
Method	Abutting traces each color on its own, and neighboring shapes share their edges. Overlapping stacks the colors, and each one extends under the colors above it. Flat Logo mode does not show Method.
Create	Fills makes filled areas. Strokes makes thin lines into stroked lines up to the Stroke width in pixels, from 1 to 100 px. One of the two stays on. Flat Logo mode does not show Create.
Snap Curves To Lines	Straightens slightly curved edges and makes lines that are almost level or upright exactly level or upright.
Shapes	Makes outlines that are a circle, an ellipse, a rectangle or a regular polygon into live shapes.
Auto Grouping	Groups each path with the paths inside it.
Gradients	In Grayscale and Color modes, traces an area whose color changes evenly in one direction as one path with a linear gradient.
Ignore Color	Leaves out the white areas, or the areas of another color that you pick, so no background shape is made. When Ignore Color is on, click the color button beside it to pick another color. Flat Logo mode leaves out white only.

The Trace button is available when an image or an Image Trace object is selected. Expand next to it is available when an Image Trace object is selected.

Tip

To start over, choose Reset to Default from the Image Trace panel’s menu. With nothing selected, the panel returns to the Default preset. With an Image Trace object selected, the panel shows that object’s own settings again.

Save your own preset

When a set of panel settings works well for a kind of image, save it as a preset and choose it from the Preset list later. Saved presets are kept with your preferences, so they are available in every document.

1. Set up the panel the way you want to keep it.
2. Click the Manage Presets button (…) next to the Preset list and choose Save as New Preset….
3. In the Save Preset dialog, type a Name. VectorCraft suggests the first free name of the form Tracing Preset 1.
4. Click OK. The new preset is added to the end of the Preset list.

The name cannot be empty, Custom, or the name of a built-in preset. If you type the name of a preset you saved before, the dialog shows “Replaces the saved preset of that name.” and OK replaces that preset.

Menu item	What it does
Save as New Preset…	Saves the panel’s current settings as a new preset
Rename…	Opens the Rename Preset dialog for the saved preset that the Preset list shows. The new name cannot be the name of another preset.
Delete	Deletes the saved preset that the Preset list shows, without asking first

Rename… and Delete are available only when the Preset list shows a preset you saved. An Image Trace object traced with a saved preset shows the preset’s new name after you rename it. After you delete the preset or change its settings, the object shows Custom.

Get a cleaner tracing

Select the Image Trace object, open the Advanced section of the Image Trace panel, and change one setting at a time with Preview on. The following table pairs common problems with the setting that fixes them.

Problem	Setting to change
The tracing has too many paths and anchors	Lower Paths, so the paths follow the pixels less tightly. In Color mode, also lower Colors.
Sharp corners come out rounded	Raise Corners, so the paths keep more corners.
Small specks and stray dots become paths	Raise Noise, so areas smaller than that many pixels are left out.
A white box is traced behind the art	Turn on Ignore Color, which leaves out the white areas. For a background of another color, click the color button beside it and pick that color.
Edges that should be straight are slightly curved	Turn on Snap Curves To Lines.
Thin lines come out as narrow filled shapes	Turn on Strokes under Create, and set Stroke to the widest line you want stroked.

After each change, compare the counts above the Preview checkbox with the counts before it.

Change the view

The View list in the Image Trace panel and on the Control bar changes how the selected Image Trace object is drawn on screen.

View	What you see
Tracing Result	The traced paths, filled
Tracing Result with Outlines	The traced paths with their outlines on top
Outlines	Only the outlines of the traced paths
Outlines with Source Image	The outlines over the source image
Source Image	The image before tracing

To compare the tracing with the original for a moment, press and hold the eye button next to the View list. The source image shows until you release the button. The button works when an Image Trace object is selected, and it does not change the document or add a step to the undo history.

Note

The view changes only what you see on screen. Export, printing and Expand always use the tracing result.

Release a tracing

To go back to the image and start again, release the tracing.

1. Select one or more Image Trace objects.
2. Choose Object → Image Trace → Release, choose Release from the Image Trace panel’s menu, or click Release in the Properties panel.
3. The source image returns in place of each Image Trace object, at the same place in the stacking order, and VectorCraft selects it. You can trace it again with any preset.

The release is one step in the undo history. Edit → Undo brings the tracing back.

Finish the tracing

1. Select the Image Trace object.
2. Choose Object → Image Trace → Expand, or click Expand in the Image Trace panel, in the Properties panel, on the Control bar or on the Contextual Task Bar. The traced paths stay, and the source image is removed.
3. Edit the paths as you would any other paths. Draw and edit paths covers the tools.

To go back to the image instead, choose Object → Image Trace → Release. The source image returns in place of the Image Trace object.

Caution

After Expand, the tracing settings no longer apply to the paths. Change the settings and check the result before you expand.

Related

• Workflows
• Open and save files
• Work with placed images
• Organize with layers and symbols
• Draw and edit paths
• Fill, stroke and color
• Combine and cut shapes