Adobe illustrator cs4- P15 ppsx

CHAPTER 12: WORKING WITH IMAGES 394 Exploring the Live Trace Preview Options Once you’ve traced an image, Illustrator displays the traced result on your artboard so you can see the results. However, Illustrator offers a variety of settings that you can use to control how both the raster image and the traced vector result appear on your artboard. When a traced image is selected on the artboard, the Control panel updates to contain two icons that, at fi rst glance, look like triangles. Upon closer inspection, you’ll notice that one icon features a jagged edge; this icon is used to control how the raster image is previewed. The icon on the right, which has a smooth edge, is used to control how the traced vector result is previewed (Figure 12.17). Previewing the Original Raster Image In the Control panel, the jagged triangle on the left controls how the raster image is viewed. Click the icon once, and choose from one of the following four available settings (Figure 12.18): • No Image. This setting completely hides the raster image from the screen (and is the default setting). • Original Image. This setting displays the original raster image in your document, which can be useful when you’re comparing the original image to the traced result. • Adjusted Image. This setting displays the raster image as it appears after Live Trace has applied the raster conditioning adjustments. This preview mode is great for seeing how Live Trace works, and it makes it easier to preview any adjustments you make to the raster image settings. Figure 12.17 Once you’ve traced an image, you can use the two icons in the Control panel to control how the artwork appears on the artboard. Raster Image Preview Setting Vector Result Preview Setting CONVERTING RASTERS TO VECTORS USI NG LIVE TRACE 395 ORIGINAL IMAGE ADJUSTED IMAGE TRANSPARENT IMAGE ORIGINAL IMAGE ADJUSTED IMAGE TRANSPARENT IMAGE ORIGINAL IMAGE ADJUSTED IMAGE TRANSPARENT IMAGE • Transparent Image. This setting displays a dimmed preview of the bitmap image beneath the traced result, letting you see the traced results as compared to the original raster image. Previewing the Traced Vector Result In the Control panel, the smooth triangle on the right controls how the traced vector result is viewed. Click the icon once, and choose from one of the following four available settings (Figure 12.19 on the next page). Figure 12.18 You can pre- view the raster image with the Original Image setting (left), the Adjusted Image setting (center), or the Transparent Image setting (right). The No Image option is not shown for obvious reasons. CHAPTER 12: WORKING WITH IMAGES 396 T RACING RESULT OUTLINES OUTLINES WITH TRACING T RACING RESULT OUTLINES OUTLINES WITH TRACING T RACING RESULT OUTLINES OUTLINES WITH TRACING • No Tracing Result. This hides traced vector objects from the screen. • Tracing Result. This setting displays the vector result of the tracing (the default). • Outlines. This setting highlights the actual Bézier paths that were created when the image was traced. • Outlines with Tracing. This highlights the Bézier paths as semitrans- parent, enabling you to compare fi lled areas of the traced vector result with the original image. The color of the outlines will match the color specifi ed for guides in the Guides & Grid panel in Preferences. Figure 12.19 You can pre- view the vector result with the Tracing Result setting (left), the Outlines setting (center), and the Outlines with Tracing setting (right). The No Tracing Result option is not shown. CONVERTING RASTERS TO VECTORS USI NG LIVE TRACE 397 Tweaking to Get the Perfect Trace What makes the Live Trace feature a joy to use is the ability to make adjust- ments to the settings while you see the results update on your screen. Aside from the presets you can apply, Illustrator contains a dialog box chock-full of settings you can use to ensure that you get the results you need from the Live Trace feature. To access these settings, select a Live Trace object, and click the Tracing Options dialog box button in the Control panel. Alternatively, you can choose Object > Live Trace > Tracing Options. Once the Tracing Options dialog box appears on your screen, you’ll notice that it’s split into several dif- ferent sections (Figure 12.20). First, a Preview check box appears on the far right of the dialog box, which allows you to see results update as you make changes to the different set- tings. Next, directly underneath the Preview check box is a list of important details about your traced object. The values for the number of paths, anchor points, colors, distinct closed areas, and image resolution update as you adjust the settings in the dialog box. Keeping an eye on these values helps you make decisions as you edit your trace settings. At the top of the dialog box is a Preset pop-up menu, similar to what you see in the Control panel when you have a Live Trace object selected. Stepping through the different presets in the Tracing Options dialog box allows you to see the settings for each of the presets. Figure 12.20 The Tracing Options dialog box o ers a smorgasbord of settings to achieve the perfect trace. CHAPTER 12: WORKING WITH IMAGES 398 The rest of the Tracing Options dialog box is separated into three sections called Adjustments, Trace Settings, and View. The View section allows you to specify how the traced object appears on your artboard, as discussed in the earlier “Exploring the Live Trace Preview Options” section. The following “Modifying the Raster Adjustments” and “Adjusting the Vector Trace Settings” sections will help you clearly understand the two-step process that the Live Trace feature performs when converting raster images into vector form. Modifying the Raster Adjustments The Adjustments settings on the left side of the Tracing Options dialog box apply to the raster conditioning that occurs before the image is traced: • Mode. Live Trace converts a bitmap image to either 1-bit black and white, 8-bit grayscale, or 8-bit color, which you can choose from the Mode pop-up menu. • Threshold. The Threshold setting determines the boundaries between pixels when using the Black and White trace setting. For example, in a gray bitmap, a high Threshold setting results in more gray pixels becom- ing black vector objects and thus a heavier appearance. In that same image, a low Threshold setting results in more gray pixels ignored, mak- ing for more white-colored objects and an overall lighter or more delicate appearance (Figure 12.21). Too low of a Threshold setting may also result in a loss of image detail. The Threshold setting is also available in the Control panel when a Black and White Live Trace object is selected. • Palette. By default, Illustrator uses the selective color reduction method to choose the best colors to fi t the image (based on the Max Colors value, also set in this dialog box). However, you can choose specifi c col- ors that Illustrator should use when tracing your image. To do so, you must fi rst load a custom swatch library (Window > Swatch Libraries). When a custom swatch library is opened in your document, the Palette pop-up menu displays all the loaded custom libraries (Figure 12.22 on page 400). Live Trace then uses the colors that appear within the custom swatch library that you choose. CONVERTING RASTERS TO VECTORS USI NG LIVE TRACE 399 ORIGINAL IMAGE THRESHOLD: 80 THRESHOLD: 110 THRESHOLD: 128 THRESHOLD: 150 THRESHOLD: 200 THRESHOLD: 230 THRESHOLD: 238 THRESHOLD: 242 THRESHOLD: 50 ORIGINAL IMAGE THRESHOLD: 90 THRESHOLD: 110 THRESHOLD: 128 THRESHOLD: 150 THRESHOLD: 165 THRESHOLD: 200 THRESHOLD: 235 Figure 12.21 Making adjustments to the Threshold setting can have a large impact on the overall appearance of the traced result. Here are examples of an image with a vari- ety of di erent Threshold settings. CHAPTER 12: WORKING WITH IMAGES 400 • Max Colors. The Max Colors setting determines the maximum num- ber of colors that can be used in the fi nal traced result. This setting is not available for the Black and White Mode setting or when you choose a custom color palette. Live Trace uses the selective color reduction method to reduce the number of colors in the raster image to match this setting during the conditioning process. The Max Colors setting is also available in the Control panel when a Grayscale or Color Live Trace object is selected. • Blur. The Blur setting applies a Gaussian Blur to the image, which helps remove noise from the raster image. This reduces the number of anchor points in the tracing result, especially when you are tracing pho- tographic images. • Resample. The Resample setting lets you change the resolution of the bitmap image to help obtain a better traced result. Resampling a high- resolution image to a lower resolution greatly enhances the speed per- formance of Live Trace. Adjusting the Vector Trace Settings The Trace Settings are on the right side of the Tracing Options dialog box apply to the actual tracing of the image and determine how the fi nal vector paths are drawn. • Fills. When you have Fills selected, Live Trace creates closed and fi lled vector paths for all resulting vector objects. Fill tracing produces results that more closely match the original image, including variable-width lines that are common in marker or ink renderings (Figure 12.23). Figure 12.22 Loading sev- eral custom libraries lets you quickly experiment with a variety of color schemes. TIP Select the Output to Swatches option to have Illustrator add each color that is used during the tracing process as a global process color in your Swatches panel. CONVERTING RASTERS TO VECTORS USI NG LIVE TRACE 401 Fill tracing also results in more complex vectors because it needs more anchor points. • St rokes. With the Strokes setting selected, Live Trace creates stroked open paths for all areas that fall within the Max Stroke Weight setting. Areas that exceed this setting result in unfi lled areas outlined with a 1-point stroke. Stroke tracing results in paths with fewer anchor points (Figure 12.24). • Ma x Stroke Weight. The Max Stroke Weight setting determines the heaviest stroke weight Live Trace can use when tracing the image. This setting is available only when you use the Strokes trace setting. Figure 12.23 When you choose the Fills setting, the traced paths appear with thick and thin edges, closely matching the original image. Figure 12.24 When you choose the Strokes setting, the traced paths appear consistent, which results in a less complex traced image overall. CHAPTER 12: WORKING WITH IMAGES 402 • Min Stroke Length. The Min Stroke Length setting determines the shortest path that Live Trace can use when tracing the image. This set- ting is available only when you use the Strokes trace setting. • Path Fitting. Path Fitting determines how closely Live Trace follows the shape of the original raster image. A lower Path Fitting setting results in paths that closely match the original raster image yet might also reveal imperfections or irregular paths that aren’t smooth. A higher setting produces smoother paths with fewer anchor points but might not match the raster image as closely (Figure 12.25). • Minimum Area. The Minimum Area setting sets a threshold for how large a section of the raster image has to be in order to be traced into a vector object. By setting a minimum area, you can have the Live Trace feature trace only those areas of pixels that meet a minimum size. For example, if Minimum Area is set to 9 pixels, Live Trace ignores regions of pixels that are less than 3 x 3 pixels in size. • Corner Angle. The Corner Angle setting defi nes the sharpness of the angles used in the resulting vector objects. This setting is measured in degrees, not pixels. If you think of 0 degrees as perfectly fl at and 180 degrees as a hard corner (rather than a rounded one), anything sharper than the Corner Angle setting (the default is 20) is converted to a cor- ner anchor point rather than a smooth anchor point. • Ignore White. White areas in a trace are fi lled with the color white by default. This means that if you position your traced artwork over a background, the white areas will block out the background. If you’d like your trace to treat white areas as being fi lled with the None attribute, you can select the Ignore White setting. In this way, backgrounds will show through the nonblack areas of your traced artwork. Editing Live Trace Paths Once you’ve achieved a trace result that you’re satisfi ed with, you might want to edit the Bézier paths, either to delete portions of the image or to apply your own colors, gradients, or patterns. To edit the vector paths of the traced object, you will need to either expand the trace or convert the traced object to a Live Paint group. TIP The Minimum Area setting is also available in the Control panel when you have a Live Trace object selected. TIP Once you’ve speci-  ed your settings in the Tracing Options dialog box, you can click the Save Preset button to de ne your own tracing presets. CONVERTING RASTERS TO VECTORS USI NG LIVE TRACE 403 ORIGINAL SCAN ENLARGED 300% PATH FITTING: 1 pixel PATH FITTING: 2 pixels PATH FITTING: 4 pixels PATH FITTING: 6 pixels PATH FITTING: 8 pixels Figure 12.25 This  gure shows examples of a variety of Path Fitting settings for the same image. Notice how the paths get smoother as the number is increased but that the result doesn’t match the original sketch as much. [...]... starting in Illustrator and then bringing your art into Photoshop for finishing touches, or whether you’re starting in Photoshop and then bringing your designs into Illustrator, both applications can work together in many ways For the remainder of this chapter, we explore how you can use both Illustrator and Photoshop in your workflow Going from Illustrator to Photoshop When you want to bring art from Illustrator. .. way does Illustrator replace those applications You can use Illustrator to design how a web page looks (by creating a composition), but you wouldn’t normally use Illustrator to create an HTML-based web page Similarly, you wouldn’t use Illustrator to manage a multipage website because Illustrator lacks the toolset to do so The strength of Illustrator is in designing web interfaces and the navigation... the resulting raster image WORKING WITH A DOBE PHOTOSHOP Photoshop is the sister application of Illustrator, and throughout this entire book, we have discussed how both Illustrator and Photoshop are different Yet, at the same time, they have a lot in common For one, they are both WORKING WITH ADOBE PHOTOSHOP Adobe products, and therefore, they share similar user interfaces and many of the same tools and... an Illustrator file directly in Photoshop, but doing so results in a single flat image that isn’t editable Instead, consider exporting a native Photoshop file from Illustrator directly; this preserves certain elements in an editable form Using the Export command in Illustrator results in a Photoshop file that you can edit far more easily when you open it in Photoshop To export a Photoshop file from Illustrator, ... PHOTOSHOP Copying and Pasting Between Illustrator and Photoshop Copying and pasting art between Illustrator and Photoshop works extremely well You can copy text freely between the two applications, and when you paste art from Illustrator into Photoshop, you can paste the art as a Photoshop smart object that preserves editability in Photoshop In fact, when you paste art from Illustrator in Photoshop, you are... preserved and can be edited once the file is opened in Illustrator • Image Maps If you’ve assigned a URL to a web slice, that URL is also preserved when the file is opened in Illustrator Illustrator does its best to keep elements editable during the embedding process For example, if you have a text object with a drop shadow that overlaps a background, Illustrator keeps the text editable and also places... DESIGN The Role of Illustrator in Web Design Before we dive into the world of web design, it’s important to realize where Illustrator fits in when it comes to creating web graphics There’s certainly more to creating a website than drawing pretty pictures Software, such as Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 or Microsoft FrontPage, is dedicated to creating and maintaining websites, and in no way does Illustrator replace... interfaces and many of the same tools and panels At a much deeper level, however, they share common technology For example, both applications use the Adobe Color Engine, an Adobe shared component used for color management Both Illustrator and Photoshop also use the Adobe Text Engine, which makes it possible for both applications to exchange text easily and share many of the same text features At the end of... design in Illustrator into Dreamweaver or any other application you use to create your web pages Alternatively, you can create graphics in Illustrator, which you can then bring into Adobe Photoshop CS4 or Flash as well, if your workflow requires it T WO A PPROACHES TO WEB DESIGN Throughout this book, you have been learning how to create vector-based artwork You’ve even learned how to use the Illustrator. .. medicine at the core When Illustrator was first created in 1987, the web, as we know it today didn’t even exist So, it’s fair to say that Illustrator was built as a print-based application, filling the needs of print designers around the world As time went on and our world changed, Illustrator got more features to help us do our work When designers needed to create web graphics, Illustrator got more features . For example, both applications use the Adobe Color Engine, an Adobe shared component used for color management. Both Illustrator and Photoshop also use the Adobe Text Engine, which makes it possible. you can use both Illustrator and Photoshop in your workfl ow. Going from Illustrator to Photoshop When you want to bring art from Illustrator into Photoshop, you can open an Illustrator fi le. resulting raster image. WORKING WITH ADOBE PHOTOSHOP Photoshop is the sister application of Illustrator, and throughout this entire book, we have discussed how both Illustrator and Photoshop are different.