Live Trace and Live Paint in Adobe Illustrator
Powerful, Flexible Tools for Creating and Coloring Vector Art
Oct 29, 2008
The Live Trace and Live Paint tools in Adobe Illustrator allow users to take scanned artwork or images and convert them to fully editable artwork. These tools allow for great flexibility in controlling the tracing results, and for quick and easy coloring. Live Trace converts images into vector artwork, while Live Paint converts any vector artwork into a flexible object to be painted (whether it’s a Live Trace object or any other artwork created in Illustrator).
Converting Images to Live Trace Vectors
Using the Live Trace tool (Object > Live Trace) allows a few different options for quick conversion, or for manual options. Rasterized images are converted based on the current settings of the Tracing Options dialog box.
Either choose:
1) the Make command to immediately have an object traced and remain “Live”,
2) the Make and Expand command to trace and convert the art to editable vectors, or
3) the Make and Convert to Live Paint command to convert to editable vectors and set the object for Live Paint use.
Settings can be made in the Tracing Options dialog box (under Adjustments) in the Mode popup for three different conversion modes: Black and White, Greyscale, and Color.
Black and White settings convert only to black and white images and are good for line art or creating posterized images of photos. The Threshold settings are used to adjust how much black and white is achieved during the conversion.
Greyscale or Color settings use the Max Colors settings to choose how many levels of grayscale or color will be used for conversion of images. Choosing more levels will increase the detail of the artwork (and the file size), and determine how posterized or photographic the final results will be.
The Preview checkbox can be used to see the results and adjust settings before choosing Trace to complete the process.
Live Trace Benefits and Limitations
Once an image is converted to Live Trace, it can be edited or “retraced” by choosing the Tracing Options dialog. This is why it’s called “Live”. The original image remains on the document and is given the appearance of being converted to vector art.
Adjustments can be made to the tracing settings as many times as desired. But once the item is made into editable vectors (Object > Expand…), or converted to a Live Paint object, the “Live Trace” function is discarded, the original image is removed, and editing the tracing features is no longer an option.
Live Paint Objects
Live Paint allows an entire group of vector objects, whether it’s a Live Trace group or a selected set of objects, to be painted using the Live Paint Bucket tool. The Live Paint Bucket Tool contains the currently selected color from the swatch palette, and also displays a set of three icons floating over it. These icons represent the current, previous, and next colors in the swatch palette. Use the arrow keys for move the colors through the icons for quick choices.
An object can be made a Live Paint object in the following ways: 1) the Make and Convert to Live Paint command in the Live Trace menu option, 2) choosing Object > Live Paint > Make, or 3) clicking the object with the Live Paint Bucket tool.
Once converted, a Live Paint object will now display a wide colored border around an individual object area when the Live Paint Bucket tool is moved over it. This border represents the area that will be painted with the current fill color if the tool is clicked. Multiple areas can be quickly painted by moving over them with the tool and simply clicking. The benefit is that a user doesn’t have to manually select each shape, then choose a fill from the swatch palette. Live Paint is a quicker process, and allows for rapid changes.
Some gaps in the artwork might provide challenges for filling spaces with a color. But Live Paint items have fully editable paths. If a space has a gap, simply use the direct selection tool and edit a shape to close the gap. Once closed, a shape can be painted with any color. Or, areas can be filled even though there are gaps if the correct settings are made in the Gap Options settings in the Live Paint submenu. This allow for adjustments on how the Live Paint Bucket tool recognizes gaps.
Once an object is painted as desired, a Live Paint object can remain in this state or expanded (Object > Expand) to become a regular Illustrator object. But it can be changed back into a Live Paint object by using the Object > Live Paint > Make command or by clicking the object with the Live Paint Bucket tool.
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