Automated Tracing(s) of Digital Visuals in Adobe Illustrator 2022
0 likes281 views
The document discusses the automated tracing capabilities of Adobe Illustrator 2022, which allows users to convert raster images into vector formats for precise editing. It explains both manual and computational tracing techniques, detailing their applications, limitations, and the types of traces available. The presentation also emphasizes the benefits of tracing for enhancing digital illustrations, allowing for clearer imagery and making complex visuals more accessible.
![COMPUTATIONAL TRACE (CONT.)
• There are a variety of computational trace sequences enabled in Adobe
Illustrator. The descriptive windows during the process may give a sense of
what is going on computationally in the software.
• One of my favorites goes as follows: smart blur, initial pixel clustering, path
smoothing, boundary refinement, path smoothing, and curve fitting. [I had to
run this on a particularly complex seeding work before I could catch the various
phases.]
• The different traces seem to have different processing sequences.
• A general one seems to include initial pixel clustering, boundary refinement, path
smoothing, and curve fitting.
• Also, the different seeding images have an effect on the processing sequences.
• To enable path-based edits, go to “expand” the trace, and then “ungroup”
the various paths.
8](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/automatedtracingsdigitalvisualsadobeillustrator2022-220503190204/85/Automated-Tracing-s-of-Digital-Visuals-in-Adobe-Illustrator-2022-8-320.jpg)
![SELECTIVE, REDUCTIVE, SUMMARY
• Image tracing often results in an excerpt or a summary of the original digital
visual.
• Image tracing captures and highlights a selection of the original image. It is
selective and reductive.
• In another sense, an image trace creates a new digital work derived from
the seeding image.
• The new (derived) work may be original in its own right, if it is sufficiently
“denatured” from the original. [However, in a legal sense, whether this is
sufficiently original in its own right will have to be determined by whatever the
legal context and through legal means.]
• The new digital work enables different capabilities for illustration, exploration,
styling, and other applications.
12](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/automatedtracingsdigitalvisualsadobeillustrator2022-220503190204/85/Automated-Tracing-s-of-Digital-Visuals-in-Adobe-Illustrator-2022-12-320.jpg)
![WHY TRACE? (CONT.)
• Traces from photographs…
• may highlight particular aspects of the photos for analysis.
• may enable size comparisons of various depicted phenomena in precise ways.
• may enable illustrations, to convey particular select foci in the visuals.
• may seed manual illustrations [and provide manual drawing assistance for digital
drawing, digital painting, and other creative works (including artified and stylized
works)].
• may seed AI and other types of machine vision-based analyses.
• may enable new machine-created visuals.
29](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/automatedtracingsdigitalvisualsadobeillustrator2022-220503190204/85/Automated-Tracing-s-of-Digital-Visuals-in-Adobe-Illustrator-2022-29-320.jpg)
![STRAIGHT TRACES (WITH COLOR
AND TEXTURE SIMPLIFICATIONS)
• Top-level “blue-line” trace
(depicted above)
• In the Trace dropdown:
• [Default]
• High Fidelity Photo
• Low Fidelity Photo
• 3 Colors
• 6 Colors
• 16 Colors
• Shades of Gray
• Black and White Logo
• Sketched Art
• Silhouettes
• Line Art
• Technical Drawing
33](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/automatedtracingsdigitalvisualsadobeillustrator2022-220503190204/85/Automated-Tracing-s-of-Digital-Visuals-in-Adobe-Illustrator-2022-33-320.jpg)
Automated Tracing(s) of Digital Visuals in Adobe Illustrator 2022
- 1. AUTOMATED TRACING(S) OF DIGITAL VISUALS IN ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR 2022 Shalin Hai-Jew SIDLIT 2022 July 27 – 29, 2022
- 2. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW • Adobe Illustrator 2022, the foremost vector graphic creation and editing tool in the commercial space, has a tracing feature that can turn raster works into vector ones, for high-precision editing. The tracing tool offers a variety of ways to trace, with retention of various details (but not full transfer of lines, textures, and colors of the original). Even with the various limitations, there are practical uses to be able to trace in an automated way. A short section will introduce human manual tracing practice on Illustrator, using the pen, pencil, and other tools, as a comparison. 2
- 3. MANUAL TRACE (as a comparative) 3
- 4. MANUAL TRACE • In general, a manual (by hand) trace begins with the selection of a reference work (or multiple reference works). • The reference works may be born-digital (photos, diagrams, digital drawings) or born-analog (physical works on various papers or mediums that are digitized or digitally photographed). • Generally, the reference layer is placed at the bottom of the layers, and this layer is locked in place. The translucency / opacity of the layer is adjusted, so that it does not dominate higher layers above but just provides enough of a hint to create the draft. 4
- 5. MANUAL TRACE (CONT.) • Common tools for manual trace in digital image editing tools include various tools in combination: • In Adobe Illustrator, there are the pen tool, curvature tool, line segment tool, paintbrush tool, and others. • In Adobe Photoshop, there are the brush tool, pencil tool, eraser tool, pen tool, freeform pen tool, curvature pen tool, line tool; there are less obvious tools, like the shape tool, and others. • One can draw with absence and erasure (not only presence). One can draw with control of white spaces. One can draw with suggestion. One can draw with words. 5
- 7. COMPUTATIONAL TRACE • A computational trace transcodes a “seeding” visual or image into trace data. • Trace data may be expanded and ungrouped, so that all the computer- drawn paths may be edited further. • Computational tracing is apparently always reductive and summary. It does not work in additive ways. It generally simplifies; it does not generally complexify. • In Illustrator, it works with mainline digital image file types, not proprietary RAW images from digital cameras. 7
- 8. COMPUTATIONAL TRACE (CONT.) • There are a variety of computational trace sequences enabled in Adobe Illustrator. The descriptive windows during the process may give a sense of what is going on computationally in the software. • One of my favorites goes as follows: smart blur, initial pixel clustering, path smoothing, boundary refinement, path smoothing, and curve fitting. [I had to run this on a particularly complex seeding work before I could catch the various phases.] • The different traces seem to have different processing sequences. • A general one seems to include initial pixel clustering, boundary refinement, path smoothing, and curve fitting. • Also, the different seeding images have an effect on the processing sequences. • To enable path-based edits, go to “expand” the trace, and then “ungroup” the various paths. 8
- 9. WHAT AUTO-TRACING DOES NOT DO • Automatic tracing does not make up for low-resolution image captures (photos, scans). • Automatic tracing does not fix original image focus…unless all that is needed is a light line trace. • Automatic tracing does not apparently create a total 1-1 raster to vector trace of every detail (at least not on a desktop machine with the target software). 9
- 10. WHAT IS AN AUTOMATED DIGITAL IMAGE TRACE? 10
- 11. WHAT IS AN AUTOMATED IMAGE TRACE? • An automated image trace involves the following: • A digital visual (whether born-digital or born-analog) is analyzed visually by machine. • Relevant lines are identified and created as paths. • The tracing may be set to focus on particular aspects of the image based on particular threshold requirements. • The tracing that is captured will vary based on both the seeding visual…and the type of tracing that is applied. 11
- 12. SELECTIVE, REDUCTIVE, SUMMARY • Image tracing often results in an excerpt or a summary of the original digital visual. • Image tracing captures and highlights a selection of the original image. It is selective and reductive. • In another sense, an image trace creates a new digital work derived from the seeding image. • The new (derived) work may be original in its own right, if it is sufficiently “denatured” from the original. [However, in a legal sense, whether this is sufficiently original in its own right will have to be determined by whatever the legal context and through legal means.] • The new digital work enables different capabilities for illustration, exploration, styling, and other applications. 12
- 13. SELECTIVE, REDUCTIVE, SUMMARY (CONT.) • The image tracing is reproducible and repeatable. Given the same seeding digital visual and the particular tracing algorithm and the given tracing parameters, the excerpted image will be the same as in prior versions. 13
- 14. A GENERAL AUTOMATED IMAGE TRACE SEQUENCE 14
- 15. A GENERAL AUTOMATED IMAGE TRACE SEQUENCE 1. Open digital image / digital visual (non RAW format) 2. Trace 3. Expand 4. Ungroup 5. Direct selection 6. Paths (specialized lines, curved, angled), anchors, fills 7. Process in-tool (Adobe Illustrator) as needed 8. Export (or save as) for further processing (may export as raster or as vector) A. Need to export as .ai and such to maintain path editability 15
- 16. IN ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR, AFTER TRACE…CAN • Recolor artwork • Apply filtering effects (one-off or sequence) • Edit • Add layers • Paint over • Simplify • Outline • Mask / apply clipping mask • Others… 16
- 17. 17
- 18. 18
- 19. 19
- 20. 20
- 21. 21
- 22. 22
- 23. 23
- 24. 24
- 25. 25
- 26. WHY TRACE? 26
- 27. WHY TRACE? • People are able to capture photographs at the micro, meso, to macro levels. Think electron microscope images to galaxy-scale imagery. • These images carry a lot of relevant information. • Not all may be appreciated just with the naked eye and without further digital explorations. 27
- 28. WHY TRACE? (CONT.) • Photos, though, are not capturable to particular ideal circumstances, in some cases. • Traces may clarify lines in cases of blur or low light or low contrast or other challenges. • Object selection may enable the capture of some select objects from a photo, but traced objects may export in even clearer ways. 28
- 29. WHY TRACE? (CONT.) • Traces from photographs… • may highlight particular aspects of the photos for analysis. • may enable size comparisons of various depicted phenomena in precise ways. • may enable illustrations, to convey particular select foci in the visuals. • may seed manual illustrations [and provide manual drawing assistance for digital drawing, digital painting, and other creative works (including artified and stylized works)]. • may seed AI and other types of machine vision-based analyses. • may enable new machine-created visuals. 29
- 30. WHY TRACE? (CONT.) • Illustrations may convey visual (and textual) information that is conceptual or from the imagination. • Traces from other works—photos, drawings, diagrams, and the like—may provide faster starts to manual illustrations. And others… 30
- 31. WHY TRACE: FILE TYPES? • Tracing enables saving out in vector (vs. raster) graphics. • The .eps, .svg, and .ai files may be larger than the original raster, however. .pdfs are more compressed (if optimized for Fast Web Viewing). • The .svg format enables access to code for websites for the visual. • The exported files in vector format are only 72 dpi in terms of raster effects though. • Vector graphics are highly scalable (vs. raster and bitmapping). • There is transcoding between vector <-> raster. 31
- 32. TYPES OF AUTOMATED TRACES IN ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR 2022 32
- 33. STRAIGHT TRACES (WITH COLOR AND TEXTURE SIMPLIFICATIONS) • Top-level “blue-line” trace (depicted above) • In the Trace dropdown: • [Default] • High Fidelity Photo • Low Fidelity Photo • 3 Colors • 6 Colors • 16 Colors • Shades of Gray • Black and White Logo • Sketched Art • Silhouettes • Line Art • Technical Drawing 33
- 34. ORIGINAL DIGITAL IMAGE SEED 34
- 37. 3 COLORS 37
- 38. 6 COLORS 38
- 39. 16 COLORS 39
- 41. BLACK AND WHITE LOGO 41
- 42. SKETCHED ART 42
- 43. SILHOUETTE 43
- 44. LINE ART 44
- 45. LINE ART TRACE ON LINE ART 45
- 47. TECHNICAL DRAWING TRACE ON A MAP 47
- 48. TECHNICAL DRAWING ON A TECHNICAL DRAWING 48
- 49. “VIEW OUTLINE” AFTER TRACE 49
- 50. 50
- 51. SOME EARLY OBSERVATIONS • It helps to have a “fit” between the original seeding image and the type of scan that is run. • However, cross-modal scans may provide opportunities for more artful outcomes (in combination with filters). • The background is usually an alpha channel (invisible or transparent layer). This is a preference setting though. • Trace scans can add structure to a diffuse visual. • Trace scans can give an artful look to some of the seeding images. • With words that are pseudo-captured in the scans, these are paths, not recognizable font faces (that are machine recognizable). This is so with word clouds, too. 51
- 52. SELECTING THE TYPE OF TRACE 52
- 53. SELECTING THE TYPE OF TRACE • How to select what type of trace to use? • Is the decision based on the original seeding visual work? • Is the decision based on what sort of visual outcome you expect? • It looks to me that both matter…the seeding visual…and the desired outcome… • It helps to experiment across a variety of seeding images and different trace methods. This is a costly “brute force” approach, but given potential variations, it helps to know what comes out. • Do not restrict yourself to within-modal tracing. Experiment with cross-modal tracing, too, such as using a photo for a line art tracing or technical drawing. What results is ultimately what’s most important. 53
- 54. HIGH VS. LOW FIDELITY PHOTO TRACE COMPARISON Same original photo as seed for both trace runs High fidelity photo trace above Low fidelity photo trace below 700 ppi visual No image compression in PowerPoint (but compression in PDF) Note the branches 54
- 56. PRE-PROCESSING • From RAW image transcoded to a sufficiently high-res mainline digital image format • Go fairly high-res (400 – 700 ppi), so the tracing has thicker spatial resolution pixel data to work with. • Sharpen the original visual. • Change contrast for higher contrast. • And others… 56
- 58. SOME POST-PRODUCTION EDITS FOR QUALITY • Edit paths • Remove unnecessary paths • Sharpen the traced visual • Crop or select to emphasize particular regions 58
- 59. SOME POST-PRODUCTION EDITS FOR STYLING AND AESTHETICS • Add line overlays (manual, digital, AI) • Add highlights, midtones, shadows • Add textures • Apply filters • Apply neural filters • Change hue and saturation • Change brightness / darkness • Experiment with sequences 59
- 60. SOME POST-PRODUCTION EDITS FOR STYLING AND AESTHETICS (CONT.) • Use guides to create a different visual (without the original lines) • Use a visible grid • Overlay multiple visuals • Etc. 60
- 61. 61
- 62. 62
- 63. 63
- 64. 64
- 65. 65
- 66. 66
- 67. 67
- 68. 68
- 69. 69
- 70. 70
- 71. CONTACT • Dr. Shalin Hai-Jew • ITS • Kansas State University • shalin@ksu.edu (email preferred) • 785-532-5262 • Caveat: This work highlights some limited aspects of auto-tracing…but this is not comprehensive. The use cases I show are of an instructional design and “common art” type…which leaves out many other use contexts (research, illustration, analysis, and others). • The tracing capability has been around for years, but I am sharing this as something new to me. • About images: Images used here are original except for one open-source visual (from Wikimedia) for the technical drawing example. 71