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Tracing a logo from a photo
Hi all. I’m not much of a Illustrator user and spend a lot of time with Maya, After Effects and Premiere. I need a way to take a logo (a photo) that has overlapping characters and create a trace of each character so I can use the Create Outlines (if necessary) function in order to bring it in to Zaxwerks Invigorator. I plan to make it a 3D metallic version.
I tried to put an empty layer above it and use the pen tool to trace it out and it looks like that can work but there must be a better way. Every time I get very far, a white mask covers the areas I’ve already outlined or it covers areas yet to be outlined and I can’t even see where I’m going. Any help or tips would be appreciated.
Glenn
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5 Replies
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Looks like something called Live Trace is the way to go but I’m using CS. If anyone knows a nother way, please advise. Otherwise I think I’ll try extracting separate objects in Photoshop and bringing in the objects to Illustrator that way.
If you’re gonna do it, try to do it well…if you can’t do that then try to cover up your mistakes really well.
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Hey Glenn,
Unfortunately you will have to trace the logo by hand, Livetrace is not that accurate, specially for tracing logos and create outlines is only used when converting type to objects.
Try placing the file that you’re basing your trace of as a template layer (file>place click template at the bottom of the dialog box) and then create a new layer on top, as you did already. The white mask you’re referring to is appearing because you’re using a path with a black stroke and a white fill, so as the shape progresses some areas of your image begin to get covered, you can avoid this by either working in outline mode (cmd Y) or by removing the fill from the shape you’re tracing (in the tools palette, at the bottom, or in the color panel).
Hope this helps.
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Thanks Dave. I figured out the white fill part by accident 🙂 I have been doing it by hand and it’s slow work but at least it does work. Thanks again.
If you’re gonna do it, try to do it well…if you can’t do that then try to cover up your mistakes really well.
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I find that the time one spends in searching for a short cut takes more time than to actually do it by hand…
And most short cuts do not do that good a job of it… which means you’ll have to do it by hand anyways.
Speaking from experience I guess…
C.R.
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Agreed.
If you’re gonna do it, try to do it well…if you can’t do that then try to cover up your mistakes really well.
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