Yesterday when I was working on the preloaders, I wanted to use a XAML Silverlight logo. I couldn’t find one, so ended up venting on Twitter about it. Justin Angel gave me a great, and obvious, idea…use the Auto trace feature in Expression Design.
If you’re a Expression Design n00b like i am, Auto Trace can be found by selecting Object > Image > Auto Trace Image. Make sure you select an image on the Artboard before navigating to that menu option, otherwise you’ll find the Auto Trace option is disabled.
After you select the Auto Trace Image menu option, an options menu appears. Expression Design limits you to 128 colors, which I find limiting. The below settings are maxed out.
Below are a couple logos before and after the images were run through the Auto Trace. You’ll notice the more complex the logo the greater the degradation. Overall it’s not bad, but certainly there is room to grow.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:20 am
[...] Auto trace in Expression Design (Corey Schuman) [...]
February 26th, 2009 at 11:02 am
I spent some time trying to trace a logo last week in Expression Design but the results were not good at all, and playing with all the settings didn’t improve things. Have you tried the trace functionality in InkScape? I tried that and with a tweak of a few settings it came out brilliantly - it’s results were vastly better and were much more configurable. Might be worth giving that a go and comparing the results :).
February 27th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Thanks for the suggestion Chris. InkScape definitely gives many more options for tracing a bitmap image.
February 28th, 2009 at 7:54 am
[...] скрол дефект, който съм виждал…..: http://www.85turns.com/2009/02/24/auto-trace-…on-design/ в Любими преди 2 минути edno23.com Начало контакти [...]
June 23rd, 2010 at 6:52 am
Hello, Wonderful article not to mention post! I’m interested in design and specifically the actual styling in the near future. Are you considering posting any kind of content concerning future ideas and design? Everyone always look ahead with each 10 years and next attempt to copy design creative concepts on the past years like the 1950’s and also 1970’s in advance of moving to some contemporary design and style. The european countries plus the United states of america find a way to copy the actual design of yesteryear, to get commercial benefit prior to seeking a lot more really advanced styles for future years. Your thoughts if you please.Respect Buck