Auto trace in Expression Design

Posted by Corey on February 24, 2009 at 10:37 pm.

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.

image

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.

image

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.

image

image

image

image

image

4 Responses to “Auto trace in Expression Design”

Leave a Reply