Create a cut contour for an image without a background in Adobe Illustrator.

Question

"How to automatically create a cut contour for an image without a background in Adobe Illustrator. This is for a typography printing job, which requires a contour based on the following instructions: On the 'CutContour' layer, create a vector path in Illustrator that corresponds to the cut shape of your form and assign it the stroke color that matches the 'CutContour' swatch you just created."

Jacob Bugge · Answer

Jose,

Presuming you really have no background/transparent background as in a PNG with trasparency (otherwise switch to that), you can:

0) Preferably, first remove the little dark leftover spot above the shoulder in Photoshop;

1) Use Object>Image Trace, setting the Options to Black and White and a Threshold of 255 to get a filled fully black obejct;

2) Expand the Trace and switch from Fill to Stroke with the required colour and Stroke Weight;

3) If the cut contour is to follow the outer boundary of the image at a distance outside it, use Object>Path>Offset Path with that distance as the Offset, and hide the original path from 2) so you only have one cut contour (you can go back and make a different offset/distance if desired).

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