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Indexed Color option in Illustrator

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Hi! I need to create a mosaic type design of an image using just blue, red, yellow, black and white. I know I can do this in Photoshop using Image/Mode/Indexed Color but I only have Illustrator. Any way to do it in Illustrator or if there’s any online tool I’d give that a shot. Thank you.

Ton FrederiksCorrect answer

Community Expert

@Douglas25015478h4ub You used the word Mosaic. That is something you can create in Illustrator.

The image needs to be embedded and you can choose Object > Create Object Mosaic to set the number of tiles.

To limit it to the colors you want you can create a Swatch Group in the Swatches panel that contains just the colors you want.

You can select those in the Recolor Artwork options.

isabellathornton

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That five-colour palette is a lovely constraint for a mosaic — I've done something similar for social graphics and the trick that saved me was building the swatch group first, so Recolor Artwork only has those exact blues, reds and yellows to work with. Ton's Object Mosaic route really is the quickest way to get those tidy tiles. Hope the design turns out nicely!

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Isabella Thornton — Content Writer based in London, United Kingdom.

Ton Frederiks

Correct answer

Community Expert

@Douglas25015478h4ub You used the word Mosaic. That is something you can create in Illustrator.

The image needs to be embedded and you can choose Object > Create Object Mosaic to set the number of tiles.

To limit it to the colors you want you can create a Swatch Group in the Swatches panel that contains just the colors you want.

You can select those in the Recolor Artwork options.

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D

Douglas25015478h4ubAuthor

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Thank you Ton!

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Ton Frederiks

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Good to hear you’ve got it solved.

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CORCTON34033231

Community Expert

Hi Douglas — you're right, Indexed Color is a Photoshop raster mode (Image > Mode > Indexed Color, up to 256 colours), and Illustrator doesn't have an equivalent mode, because Illustrator artwork is vector. You can get the same 5-colour mosaic look in Illustrator alone like this:

1. Place the image (File > Place), select it, then Object > Image Trace > Make. In the Image Trace panel set Mode to Color and Colors to 5, then Object > Image Trace > Expand.

2. Select the traced artwork, then Edit > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork. Set Colors to 5 and edit the swatches to your exact blue, red, yellow, black and white.

For blocky mosaic tiles, trace a version of the image that has already been pixelated — in Photoshop that would be Filter > Pixelate > Mosaic — otherwise the trace will follow the photo's smooth shapes rather than square tiles.

References:

Recolor Artwork in Illustrator: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/desktop/manage-colors/modify-colors/recolor-options-overview.html

Color modes in Photoshop: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/desktop/adjust-color/choose-colors/color-modes-in-photoshop.html

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Douglas25015478h4ubAuthor

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Hi CORCTON34033231!

Thank you for your reply. When I use an image of the pixelated image then Object > Image Trace > Make it changes to black and white squares. Then Recolor Artwork is greyed out. What do you think?

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Ton Frederiks

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@Douglas25015478h4ub You need to use a color preset for image trace.

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