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MonticelloShop
MonticelloShop
Participant
September 5, 2017
Answered

outline an image in illustrator cc

  • September 5, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 67048 views

I hand-drew a detailed image using black ink and scanned that in as a jpeg. I have been playing around with live trace in illustrator and came across the view as an outline option. This created a really cool effect for my image and I was wondering if it was possible to save this "view" as an editable image. I know I could use the pen tool to trace the outlines, but that would take forever and I know there MUST be a way to accomplish that.

I have tried to save the outlined image as a PDF and open in photoshop, but it opens up as a blank file. I have gone through all of the tools and options and can't figure out how to make those outlines real! Please help!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Bill Silbert

    Try this. Instead of expanding with the Expand button select the art and go under the Object menu to Expand. When the dialog box comes up deselect Fill under the Expand options.

    1 reply

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 5, 2017

    After you complete the image trace you will see a button in the upper menu that says “Expand”. Click on that while the tracing is still selected and the tracing will become editable art. See screen shot:

    MonticelloShop
    MonticelloShopAuthor
    Participant
    September 5, 2017

    See screen shot:

    The top image is the one with the "view" option selected as "outlines".

    The bottom image is what happen when i have the image selected and select "expand".

    I want to keep the image with the first images types of outlines, but I would like to make them a different color and get rid of the bounding box outline around it. Is that possible?

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 5, 2017

    Just trace it and expand the result.

    Then select a black filled object (your traced result contains only filled objects).

    Select > Same Fill Color

    Swap the fill color for a stroke color (Shift X)

    Adjust the stroke width.

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