Vectorizing option other than Image Trace?

I realize this is an old post. However, I thought I'd leave a suggestion, in case anyone stumbles upon this page, while looking for an answer in the future.

From my experience, the Image Trace Feature leaves a lot to be desired, while Manual Trace is often too time consuming (unless you're the type who likes to surround the object with a ton of anchor points, throwing all accuracy to the wind).

That being said, I prefer to use the Inkscape "Trace Bitmap" Function and Saving to SVG, which I will then Import into Illustrator, to finish the job.

The Object Mosaic function. It generates rectangles.

Apart from that: no automatic function.

Please show examples of distortion and the templates you're using.