Best Way to Convert Raster Images to Vector

[Waseem5544]

Hi Adobe Community,

I’m comfortable using Photoshop and can draw anything there, but I’m struggling in Illustrator. I tried vectorizing a raster image, but the result got disrupted and didn’t preserve the details well.

What’s the best approach or workflow in Illustrator to convert raster images to clean, accurate vector graphics? Are there any tips, tools, or settings that can help preserve the quality during conversion?

[creative explorer]

@Waseem5544 the only thing I can I think of is an Image Trace tool in Adobe Illustrator is the primary method for converting raster images to clean vector graphics. While it can be challenging to get a perfect result with a single click, adjusting its settings is the key to preserving quality and detail. 

[Conrad_C]

What kind of image is it? Image Trace in Illustrator is designed more for flat art like logo graphics, but to some extent it can work on photographic images. Did you experiment with the different presets and settings in the Image Trace panel in Illustrator?

For this reason I don’t think the YouTube video linked earlier is the best example, because they use “Make and Expand” which skips over all of the Image Trace options to just use the defaults. This works for them because they are tracing extremely simple flat line art, but if your image is more photographic or painterly, you will want to adjust the settings in the Image Trace panel before you Expand. Because that’s a point of no return…after you Expand, the Image Trace settings are no longer accessible or editable except through Undo.

Something else to keep in mind is that Image Trace in Illustrator works by looking at contrast and edges. It doesn’t know about content or subjects. If it can’t trace the subject you actually want, you can try adjusting the colors and tones in Photoshop first to try and isolate what you want in terms of color and tone, and then send it to Illustrator for hopefully better tracing results.

[Waseem5544]

To clarify, I’m working on some emoji graphics (you can see here: tiktokemojiz.com ). My goal is to provide users with high-quality images they can download in AI or EPS format so they’re scalable and usable anywhere.

For the round face emojis, Image Trace works decently after tweaking, but when I try to convert the square-shaped emojis, the results get pretty distorted and the edges look horrified.

Do you have any suggestions on how to handle these kinds of shapes? Would you recommend cleaning them up manually with Illustrator’s pen/shape tools instead of relying too much on Image Trace?

[jane-e]

I’m struggling in Illustrator. I tried vectorizing a raster image, but the result got disrupted and didn’t preserve the details well.

By @Waseem5544

What settings did you use in Illustrator's Image Trace dialog? A screenshot of your image will help. Not all raster images lend themselves to converting to vector.

Since your question is about Illustrator and not Photoshop, I've moved your post to the Illustrator forum.

Jane

[Waseem5544]

I did experiment with different settings in the Image Trace panel, but the results for the square-shapes still weren’t satisfying. The round ones look okay, but the square ones lose too much detail and the edges come out rough. Maybe the original PNG quality is too low, which could be causing the issue.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

For lettering or logos it would be best to draw them using the pen tool.

For some content you can use Image Trace. Here is a playlist that covers most of its options in several videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVqhHu3CSohV3AbA0DP6c6kJ5EJIqgFFf 

[Waseem5544]

Thanks aloottt

[Monika Gause]

I'm happy to hear that it helped.