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Richard Critz
Participating Frequently
May 10, 2012
Answered

How to exclude transparent areas in Image Trace

  • May 10, 2012
  • 8 replies
  • 134318 views

I have a logo file, saved as PNG, that is black on transparent.  Very simple file, just stylized black lettering on a transparent background. In Illustrator CS5, I can place that file, do a "Live Trace" in "Lettering" mode, and Illustrator will correctly ignore the transparent areas when I expand the trace.  After expanding, I'm left with scalable paths and an easy way to change the fill color to have the logo work with my background.

Fast forward to Illustrator CS6.  I try to do the same thing but a) there is no "lettering" preset for Image Trace and b) there is no setting I have yet found to cause Illustrator to ignore the transparent areas when I expand.  If I then fill, everything inside the bounds of the placed image (the square containing the logo) is filled with that color.  The only way I've found to get similar results is to go through the layers panel after the Expand and deselect each piece of the image that should not be filled.  I have a hard time believing this is the desired approach.

I freely admit that I'm an Illustrator novice and I suspect that there is something one of you Illustrator experts thinks is obvious that I'm missing.  I'd sure appreciate some guidance in the right direction.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer SS000

What is your problem? A white logo in a transparent PNG? https://youtu.be/xcJxoZT0C84 


Thanks...that works. What I've done is go into PS and fill the transparent area with a dark color not similar to any colors in the image...then, back in Illustrator do the trace. The two methods seem to be about the same amount of work. And yes, the problem is white (or near-white) areas in the PNG that are adjacent to the transparent areas.

Thanks for the method.

8 replies

aspacepig
aspacepig
New Participant
February 25, 2015

Ignore white works a treat in CC. Fiddle with the settings in preview to see what you're getting.

Thanks for the tip.

S
SS000
Inspiring
July 1, 2024

Ignore white excludes the transparent areas AND the white areas...which is not the same thing as excluding the transparent areas. If there are any white areas adjacent to the transparent areas, they, too, will be excluded.

Monika Gause
Monika Gause
Community Expert
July 1, 2024

What is your problem? A white logo in a transparent PNG? https://youtu.be/xcJxoZT0C84 

Ten20one2014
Ten20one2014
New Participant
November 22, 2014

Hey guys I am new to illustrator. I am having trouble isolating and image I have scanned and traced. I wanna eliminate the negative space around it. How can I do this?

Monika Gause
Monika Gause
Community Expert
November 22, 2014

Have you read the complete thread?

Someone mentioned the checkbox "ignore white".

Mojorocker1964
Mojorocker1964
New Participant
June 2, 2014

I believe they (Adobe) crippled this feature in CS6 and then fixed it in CC as a way to gently prod users to adopt the rent rather than own model of their software. If you want the full functionality of image trace back, please give up ownership of our software. Just rent it instead.

B
bth.hammer
New Participant
September 18, 2012

The way I've been working around the problem lately is after expanding the Image Trace double click on it with the Move Tool to go into isolation mode (so you don't select things from the rest of the file), and then use the Magic Wand to select all the objects with no line/fill and then delete them (or just don't do ignore white and they'll be a bit easier to grab)

It's still a pain and it obviously DOESN'T FIX THE PROBLEM. But it's the fastest way to deal with it.

A
Anonymous
September 18, 2012

Thanks for the reply – that's definitely a faster way of doing it, but for really complex files it still doesn't beat how it was in CS5.


Adobe – this is STILL A PROBLEM. It's not a feature, it's a bug. Please fix!

P
Philby29
New Participant
June 24, 2013

I have found a solution to this problem.

After you have Black & White live traced your image, with ignore white selected.

Select the expanded image and go; Object > Path > Clean up...  Then make sure unpainted objects is ticked, click ok

You're left with just a black vector and free to choose any swatch you like.

B
bth.hammer
New Participant
May 31, 2012

I've been having this same problem, and I don't know that any of these replies are actually solving it. Is there a way to stop live trace from creating the invisible 'ghost outline' in the first place to eliminate the annoying step of having to delete it. In previous versions of Illustrator this 'ghost' wasn't created (like you showed in your example) so why is it doing it now?!

In the mean time an efficient way of getting rid of all the little ghosties is to use the magic wand to select the no fill/line shapes and then delete them instead of trying to select them in the layers panel or individually.

A
Anonymous
September 18, 2012

I second this – the actual problem was not addressed here.


If I Image Trace a complex image with all the settings the same as I had them in CS5 -including ignore white- I still have the paths that white would have been. They have no fill, but they're still there. I can't change the colors of the jumble of vectors without going to either the Recolor Artwork tool (not necessarily the best way to do it in many cases) or Live Paint, both of which are overkill if I just want to change the artwork from black to red.

The only option in CS6 right now is to go through the layer palette and delete every single path in that group that doesn't have a fill – a major pain.

Is there a way to make "ignore white" actually IGNORE white?

Thanks in advance...

    W
    Wade_Zimmerman1
    Inspiring
    May 10, 2012

    Here it is colored, I have to admit this is quite an improved feature which is a very different approach from the days when adobe added a feature and then did nothing about improving it.

    Before ypou go nuts when you fll the letter shapes after you expand the traced art they will fill as grayscale you have to make it a live color group or go tothe colro panel and select CMYK or RGB or HSB or Web to have your color show. there is a reason for that I am not going into it.

    Actually CS 5's live Trace did letteing pretty well also though many more anchor points.

    W
    Wade_Zimmerman1
    Inspiring
    May 10, 2012

    In the Image Trace Panel click Advance marker to expand the advance setting then check ignore white.

    Chose Black and white Logo for type.

    Here is the panel

    Here is the result of a traced image of a type as a logo.

    This is excellent IMHO!

    What do you think.

    Read about the features it is always helpful.

      milesmillersurfs
      milesmillersurfs
      New Participant
      January 23, 2017

      What if you want to keep the white fill of a simple black and white image, but make the outer white fill of the image transparent?

      Monika Gause
      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      January 23, 2017

      milesmillersurfs schrieb:

      What if you want to keep the white fill of a simple black and white image, but make the outer white fill of the image transparent?

      You can't.

      You will need to delete the white out the outside after tracing.

      J
      Jesseham
      Inspiring
      May 10, 2012

      Tip the arrow by advanced (you're no novice any more!) and check "ignore white".  That should do it.

        R
        Richard CritzAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        May 10, 2012

        I appreciate both answers.  I did, of course, read the help and find the "Ignore White" checkbox.  Prior to expanding the trace, that appears to work.

        However, following my CS5 steps of clicking expand and then clicking a swatch, I get this for a result. 

        In CS5, it does it exactly what I wanted, which is this.

        Clearly, I'm missing something else. Any hints what?  (I'll freely admit that I'm enough of a novice that I have no clue what a live color group is. I'll try to find that in the help next.)

        R
        Richard CritzAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        May 10, 2012

        Ok, Live Paint was the hint I needed.  I still don't understand the change in behavior between CS5 and CS6. However, I found that in CS6 if I insert "Object > Live Paint > Make" between the "Expand" and the clicking of the color swatch, I get the CS5 behavior. And probably have a better, more flexible result (I don't know that for sure since I know just enough to be dangerous)

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