Smoothing image trace sketches

[crunchmouth]

I use image trace to vectorize my hand-drawn sketches. I use the "sketched art" preset. I set corners to "0", expand it, and then use the smooth tool slider. But still I'm left with some sharp, jagged edges, which I do not like. I like curves and round corners. So I have to individually adjust these sharp corners, which can be kind of tedious. Any hints on how I get better results without the sharp corners that I have to correct? Thanks.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

You can also adjust the precision slider (Paths, the first one) and try to get smoother curves.

[crunchmouth]

Thank you, but that doesn't give me the results I'm looking for.

[Monika Gause]

Please show.

[Bobby Henderson]

Unfortunately auto-tracing filters are going to work only so well. They only see a grid of colored pixels and try to average between those colors to guess where a path should be drawn. They can't see or understand the imagery in a subjective manner as us humans see it. So the auto-tracing filters often deliver results we don't like.

It's possible to gain more accurate auto-tracing results by using higher resolution scans and editing those scans in Photoshop to improve contrast and remove any "trash" in the image. But even those steps will work only so well.

Sometimes there is no substitute for drawing paths over scanned artwork by hand. Obviously doing so takes more time, but the results are going to be more accurate and edit-friendly.