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cannizzom3427469
Participating Frequently
January 29, 2019
Question

Illustrator CC2019 - vector halftones effect

  • January 29, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 16546 views

Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering whether there is a simple quick way to create a vector halftones effects with perfectly rounded dots.

I already know of the halftones effect in Effects panel, but that generates a bitmap image which has to be expanded and then live traced.

Instead I'd like to simply have the halftones circles starting from a gradient fill or even a vector sketch or a raster image (probably bn).

I would not use any extra plugin, since I want to be able to create the dots pattern within Illustrator itself.

As a matter of fact I am using Adobe Illustrator CC2019.

Thanks in advance,

cheers

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    ceyhun_akgun
    ceyhun_akgun
    Legend
    January 31, 2019

    In the past Macromedia FreeHand MX program was able to give this effect to TIFF images in Gray Color mode at the desired angle and point size. Illustrator does not work with the same logic, unfortunately ... You can do these works by using Live Painting and Pattern functions together.

    Graphic Designer Educator / PrePress Consultant
    C
    cannizzom3427469Author
    Participating Frequently
    February 1, 2019

    Thanks Ceyhun

    JETalmage
    JETalmage
    Inspiring
    January 30, 2019

    The subject is a long-repeating one in this forum. There are multiple threads. Did you do a search?

    An entirely vector-based faux halftone can be semi-automated in the standard feature set (i.e., without third-party plug-ins), given that the standard feature set includes a scripting feature (as do other program, too).

    But the common misconception is that real halftones consist entirely of round dots. They do not. In a process halftone, the round positive (ink) dots morph into round negative (no-ink) dots as they approach and cross the 50% tones. In other words, the white) voids in the shadow areas are round, not 4-point "stars" resulting from overlapping black circles.

    JET

      C
      cannizzom3427469Author
      Participating Frequently
      January 30, 2019

      Thanks Jet, I did a search.. that's why I was posting the question.
      All the threads, as well as googling around, describe similar workarounds to Monika's (i.e. related to Live Trace and raster img).

      I just wanted to know if there was a specific function, perhaps integrated in the new 2019 release. Straight forward: vector to vector (or from raster image to vector).

      Apart from technical matters, have you got a better solution that you feel sharing?

      Thanks,

      cheers

      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      Monika GauseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      January 31, 2019

      Hi Ray, thanks a lot.

      That is really cool.. and it does the trick (I had a quick go just for testing). Pity it's a third-party tool..

      I can't understand why this guy Matias Ärje (big up!!) is able and willing to do that.. and such an empire like Adobe can't (or doesn't want to). Anyway....

      Adobe Engineers and Developers.. get a move on!


      cannizzom3427469  schrieb

      and such an empire like Adobe can't (or doesn't want to).

      You can put a feature request on http://illustrator.uservoice.com in order to tell them you want this feature.

      People can then vote on your feature request and you can watch how many votes you can gather. As you might expect, the feature requests that collect the most votes are more likely to be implemented. I would guess that there will not be too many requests for this feature, because:

      1. it's kind of nice, but not really cool

      2. if you really need it there are several ways to build it

      3. there are certainly other things that are more urgent to be fixed and/or added to Illustrator

      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      Monika GauseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      January 29, 2019

      There are workarounds, but they won't get you that typical 4-color result.

      C
      cannizzom3427469Author
      Participating Frequently
      January 29, 2019

      Even 1 tone would be okay..

      All the workaround I've read about do mention the raster/trace method.. which gives weird dots as a result.
      Even if you increase the resolution, that would not generate perfect circular dots.

      Can't Adobe come up with an easy function, simple like that?! (I mean.. like Live Trace, but with geometric perfect shapes)

      Am I missing something?

      Thanks Monika!

      Thanks everyone..

      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      Monika GauseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      January 29, 2019

      You could apply the halftone effect in high resolution to a 1-color image.

      Run Image trace

      Expand

      Apply the Effect > Convert to shape > Ellipse. The result might not be perfectly round in each case.

      You could also try the Object > Mosaic function on a greyscale image

      Then Apply Effect > Convert to shape > Ellipse

      And run the script: Size by Luminance GitHub - johnwun/js4ai: Collection of Javascripts for Adobe Illustrator

      But actually I would use the plugin Phantasm.

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