Guide · 3 min read

Image Trace in Illustrator: the steps, the settings, and Expand.

How to use Image Trace in Illustrator on a logo: the steps, the settings that matter, how to make the result editable, and what to do when Image Trace is grayed out.

A coral circle with the word OKARA in pale blue capitals across its middle and a small navy circle below, on pale blue
The PNG as uploaded1,196 KBVecSnap's SVG1.3 KB69 anchor points

To use Image Trace in Illustrator, place your picture, select it, open Window › Image Trace, pick a preset or a mode, and press Trace. Then press Expand, in the Image Trace panel, to turn the result into paths you can edit. Image Trace is grayed out when nothing is selected or the selection is already vector. It follows the pixels, so a small or blurry logo comes out with uneven edges and many anchor points.

Updated 5 sources ↓

The steps

How do I use Image Trace in Illustrator?

Place the picture, select it, open Window › Image Trace, choose a preset or a mode, and press Trace. Expand the result to edit its paths.
  1. File › Place, and choose your picture.
  2. Select the placed picture.
  3. Window › Image Trace opens the panel.
  4. Choose a preset, or set the mode and the colors yourself.
  5. Press Trace, and zoom in on the edges before you go on.
  6. Expand, in the panel, turns the result into grouped paths.

The settings

What are the best Image Trace settings for a logo?

Pick the mode by the logo's colors, keep the colors to the ones it has, then raise Paths for tighter edges and Noise to drop specks. There is no one preset for every image: Adobe says so itself.

Grayed out

Why is Image Trace grayed out?

Usually nothing is selected, or what is selected is already vector. Image Trace works on a placed picture, selected on its own.
  • Nothing selectedSelect the picture itself
    • Click the placed picture with the Selection tool
    • Then open Window › Image Trace
  • Already vectorThere are no pixels to trace
    • A shape, a text or an effect is no picture
    • The panel works only while a picture is selected
  • Already expandedThe trace is paths now
    • After Expand, the trace's settings no longer apply
    • Undo the Expand to adjust the trace again

Without Illustrator

How do I vectorize a logo without Illustrator?

Use a converter that draws the logo again as shapes. Drop it here: VecSnap gives back an SVG with every color and few anchor points, which opens in Illustrator as paths.

Drop your logo. Get its SVG.

  1. Drop the logo you would have traced.
  2. VecSnap draws it again as shapes, every color kept, the text as text where it can.
  3. Download the SVG or the PDF and open it in Illustrator: each shape is a path, nothing to expand.

Questions

Image Trace, answered.

Sources

Yes: Inkscape, whose Trace Bitmap does the same job for free, and the open-source VTracer. Converting in VecSnap is free too.

The free tracers, measured

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