Vector Tutorial - Tracing with the Pen Tool in Illustrator CS2

[thebumshow]

This tutorial is amazing. But.. I just fucking suck at illustrator... I fail so hard at making the edges and stuff curvy and beautiful...

[candycakehime]

What about tracing things other than logos, for example I got adobe illustrator so that I could make my Chibi(anime) sketches into GIF by drawing over them, is that done exactly the same way as this? It might seem a bit dense but I don't know anything at all about photoshop or illustrator so yeah:\

[wanik4]

this is a great tutorial for beginners thank you very much. no bs, just straight knowledge.

[brunotmoura]

thanks man!

[royalconcrete1]

I was looking for something and saw your tut. I just want to know months ago while learning the pen tool. I came back time and time again to your vid to review . thanks to you I can pick up the pen tool like I pick up my toothbrush, no thoughts how to use it...I just know.

[shakin2009]

is there not some way to auto trace around the lines, it can be done in GIMP, but i dont know how to do it in PS or AI

[russmc3]

@shakin2009 Yes there is a way to auto trace. It's called Live Trace. I use it sometimes, but you really don't get very good control. Autotraced logos usually look ugly. If you must autotrace, I would use a site called Vector Magic. That really works, but it's not free.

[harvindk]

how do i remove the image once i've finished tracing it?

[russmc3]

@harvindk

If the template image is locked, you can unlock it from the menu with: Object > Unlock All. Then select it and push delete.

Does that help?

[harvindk]

@russmc3 yes thank you so much :)

[harvindk]

how do you delete the original image once you've finished tracing it? 

[Kukurtti]

I've been watching numerous tutorials and reading helps and learned nothing until I found this video. First of all, no useless jibber jabber and secondly, all the things I needed to know. One video went on about 20 minutes until it briefly covered the basics of pen tool and line tracing. Almost lost my mind at that point, so thank you!

[manmaas]

Would just like to join others in agreement with your tutorial. Clearly stated, relevant detail and straightforward voiceover. Many could learn a lot from you!

[sensmoralen]

Really nice tutorial. Not holding on a single moment to unessential detals.

[PathogenStudios]

Thanks a lot for this tutorial. I started with tutvid's video and wasted nearly 20 minutes to have him talk about useless info and then gloss over the actual good stuff. This video has substance. Glad I read your comment and came to yours :)

[pokewindwaker]

first, sometimes i can only see the anchor SQUARE and not the HANDLES. what do i click to make them appear again?

and sometimes one of the HANDLES disappear (like after i do the step at 4:52) and then i can't edit the curve i want to edit (by holding down the remaining handle) without affecting the previous curve!

lastly, the handles disappear sometimes. i then get them back by CONVERTING ANCHORs (which i don't have a clue of) but then the handles are like limbs and don't work.

Please help!

[russmc3]

@pokewindwaker I'm not exactly sure what the problem would be. If you click on the path and don't see the handles, are you using the solid pointer, or the hollow pointer? The hollow pointer should always show you the handles, if you click directly on the anchor points or the segment that touches them.

If one of the handles is disappearing, you might not be clicking and dragging, or you may be pressing the alt key when you click on the point. That would kill the handle.

[mycomputerfund]

awesome video, really learned alot on the placements on the tangent handles. now i wont suck so much with the pen tool.

[royalconcrete1]

excellent video. good explaination of all your clicks and drags. alt, ctrl clicks. and using the e was extremely helpful thanks. I want more from you.

[Kelzaroxy]

Excellent tutorial, well done ;-)

[Gitarristen93]

Well done learnd alot :D !

[AnyaEightySeven]

Thanks this was taking me forever!

[ValinOne]

gracias por el tutorial ,aunque no se Ingles algo se aprende con ver.

[jadkiwi]

Great tutorial, thanks.

[RetroJape]

This was a very helpful tutorial. Thanks a lot!

[russmc3]

Thanks for the comment. I'm glad you found it helpful.

[iceberg2006]

you helped me alot with the many well explained hints you even solved problems for me that i didnt even know were problems