For years anime fans have whined and complained about the lack of huge, high-quality copies of their favorite images. Nowadays, some of the more intrepid among us put their money (time) where their mouth (computer) is. Vector tracing is the process of literally reassembling an entire image in geometrically defined curves, thus defeating the pitfall of raster (pixel) imaging: you can't inflate it. The final result of a trace is a huge, flawless, jpeg compression free version of the original image, now clear and large enough to use in wallpapers, website layouts, and even poster printing.
Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand are the major vector imaging programs, and a lot of people are putting them to use vectoring their favorite anime images. I presently use Adobe Photoshop, and I know many of you do as well. No, Photoshop's pen tool is not 'true' vectoring, that's why I try to remember to use the more general term 'tracing'. The tutorial available now is Photoshop-specific, and I will be adding more Photoshop tutorials in the future for those of you familiar with the program but unsure how to go about specific details of the tracing process. Feel free to provide feedback concerning what you'd like to see in the tutorials. If there's demand, I will eventually provide tutorials on using Illustrator. I don't know how many of you have access to it, are familiar, or would be willing to learn, so for the timebeing I'm sticking with PS.
Ultimately, the best way to learn what a vector trace is is to see one for yourself, so hurry over to the trace gallery and see what a few hours of computer time can do! (Oh come on, you'd just have wasted the time channel surfing again!) |
 |
|
|
