a:m to illustrator

[rudragoo]

I have finally gotten around to start learning either illustrator or A:M. I have been working on my

SolidWorks and PhotoWorks and can now start on a new software. The eventual project will likely have to be done in Adobe Illustrator. I need the illustration to have a chalk drawn look.

 

I would rather learn A:M first. Can a still image be saved in a format that can be adjusted in Illustrator? Changing pens and fills? Or can something like this be done in the toon mode in A:M?

 

Thanks

 

David

[largento]

Not in any way I'm aware of. When A:M renders an image, it renders a raster image. I would suspect that even if there was such a way, you would end up with a tangle of paths that you would never be able to make use of.

 

In Illustrator, you can create graphic brushes which could have the look of chalk. Most likely there is already one in the graphic brush libraries.

[robcat2075]

If you need Illustrator, you need Illustrator.

 

I've gotten interesting results sometimes by rendering in A:M to toonlines only and letting a 2D program autotrace that

 

This auto traces the edges of the lines in ToonBoomStudio

 

strut01

 

 

this one extracted a uniform single line from the toonlines

 

walktest

 

 

 

But if you really need the full power of Illustrator it's probably better to work in that.

[pixelplucker]

Illustrator has an ok auto tracer (basically Streamline), not great but can do enough to get by. There is actually a more precise auto tracer that is free called Potrace that is now included in Inkscape which is free.

 

I use Canvas 11 and Imagaro Z Professional for my vector work because of the speed an accuracy.

 

Vector lines won't give you a "chalk look" because they produce hard edges. The main purpose for vector art is for clean edges when printing where bitmaps will create haltoned edges when printed. Vector objects also have a good advantage over raster images for trapping, chokes and spreads so if you want something to have a particular look then raster to vector conversion may not be a good choice.

 

I have had great success rendering out toons in AM and auto-tracing them into vector art.

 

You really don't need a super large image to get good results because the dithered edges are consistent unlike a scanned image.

2000x1000 pixel image is usually more than enough. Keep in mind you may have to tweak the levels on an image prior to tracing to keep some details.