Trace

The Trace fill converts raster images into clean vector artwork. It analyzes your image's colors and shapes to create precise vector paths, making it easy to transform photographs and bitmap graphics into scalable vector designs.

Fill Parameters

Smoothing: Controls how smooth the traced edges appear. Higher values create smoother curves, while lower values follow the original edges more closely.

**Small Spots: ** (units): Defines the smallest detail that will be included in the trace. Smaller elements will be filtered out, helping reduce noise in the final result.

Add a Trace Fill

To create a new Trace fill, follow the steps in our Add a Fill. When prompted, select "Trace" from the fill type menu.

Adjust Image Threshold

The Trace fill analyzes your image based on brightness levels. Here's how to control which parts of your image get traced:

1. Open the Properties panel
2. Navigate to the IMAGE & SIGNAL tab
3. Use the minimum and maximum threshold sliders to define which brightness levels should be included in the trace

For more details about threshold settings, see the Image Treshold article.

threshold: 0 - 96	threshold: 0 - 160	threshold: 70 - 160

Smoothing

The Smoothing parameter lets you control how precisely the trace follows the original image:

1. Find the Smoothing control.
2. Adjust using the slider or enter a value directly.
3. Higher values create smoother, more simplified shapes.
4. Lower values follow the original edges more closely.

smoothing: 0	smoothing: 10	smoothing: 25

Small Spots

Use this parameter to filter out unwanted small details:

1. Locate the Small Spots setting.
2. Adjust the value to control which details are included
3. Higher values remove more small elements from the trace
4. Lower values preserve more fine details

Small spots: 0	Small spots: 10	Small spots: 30

Additional Properties

The Trace fill supports these additional properties:

• COLOR
• IMAGE THRESHOLD

Practice File

Try out the Trace fill parameters using this example file: UM3-Fills-Trace.lines