Does anyone use the trace function for characters?

[djwaterman]

Is anyone using the trace function to convert artwork into vectors for character work? Or does this remove control from the design and functionality of the final character? I'm just wondering if it would be wasted time on my behalf if I start to use it as I imagine it might give me nice accurate vectors but remove the layer staking decision making, and potentially add more vectors than are useful?

But I'm just guessing here, so I wonder if my assumptions are wrong. Is anyone finding it useful in their work flow?

[Danimal]

I've tried it a few times but found that the traced images have WAY more points than if I drew the image myself. I've found it better over all and a quicker render if I just trace the image from a file myself.

[funksmaname]

"no" here. Once you develop an instinct to where to put points, it's super quick, super accurate and super clean for animation

[heyvern]

I used auto trace mainly for quickly getting color palettes loaded from an image file. I could zap in a file, select shapes and save as styles. But now we have the ability to select colors from images so don't even need it for that anymore.

I feel bad dissing a cool feature but I have to agree that once you get good at drawing in AS using any kind of alternative like auto trace or AI/EPS import is a waste of time, at least for me. Others may find it useful. I find the clean up takes as much time as drawing from scratch in the first place. Drawing by hand is fast and fun for me. Just my opinion.

[djwaterman]

Yeah, I gave it a go, the results posted to my blog. I think I'll be sticking to hand making my vectors, a good character deserves the thought and work that the auto process doesn't give you. But it was a very fast way to get something done if that was an issue, could be good for some aspect of a production.

[jahnocli]

..clean up takes as much time as drawing from scratch in the first place

Yeah. Oftentimes more. And yes, it's a pain. If I need to have a drawing as reference, I'll import it into a group layer and put a translucent white rectangle over it. I get a lot more control that way.

[Lukas]

I always do it by hand, it gives much better results.

[3deeguy]

I agree you have to clean it up. But I download reference pictures from the web to trace by hand all the time. Add to that being able to assign different colors to the layers makes things much easier.