Rich, in my experience, die files come into design/art/prepress as a single path, that is then stroked at the appropriate thickness. If the die file came in as a single path and comes out as an outlined path, then the issue is somewhere in the design/art/prepress stage. I have always blamed ignorance of the file settings/issues, as if this is not intentional - why does it happen? If the CAD program is exporting the.ai/.eps/.pdf version of the die as outlines, the issue is with the CAD software’s export options. Perhaps exporting to say.dxf and importing that into Illustrator would resolve the path issue?
With the introduction of the improved Image Trace function in Adobe Illustrator CS6 and later upgrades, a whole world of possibility opened up to users of. With the Image Trace feature in Adobe Illustrator CS6, you can take raster (bitmap) artwork and automatically trace it to convert it into vector artwork. This means that you can take scans of sketches, illustrations, and even photographs, and convert them into vector artwork that can be edited in Illustrator.
Stephen Marsh.
A graphic designer from Queensland, Australia shared a vector portrait she created of Kaky, a Kelpie cross Border Collie puppy. The Illustrator social team posted it on the Illustrator Facebook channel, and the audience loved it just as much as we did. Yuka was kind enough to take the time and effort to develop a tutorial of the techniques she used to create this beautiful, highly detailed vector portrait of Kaky.
And we are super excited to share it with you. And if you want to follow along exactly, you can also download Yuka’s. But we’re sure you’ve a favorite pet that’s just waiting to be immortalized in its own beautiful portrait, too. Image Trace in Adobe Illustrator lets you convert raster images to editable vectors using a new tracing engine introduced in Illustrator CS6. With this fresh approach to tracing, you can quickly get premium results with image sensing that automatically applies the most appropriate tracing preset. And you still have full control to finesse your tracing with an Image Trace panel that presents all options in one place. If you’re familiar with the old Live Trace feature, you’ll find the new interface more intuitive and interactive.
You also get cleaner lines, more accurate fitting, better color recognition, and more reliable results thanks to the refined technology.