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Adobe Illustrator is hugely popular software tool for making vector graphics, but it's undeniably expensive. Thankfully, there are alternatives available for designers on a budget, and some of the best are available free.
Unlike raster graphics, vector graphics use mathematical expressions to draw the lines, shapes and colours. This means they’re infinitely scalable, so you can blow them up to the size of a billboard with no unsightly pixellation.
Vector graphics are the best choice for a number of design and illustration tasks, such as creating icons, logos, diagrams, charts, posters and website graphics. In the latter case, the current standard is Scalable Vector Graphics format (SVG).
Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard tool for vector graphics, but it's undeniably expensive
Programs like CorelDRAW, Sketch or Affinity Designer are popular alternatives, but if your needs are relatively simple, then you can save even more money by trying out alternatives to Illustrator that are totally free – and there are some brilliant options to choose from.
Example vector files designed by Freepik
1. Inkscape
A feature-packed editor that's a true substitute for Illustrator
Comprehensive toolkit
Frequent updates
Open source vector graphics package Inkscape is staggeringly powerful, and is the best free alternative to Adobe Illustrator for pro and semi-pro illustrators, graphic designers and web designers.
As well as the standard drawing and shape tools, Inkscape boasts a special spirals tool, a tool to create patterns and arrangements of clones, advanced object manipulation options, multiple filters (including bevels, textures, overlays and more), and some nifty fill settings. In short, there’s very little Illustrator can do that Inkscape can’t.
Because it's open source, it’s not only free to use but if you have the technical know-how you can even edit it and incorporate it into other software. And new features are being added all the time; the latest version brings mesh gradients, improved SVG2 and CSS3 support and new path effects to the party.
So what’s the catch? Some users have complained that it performs slowly, although that does seem to depend on what device and operating system you’re using. The best thing to do is just download it and give it a quick try; there's nothing to lose.
2. BoxySVG
A browser-based vector editor that's as powerful as a desktop app
Convenient browser extension
Boxy SVG is a free tool for creating scalable vector graphic files that runs as an extension in Google Chrome. It comes with a good range of basic tools, including pens, bezier curves, text, basic shapes, stroke and fill, layers, ability to add type, groups, transforms and paths.
Free Adobe Illustrator Vector
The main selling point for Boxy SVG is the utter simplicity of its UI. It makes a virtue of paring down the experience of creating vector graphics to a fairly minimal set of options. These essentially restrict you to the kind of things that the SVG format is good at. As a result, it’s fast, easier to pick up than Illustrator, and the files it creates are clean and efficient.
As well as importing and exporting files in SVG and SVGZ format, you can also use Boxy SVG to import and export JPEGs and PNGs. Wonderfully convenient.
3. Vecteezy
A sharp looking in-browser Illustrator alternative for stylish designs
Good choice of vector elements
Requires a free account to save work
Vecteezy is another free in-browser Illustrator alternative (the developer earns a crust selling premium illustrations, and its customers include the BBC, Amazon, McDonald's and Dell).
You can import and edit SVG files, or create your own designs from scratch. There's a selection of shapes and ready-made clipart to choose from, and a huge array of typefaces for text-based designs.
Vecteezy also includes a pen tool for drawing freehand shapes and editing existing paths, plus a simple color-picker. It's all refreshingly simple to use, and even brand new users will grasp the fundamentals within a few minutes.
There are just a couple of points to be aware of: you'll need to create an account or log in using Facebook in order to save your work, and if you open a particularly large file, Vecteezy warns you that doing so might cause your browser to freeze. This is a risk with any similar web app though, and we appreciate Vecteezy being so up-front about it.
4. Vectr
A slimline vector editor available for your browser or desktop
Easy to master
Vectr is a free cross-platform program that you can use used to create and edit vector graphics, either on your desktop (versions are available for Windows, Mac, Linux and ChromeOS), or in any modern browser.
Vectr is intuitive to use, with a shallow learning curve. “Design software shouldn’t bring people a sense of struggle, yet that’s exactly how the troublesome design software we grew up on made us feel,” says its developer, who has created this pared-back vector editor with accessibility in mind.
While it lacks many of the advanced features of Illustrator, then, it’s got all the tools you need for basic vector editing - shapes, text, multiple layers and like - and what it does, it does very well. You can save all work you create in Vectr online, or export it in PNG, JPG, or SVG file formats.
Vectr is a great choice for beginners, or just anyone needing to create a simple graphic with the minimum of fuss.
5. SVG-Edit
A straightforward Illustrator alternative for web developers
No server-side processing
If your prime reason for wanting a vector graphics editor is to create SVG files for websites, then SVG-Edit may be all you need. You can use this free vector software within your web browser to create SVG images and edit existing ones.
SVG-Edit works in any modern browser, and offers a basic set of vector editing features including hand-drawing tools, shape tools, text tools and path tools. The tool is open source, which means that new features are being added all the time by contributing developers.
It’s built on HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript with no server-side functionality, so if you wish you can download and modify the code to make your own version.
Check out our guide to the best free photo editors
There are two types of digital image: rasters and vectors.
Raster images are made up of individual pixels, and contain tremendous amounts of detail. However, you can’t enlarge them without losing quality.
A vector image is made from lines and shapes. They’re usually less detailed, but you can make them as big as you like without losing anything.
When you’ve got a raster graphic that’s too small for your needs, the solution is to convert the image to a vector. And you can do this in Adobe Illustrator. It’s a quick and simple process, and produces excellent results. Here’s how to convert an image to a vector using Adobe Illustrator.
What Is a Vector Image?
A vector image is a scalable image comprised of values rather than pixels.
Most images found online are raster images (see different file types, explained). Raster images use square pixels (bits of color) to convey an image. Vector graphics convey color using scalable color polygons. Since vector images use dynamic color sections as opposed to static squares, they provide perfect lines and crisp colors.
The geometry which comprises vector images is formulaic, making them resolution-independent. That means images don’t lose quality when they’re scaled up or down, since the color polygons in a vector image will always maintain their shape. The same is not true for raster images, since the color information of these images is stretched when scaled.
Once you know how to convert a JPG file to a vector in Adobe Illustrator, you’ll be able to scale anything you find to the size you want—without losing image quality.
Step 1: Pick an Image to Convert to Vector
The image you use won’t matter when using the following process, except for the fact that larger images will take longer to edit. There are some images, however, which work better as vector images than others.
It’s better to edit a single subject than a landscape or the like. Preferably, the image should have a white or transparent background and have a relatively low resolution.
We’ll be using the image of Ryu from the Street Fighter series above. It works as a perfect example for a variety of reasons. For one, it’s a single subject. It also lends itself to a vector image format well, as it’s a recognizable character. The vector images format is typically used for logos or recognizable images.
Step 2: Select an Image Trace Preset
Illustrator has a special tool that lets you vectorize images. It’s called Image Trace and it comes with a range of presets that do most of the work automatically. Broadly speaking you should use the Image Trace preset that most closely resembles the type of image you’re converting.
Your options are:
High Fidelity Photo and Low Fidelity Photo. These produce very detailed, and slightly less detailed vector images respectively. Ideal for photos or complex artwork, such as the example image we’re using.
3 Colors, 6 Colors, and 16 Colors. These presets output vector images with three, six, or 16 colors. They’re perfect for logos or artwork with lots of flat color.
Shades of Grey. This preset produces a detailed grayscale image.
Black and White Logo. This creates a simple logo with two colors—black and white.
Sketched Art, Silhouettes, Line Art, and Technical Drawing. These are best used for specific types of image, and create black and white, predominantly line-based drawings.
Open your image in Illustrator and select the image to activate the image options. These options should be present on the top of your Illustrator window.
Click the drop-down arrow next to Image Trace to select your Preset. We’ll be using Low Fidelity Photo. Click it to begin tracing.
Step 3: Vectorize the Image With Image Trace
Once you click the button your image will go through the tracing process automatically. You’ll note several changes to your image, but overall it should remain much the same. For example, the following is a closeup of our image before the tracing process.
Note the pixelation. Here is the image after the process:
While much of the detail has been stripped from the original image, it also appears much sharper. You’ll note the color shapes do not pixelate no matter how close the image is zoomed.
Zoomed out, the image should look virtually the same. Here is our overall image before editing.
Here is our image after editing:
While the top image may appear sharper in some instances, the quality of our vectorized image is still pretty impressive.
Step 4: Fine Tune Your Traced Image
Once you’ve traced the image, open the Image Trace Panel to fine tune the conversion.
Select Mode to switch between color, greyscale, and black and white. Also, drag the Colors slider left to simplify your vector image, or right to add more detail.
If you’re happy with your settings and want to re-use them, click the Manage Presets button next to the Presets option. You can now save your settings as a new Preset.
Step 5: Ungroup Colors
Your image has now been ordered into colored shapes fitting the original raster image. In order to finish your vector, you’ll need to separate these color groups to edit them. To do so, select your traced image and click on the Expand button on the top of the window.
This will allow you to view the composite shapes which make up the vector image. Each of the shapes is outlined in blue. Next, right-click the image and select Ungroup in the menu. This will allow you to separate your color shapes into individual parts.
In your Layers panel, you’ll see that your color groups have been separated into layers.
Step 6: Edit Your Vector Image
After converting a raster image to a vector, you have free range to edit the image. Begin by deleting whatever color groups you desire. You can select whole color groups by clicking on a shape and heading to Select > Same > Fill Color. This will select all groups with the same color as the one selected using your Direct Selection tool (A).
Then hit Backspace on your keyboard to delete the shapes. If you’d like to modify or expand a particular color group, you can do that as well by selecting a layer using the Direct Selection tool. After you’ve selected a layer, fill in empty spaces or add additional colors to your design using the Pen or Brush tools.
Step 7: Save Your Image
Here is the original image after deleting the pesky white background and modifying the image slightly using the method presented above.
Now we’re ready for the final step in converting an image to a vector in Illustrator: saving the image in a vector format to preserve its quality. There are a variety of vector image formats to choose between: PDF, AI, EPS, SVG, and others. We’ll use the SVG format. When you’re finished with your image, head to File > Export > Export As.
In the following window, title your file and select SVG in the dropdown menu beside Save as type.
That’s it. Your scalable vector file should now be saved onto your PC.
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Don’t Compromise, Vectorize!
Now you know how to convert an image to a vector in Illustrator. Scale your new creation to whatever dimension you wish.
Keep in mind that complex vector files can be significantly larger than their raster counterparts. That means they may take longer to load and edit. Nevertheless, your vector image will maintain its quality no matter the scale.
And what if you don’t have Illustrator, or you’d prefer to use something else? You can work with vector graphics in Photoshop, and there’s also a lot of fantastic browser-based Illustrator alternatives that you can try. You can get similar results in many of them.
Adobe Illustrator
Read the full article: How to Convert an Image to a Vector in Adobe Illustrator