Vector Studio 2.0 : Wrinkle Remover Tool

The Wrinkle Remover tool is useful for performing post-processing on raster-to-vector conversions and for cleaning up unwanted control points introduced by the three detail brushes in Illustrator's Liquify tool set: crystallize, scallop, and wrinkle.

The Wrinkle Remover tool functions fairly similarly to Illustrator's Object > Path > Simplify command. The basic objective of both is to reduce the complexity of paths by removing superfluous control points. There are, however, two important distinctions between Wrinkle Remover and the Simplify command:

• First, the wrinkle remover tool is an interactive tool, which allows you to apply the smoothing operation locally, which can be important if the degree of detail needs to vary in different areas of the path.
  
  
• Second, Wrinkle Remover actually inserts a multitude of control points into the paths before it attempts to simplify them. The insertion step is critical to preserving the original character of the path, as the simplification process is by its nature an averaging process. If there is insufficient information in the original path, important details can be obliterated during the averaging.

The example shows how Wrinkle remover does its job. At left is the original raster-to- vector conversion of the rubber ducky, with the area we wish to smooth in the red box. The animation on the right shows the Wrinkle Remover tool passing over a zoomed up view of that section of the path, first inserting control points, then smoothing the curve, and finally simplifying the result.

Here are the before and after versions of the curve (the beginning and ending frames of the above animation). Note how all the important details of the curve are present, while at the same time excessive control points have been eliminated.

Here is the result of the same curve section passed into Illustrator's path simplify command (at 90% curve precision). Notice the generally ragged appearance of the result. Also keep in mind that if you wanted to simplify this section of the ducky with path simplify, you would have to simplify the entire curve, and compromise other details in the design.

Wrinkle Remover is tightly integrated into Illustrator's working environment, residing in the same toolset as Illustrator's Liquify tool, as seen in the Quickstart Guide. As with all of the Vector Studio 2.0 tools, Wrinkle Remover integrates Smart Guides and Snap to Grid features, giving you better control and precision in editing your designs. To make the tools even more useful, all of our tools come with shortcut keys so you can spend more time with your design and less time changing controls.

Wrinkle Remover makes a great addition to the Liquify tool set because it lets gives you more flexibility in the use of the scallop, crystallize, and wrinkle brushes. You can experiment all you want these great new tools, because with Wrinkle remover, you can always simplify your curves back!

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