Line art can look magic or messy depending on a few settings. Here's how to get clean, connected outlines every time.
Start with a good source
Line art traces contrast, so it rewards clear subjects. High-contrast photos with a clean background trace best; busy or low-contrast photos give noisy lines. If your photo is small or soft, turn on Enhance photo in Original first to upscale it before tracing.
The three controls that matter
- Detail — think of it as line fineness. Low keeps only the major outlines (clean, simple); high catches fine texture like hair and fabric (busier).
- Strength — how bold an edge must be to start a line. Raise it to drop faint noise; lower it to pick up subtle features.
- Sensitivity — how faint a line to connect to a strong one. This is the fix for broken lines — raise it and gaps close up.
Common problems and the fix
- Lines break up and reappear → raise Sensitivity.
- Too noisy / speckled → raise Strength, or lower Sensitivity.
- Lines too thin to cut or print → raise Line thickness.
- Grainy source → add a little Smoothing before tracing.
Outline vs centerline
- Outline traces the border of every mark — a thick stroke gets two lines.
- Centerline thins each stroke to a single pen line down its middle — the true "drawn by hand" look. Use it when you want one clean line per stroke.
Crisp at any size
Turn on Vectorize (Pro) so lines stay sharp however large you print, and export an SVG for cutting machines. Straight-segment output is smaller; Smooth curves rounds the contours for a softer look.
What to expect
You're trading detail for cleanliness — there's rarely one perfect setting. Nudge Detail down and Sensitivity up for a clean, connected result; push Detail up when you want every fine feature. Always print at Actual Size / 100%.