TraceGenius Ultimate — Product Documentation

This is the official, user-facing documentation for TraceGenius Ultimate.
Clear, practical, and focused on getting you from install → results as quickly as possible. If you’re evaluating the addon, this page shows exactly what you’ll be able to do and how.

Table of Contents

1. Quick Summary

2. System Requirements

3. Installation (step-by-step)

4. Quick Start — trace your first image (3 minutes)

5. UI Overview

6. Core Features & How to Use Them

   • Color Picker tracing

   • Transparency Map (alpha handling)

   • Contrast & Pre-trace Enhancements

   • Algorithm modes & presets

7. Typical Workflows (recipes)

   • Clean line art from scans

   • Tracing logos with precise color selection

   • Tracing PNGs with semi-transparent edges

8. Troubleshooting & Tips

9. Updates & Support

1. Quick Summary

TraceGenius Ultimate is a modern tracing addon for Blender built on a custom internal tracing engine (not dependent on Blender's Grease Pencil). It provides precise color targeting, alpha/transparency interpretation, pre-trace image enhancements, and a modular architecture for future expansions — all while keeping the familiar TraceGenius UI workflow.

2. System Requirements

• Blender 2.80 or newer (including current and future releases)

• OS: Windows / macOS / Linux

• Recommended: 4+ GB RAM and a modern CPU for large image tracing. GPU is not required; tracing is CPU-optimized.

• Works with common raster formats: PNG, JPG, and Webp.

3. Installation (step-by-step)

1. Open Blender → Edit → Preferences.

2. Select the Add-ons tab.

3. If you have any previous TraceGenius addon (Pro or earlier Ultimate builds):

   • Locate it in the add-ons list, deactivate, then Remove / Uninstall. (Restart Blender if prompted.)

4. Click Install… at the top of the Add-ons panel.

5. Browse and select the downloaded TraceGenius_Ultimate.zip file.

6. Click Install Add-on.

7. Search for TraceGenius Ultimate in the Add-ons list and enable it by checking the box.

8. Open the TraceGenius panel (see UI Overview) and start tracing.

4. Quick Start — trace your first image (3 minutes)

1. Add an Image reference or import an image into your scene.

2. Open the TraceGenius panel (N-panel or where the addon is placed).

3. Click Load Image (or select your image object).

4. Choose tracing options, including Style, Inversion and Color Threshold.

5. Use Color Picker to pick a target color (optional).

6. Set Transparency Map mode if your image has alpha (see Core Features).

7. Click Trace Shape. Inspect result, Retrace for a different result, and Finalize when you are done.

5. UI Overview

TraceGenius keeps a familiar layout so Pro users can jump right in.

Main panels:

• Image / Source — load or select the source image and preview.

• Tracing Options — Color Threshold, Style, Inversion, Accuracy.

• Color Picker — pick or sample colors to target during tracing.

• Transparency Map — controls for alpha handling (Treat Alpha as Black / White / Ignore).

• Enhancements — contrast slider for pre-processing.

• Trace Shape — the final Trace button.

6. Core Features & How to Use Them

Independent Tracing Engine

• What: A custom internal library that performs edge detection, color segmentation, and outline vectorization.

• Why: More accurate and faster than Blender's Grease Pencil tracing, and enables features Pro could not support.

Color Picker (Targeted Color Tracing)

• Use when: You only want to trace elements of a specific color (logos, flat color art).

• How:

  1. Click Color Picker → sample directly from the image preview or input hex value.

  2. Adjust Color Tolerance (low = exact match, high = broader range).

  3. Optionally enable Invert Selection to trace everything except the chosen color.

  4. Trace.

Transparency Map (Alpha Handling)

• Modes:

  • Treat Alpha as White — transparent pixels are considered white (useful for light backgrounds).

  • Treat Alpha as Black — transparent pixels are considered black (useful when tracing silhouettes)

Contrast Pre-trace Enhancements

• Purpose: Clean up noisy scans or emphasize edges before tracing.

7. Typical Workflows (recipes)

A. Clean line art from a scan

1. Load the scanned image.

2. Options → adjust style, inversion, accuracy..etc.

3. Enhancements → adjust Contrast .

4. Transparency Map → Treat alpha as black or white.

5. Trace → Export to Curve or Mesh.

B. Tracing a logo by color

1. Load logo PNG.

2. Color Picker → sample main logo color.

3. Adjust threshold if necessary → Trace.

C. Tracing a PNG with semi-transparent edges

1. Load PNG.

2. Transparency Map → Treat Alpha as Black (or White depending on background).

3. Trace.

8. Troubleshooting & Tips

• Blurry / Noisy Traces: Increase contrast then narrow threshold.

• Too many small fragments: slightly lower the Color Threshold.

• PNGs(with Transparent regions) not traced well: Try switching Transparency Map mode (Black ↔ White).

• Addon not visible after install: Ensure it’s enabled in Edit → Preferences → Add-ons and restart Blender if necessary.

9. Updates & Support

• Updates: Major feature development focuses on Ultimate. Pro will remain in maintenance mode.

• Free Upgrade: TraceGenius Pro owners are eligible for a free upgrade during the launch window.

• Support: Email [email protected] (or use the SuperHiveMarket support mechanism). Include Blender version, image sample, and a short description of the issue for fastest help.