If you open illustrator and drop in the jpeg it will open - you can then either manually vector trace or use the trace tool to recreate your image.

Unfortunately, I don't have Illustrator. Can the same thing be done with Adobe Photoshop?

Sure, you can save open a jpeg in Photoshp and save it as an .eps but it will still be raster. It will not vectorize it for you.

Hi bubzeebub

I probably should have asked why in my original post - if your printer/designer is requesting your image (is it a logo or illustration?) in .ai or .eps then the answer to your question will be a bit different...

They need it this way to preserve its clarity - simply saving a JPG as either will not be what they require as it is a compressed raster image

They are probably looking for a vector so that the printed results are 'perfect' on any scale - unless the JPEG is 300DPI and the dimensions of image on page are relatively small...

If not you can ignore me ;)

Adobe used to make a product called Streamline which did exactly what you are looking for. It was cross platform and converted raster art in to vector art.

It took some mastering but was very good at what it did.

You may be able to find an old copy of it somewhere...

Hi Travelin cat - not sure if that is what they have integrated into illi CS2 as 'live paint' - it's an enhanced/simplified 'live-trace' tool - I have not used it but the freelancer we have in was raving about it yesterday for tracing raster images.

Object > live paint.

limbo, that sounds like it. I have not upgraded to Illustrator CS2 yet, so I can't verify it, but that would make sense...

You could also try AutoTrace [autotrace.sourceforge.net]

I've never used it, so I don't know how good it is, but it could be what you're after if you don't have one of the more expensive packages.

OK it won't export to a .ai which is what you asked for, but it will export to a number of other vector formats which should suit your needs.