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illustrator to photoshop without rasterizing
I have a project where I need the end art work to be turned in as vector layers in photoshop. I would prefer to use illustrator for my art creation. I do not want to have to copy and paste all shapes and then recolor them in PS and am hoping to find some way to import all my vector shapes from AI into PS at once. Ideally by exporting from AI as a PSD and then opening that PSD in PS.
I have an example AI file that has 2 blocks in it. the red block gets rasterized as it gets opening by PS and the green block stays vector.
here is the example from AI: https://www.protoscape.com/temp/PS_to_AI_to_PS.ai
here is the example made by exporting that AI as a PSD:
https://www.protoscape.com/temp/PS_to_AI_to_PS_02.psdwhy does PS accept 1 block as vector and rasterize the other? and how can I prep other paths in AI to behave like the green block?
How I made the 1 block that works:
The green block was originally made in PS then I saved a PSD, then had AI open that PSD. Once here I can edit the vector shapes. I can then export this file as a PSD again and PS will recognize those shapes still as vector.Any new shapes I make in AI are not seen by PS as vector shapes, they are rasterized on open.
hope someone knows the prep work to make more shapes in AI that behave like that green block
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8 Replies
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update: I figured out I could manually go to every path in my AI file and convert them into Compound Shapes and then export a PSD and open it in PS and every layer will be a vector and editable layer in PS.
Now I guess I need to write an action that will go thru every path and convert it to a compound shape in preparation for going to PS.
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Ben, if your apps are of recent version, read up on “Smart Objects.”
John M:
All of the vim with none of that annoying vigor. -
i love smart objects and use them constantly. this project needs to be made entirely out of photoshop vector shapes or “compound shapes” and not smart objects.
plus, I think this will be good to know as the one downside of smart objects is that to edit them you need to either enter another PSD or illustrator.
I do wish I could select a ton of shapes from illustrator and paste them all at once into PS and have the option to have them show up as many shape layers instead of rasterized, smart object, or a single shape layer where all my colors from AI were reduced to one 1 color.
as it is, this process of exporting a PSD from AI that contains only compound shapes and no normal paths seems to be the only way to get all my shapes into PS as editable vector shapes with the right colors
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You said you will have to recolor the shapes in PS. So why not just make all paths in AI with no fill and a single default stroke, select all AI paths, then paste it back into PS as Paths. Then you can just separate them in PS.
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a lot of the artwork ends up being really complex. Whole scenes of houses and trees and with detail down to the multiple levels of highlights on each shingle, etc..
I would want to make the art all in one place including coloring it and ideally (just because of preference to how the vector tools work) I would like to do it in illustrator.
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Well, you are rightly choosing the correct tool for the job, particularly if the art contains hundreds of vector objects. So that brings it back around to your thread-opening statement:
“I have a project where I need the end art work to be turned in as vector layers in photoshop.”
Why? Who says so?
John M:
All of the vim with none of that annoying vigor. -
heh.. the client of course. i believe it has to do with how flash will handle this asset later on but as an artist you don’t always know.
But even with out this current reason I would love to have a way to seamlessly go from illustrator to PS and stay vector and not have to recolor.
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>>the client of course. i believe it has to do with how flash will handle this asset later on
That’s very interesting, since AI can export to flash. I can’t say the same for PS. So I have no clue how the “client” is going to export vector work to flash from PS. But usually the client knows everything better than anyone else, so I’d say they can deal with it.
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