Illustrator 10 - Importing a Photoshop file and changing it into a Vector Image

[Sean_Abbotts@adobeforums.com]

I created a logo within Photoshop (I know that I probably should have used Illustrator) and I am needing it to be a vector-based image. I opened it within Illustrator---the first time that I have used this software---and I don't know how I would change it from a raster based image to vector? Do I need to save it as an Illustrator file? I am getting the Classroom in a Book, but I don't have it yet and I am on a deadline.

Thanks for the help in advance!

OS/Version: 10.2.8 on a G4 with 512MB RAM
Product/Version: Illustrator 10
The original file was created with PhotoShop 7

[Gary_Newman@adobeforums.com]

Learning Illustrator on a dealine is probably not a good idea, but sometimes you gotta go with the flow. The best way to get a good clean vector logo from a pixel image is to trace it with the Pen tool in Illustrator. If you've never used Illustrator before - or the Pen tool in Photoshop - that's going to difficult to do and still have it look professional.

The next fallback you should look into is purchasing Adobe Streamline. You open your image in Streamline, set a few parameters, and render an Illustrator vector file. You won't get the finesse you'd get by manually drawing it in Illustrator, but it should be really close to looking just liek your Photoshop file.

When your Classroom in a Book arrives, study it, and get to know the Pen tool.

Good luck!

[Gloria_Chen@adobeforums.com]

It is probably better to use the pen tool in photoshop instead of Illustrator, since Illustrator will only display a low resolution preview. After outlining the logo in photoshop, save the path and then you can Export Path as an Illustrator format file. Open the path file and do as you wish in Illustrator.

[Gary_Newman@adobeforums.com]

If you’re getting a low-res preview of your image, you’re using a very old version of Illustrator. If you embed the image, it will have all the resolution it has in Photoshop. And it’s much easier to trace in Illustrator where you can assign a stroke color to it. In my opinion, of course.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

I would do this in Illustrator as well!

Are you sure you're not getting good previews in AI?

[Scott_Falkner@adobeforums.com]

I'd like to add that if the logo appears to be made up of primitive shapes )ovals, rectangles, stars, circles, et.c) then you'll get very clean and precise results drawing those shapes on top of the logo. Don't worry about overlaps, yet. Use a combinaion of these tools, scaling, rotating, and the pen tool. Then use Pathfinder Unite, and Pathfinder Divide to break shapes apart or merge them into combined shapes.

[Gill_Keeley@adobeforums.com]

I got very quick and satisfactory results using the auto trace tool for this very thing earlier today. I can see it's kinda crude and would never do for certain applications. But I had a lot of fun with it.

I painted spontaneous broad dabs and shapes with indian ink and a brush on paper, scanned them into Photoshop, imported them into Illustrator and autotraced each dab. It worked well I suppose because the black & white areas were so clearly defined.

Now I have a load of gorgeous vector dabs that I'm colouring and superimposing. The results remind me of those giant Matisse collages. So I am now good friends with the auto trace tool.

[Michael_Gianino@adobeforums.com]

Keep in mind, though, that just because it looks good on the screen, that doesn't mean it will print. Each shape is made up of anchor points with curves defined by those handles. Each anchor point and handle are a graphic interface to the underlying code. If the code doesn't make sense, or is too complicated, it could fail to print. Two items that look identical on the screen can be very different to the output device. A circle can be defined with four anchor points, but I have seen circles that have 100 or more. When used correctly, the pen tool gives you the ability to make your shapes exactly the way you want them, and you can make them as efficiently as possible.