Adobe Community: Image flattened when exporting to Photoshop

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1. Wade_Zimmerman,

Feb 20, 2010 5:10 AM in reply to badlittlemonkey

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Illustrator tries to maintain the layers etc. It does not guarantee it will.

So it depends on what you have in your file. It would be nice to see the a screen shot of the file in PS with the layers panel

you might not want to show the whole image because of your copyright but you can place the layers panel on top of the image
so it obstructs part of it. Just show enough of it so we can tell what is going on.

You may have no choice in some cases except to copy and paste from PS to AI.

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2. badlittlemonkey,

Feb 20, 2010 5:38 AM in reply to Wade_Zimmerman

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OK. I've attached a screenshot of the Photoshop window. Although the Layers Panel shows Layer1 + layer 2, I can't open them. Sorry if the screenshot is rubbish - it was my first ever attempt.

Attachments:

screenshot.gif (71.4 K)

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3. Wade_Zimmerman,

Feb 20, 2010 6:40 AM in reply to badlittlemonkey

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You only have one layer they have ben merge into one layer.

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4. badlittlemonkey,

Feb 20, 2010 7:23 AM in reply to Wade_Zimmerman

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That's my problem. In Illustrator, I have 2 layers - each with their own groups, paths etc. but when I export the image to Photoshop the image gets flattened and all the layers become ONE uneditable layer. As in my original post, I have ensured that the boxes "Write Layers" and "Max Editability" are ticked, but then I get a window saying some containers have been flattened. I don't know why.

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5. Wade_Zimmerman,

Feb 20, 2010 10:29 AM in reply to badlittlemonkey

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Oh I see I misunderstood.

Again what you might have to do is copy or paste or better yet place it in Photoshop as a smart object,

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6. badlittlemonkey,

Feb 21, 2010 7:28 AM in reply to Wade_Zimmerman

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OK. So I've tried copy/paste and also placing but the results are always the same - the layers just get merged into one layer that I can't do anything with.

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7. Wade_Zimmerman,

Feb 21, 2010 9:42 AM in reply to badlittlemonkey

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So let me get this correctly…you made a photoshop document with two layers, you copy one layer in Illustrator and you pasted it into Photoshop on ne of the layers and then you copied the other layer in Illustrator and pasted that in the second layer in Photoshop and they automatically merged?

Is that correct!

I have to admit I never heard of this happening before.

I'm puzzled.

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8. badlittlemonkey,

Feb 21, 2010 10:43 AM in reply to Wade_Zimmerman

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No. I created an image with lots of layers in Illustrator and copied and pasted the whole thing into Photoshop, but instead of all the layers showing up in Photoshop I only get ONE merged layer which is uneditable. I get the same result when I Place or Export.

I read somewhere that this happens if you have lots of nested layers, but none of my layers are nested.

My reason for going from Illustrator to Photoshop is because I want to enhance the brightness and contrast on SOME of the layers in the image.

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9. Niles Ridgeman,

Feb 21, 2010 11:03 AM in reply to badlittlemonkey

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I think you are seeing two separate issues.

First, the illustrator is not exporting your layers because you have transparent elements. When it encounters transparency, it flattens everything below that object.

Second is if you are doing copy and paste between illustrator and photoshop: you need to paste as a smart object. If you don't have that as an option, your illustrator clipboard preferences might need changing [Illustrator:Preference…:File Handling and Clipboard:Set copy as to PDF].

You may want to copy and paste your layers individually to photoshop. It can help to have an extra (invisible) path to help align things in photoshop (just a rectangle at the top left can usually do it, or a frame around the whole thing).

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10. badlittlemonkey,

Feb 21, 2010 12:18 PM in reply to Niles Ridgeman

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Ah hah!!! That'd be it then - the transparencies!! My whole image is made up of transparencies. Oh well nevermind. Thanks for your help.

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11. Jean-Claude Tremblay,

Feb 21, 2010 12:41 PM in reply to badlittlemonkey

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Try that: Target each top layer and Enable KnockOut Group option in the transparency panel before exporting to PSD. You may also try the Isolate Blending option. Maybe this will allow you to export and preserve the top layer structure. But It might introduces some discrepancies between what you see in Illustrator and the exported PSD.

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12. mackerr,

Feb 25, 2010 8:31 AM in reply to Jean-Claude Tremblay

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IF . . . you have a copy of Freehand MX, one way of retaining layers when exporting from AI (CS3) to PS (CS3) is:

Save Illustrator document as Illustrator 8 file.

Open exported .ai file in Freehand MX (you should see all your layers in the Freehand document).

Export from Freehand to Photoshop 5 format selecting "Include Layers" checkbox in Setup.

Voila.

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13. DrewParagon,

Apr 19, 2010 9:11 AM in reply to Jean-Claude Tremblay

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I've tried your suggestion with the transparencies and Knockout Group but it still doesn't work. What Illustrator does is export the 1st 8 layers perfectly fine, then flattens the last 8 layers into 1 Photoshop layer. Is there a max # of layers when exporting to Photoshop from Illustrator?

I'm using CS4 and I can't remember ever having this problem with CS3.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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14. Niles Ridgeman,

Apr 20, 2010 8:49 PM in reply to DrewParagon

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I don’t think there are any limits. Bet you’ve got something on that 8th layer that is doing something that invokes transparency. Look for overprint, shadows… things like that.

Try removing the layer or objects until you find it.

Good luck!

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15. lightning4433,

May 7, 2011 4:21 PM in reply to badlittlemonkey

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Man, you guys are something else. Don't export the Illustator document to an open file in Photoshop. Just open Photoshop and hit open and select the name of the file in Illustrator you want to export to Illustrator. That's it. All layers should show up in Photoshop. Then do what ever you want with them.

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16. Wade_Zimmerman,

May 7, 2011 6:14 PM in reply to lightning4433

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You are correct should should show up but not guaranteed, is that correct?

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17. lightning4433,

May 7, 2011 6:21 PM in reply to Wade_Zimmerman

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Yeah, I just tried it and had problems but tried it again and it worked. A layers came up in photoshop.

Ronnie

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18. lightning4433,

May 7, 2011 6:47 PM in reply to Wade_Zimmerman

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Sorry for the typo about. It should read " select the name of the file in Illustrator you want to export to Photoshop."

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Image flattened when exporting to Photoshop

Feb 20, 2010 4:58 AM

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