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joey.v1985
joey.v1985
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Convert font / shape from photoshop into clean vector

Sep 12, 2012 9:08 AM

Hey guys

 

So I have an ongoing problem. I try and try to get my head around how vector points work... within Illustrator and within the pen tool in Photoshop and just cannot get to grips with it. So when i create a logo I tend to start my work in photoshop where generally i will end up with a font and a shape.

 

Now i understand the basics, such as not resizing the shapes / fonts if they are rasterized etc and generally keeping things crisp looking within photoshop but my problem comes when trying to turn my reletivly simple font and shape into a vector based image so that it can be scaled up and down

 

My logos look immaculate when viewed at 100% in photoshop, but as soon as i create a work path from the selection it never makes a crisp path, with all the correct curves and straight edges that i expect to see.

 

Up till now, i always assumed it was just the original fonts that i use and they just arent created completly smooth. But now my work path is really wonky. Whether i use a tolerence of 0.5 or not.. it just doesnt hug my lettering at all. The marching ants i see are even better placed than the work path.

 

So i guess in summary i would like to know if the above is an issue i can work around? or a good method of creating smooth, crisp vectors from fonts / shapes preferably within photoshop... but i dont mind if illustrator is needed at the end for brief usage.

 

Thanks

 

Ps. I use CS6

2590 Views   16 Replies   Latest reply: conroy, Sep 13, 2012 4:03 AM
 
Replies
  • Mylenium
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    1. Mylenium,
    Sep 12, 2012 9:21 AM   in reply to joey.v1985
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    It would be best if you provided screenshots. I get this nagging feeling that you are either not understanding how vectors rasterize for preview purposes (which is often simply perceived as misalignment or jagged edges) or working at way too low DPI in turn affecting the preview quality as well as the "precision" of any manually traced elements.

     

    Mylenium

     
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  • joey.v1985
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    2. joey.v1985,
    Sep 12, 2012 9:59 AM   in reply to Mylenium
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    Ok, well DPI is something i have never altered or looked into. ... so it could very well be that

     

    Screenshots (for some reason i cant upload to this forum):

     

    this is the logo in photoshop... this is how i want the final logo to look: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/337/25445892.jpg/

     

    and this is the workpath within photoshop, so can see its quite messy: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/706/26540568.jpg/

     

    and finally this is the path within illustrator which clearly shows how wonky it all is: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/267/23852593.jpg/

     

     

    Thanks for your time

     

    PS. if you reply telling me to adjust DPI, then i will need to be treated like a dummy because i have never looked into that. So where can i change it and what is the recomended number to change it too and why.

     
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  • station_two
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    3. station_two,
    Sep 12, 2012 11:05 AM   in reply to joey.v1985
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    joey.v1985 wrote:

     

    …Screenshots (for some reason i cant upload to this forum)…

     

    These forums are designed to be accessed through their web interface.

     

    Just use the little camera icon in the Reply Bar of the Editor window:

     

    camera_icon.jpg

     

    Here are your screen shots:

     

    25445892.jpg

     

    26540568.jpg

     

    23852593.jpg

     

    If you are using email to post and reply to the forum, be advised that any and all attachments will just vanish into cybervoid.

     

    Also, you will not see any edits to post if you use email, as edits are never broadcast.

     
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  • joey.v1985
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    4. joey.v1985,
    Sep 12, 2012 11:09 AM   in reply to station_two
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    Thanks for doing that for me...

     

    I did click that camera icon and chose to upload off my computer, but the insert image button remained greyed out.

     

    Anyway, its done now thanks :-)

     
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  • SRiegel
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    5. SRiegel,
    Sep 12, 2012 11:29 AM   in reply to joey.v1985
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    What is your reason for not creating this directly in Illustrator? The way you are trying this looks like a lot of extra work, and will not give you the results you want. Illustrator is made for this kind of job.

     
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  • station_two
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    6. station_two,
    Sep 12, 2012 11:33 AM   in reply to SRiegel
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    SRiegel wrote:

     

    What is your reason for not creating this directly in Illustrator?…

     

    Agreed 100%.

     
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  • joey.v1985
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    7. joey.v1985,
    Sep 12, 2012 11:37 AM   in reply to SRiegel
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    Generally because Illustrator gives me a headache doing things that i so very quickly do in Photoshop.

     

    Ideally i would like to do the graphic in photoshop then simply send it to illustrator to convert to a scalable vector

     

    If the answer is that i can't do this... then i will try and learn Illustrator abit more from now on

     

    :-)

     
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  • SRiegel
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    8. SRiegel,
    Sep 12, 2012 11:40 AM   in reply to joey.v1985
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    If you want to end up with pure vectors, you will need to work in Illustrator. That's just the nature of the progams; Photoshop for raster, Illustrator for vector. Each can incorporate some of the other, but it's a matter of using the right tool for the job. Try Lynda.com or Visual Quickstart if you prefer a book.

    And you can always come back to the Illustrator forum here for help as you go along.

     
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  • conroy
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    9. conroy,
    Sep 12, 2012 11:57 AM   in reply to joey.v1985
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    I agree with others that you could have made the logo in Illustrator.

     

    However, since you used Photoshop...

     

    You seem to have created a logo using Shape and Type layers, rasterized that, and are now vectorizing the raster image.

     

    You can skip the rasterizing and re-vectorizing. Just save the Shapes and Type Photoshop document as a regular layered Photoshop document file and open that with Illustrator. Illustrator will read the Shapes and Type, the Type will even remain as editable Type.

     
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  • station_two
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    10. station_two,
    Sep 12, 2012 12:10 PM   in reply to SRiegel
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    SRiegel wrote:

     

    …That's just the nature of the progams; Photoshop for raster, Illustrator for vector…

     

    Of course.  I like to think of Photoshop as my digital darkroom and of Illustrator as my graphics or drawing program, then InDesign if their respective end products need to be integrated.

     

    Not that I'd recommend necessarily buying an artificial suite.  I run different versions of the point applications as suitable.  Some applications really don't need to be upgraded past a certain point—except for compatibility issues with the OS.

     

    As an example, I can't think of a single feature I would need or want in a word processor that wasn't already there in Microsoft Word 5.1 for Mac twenty years ago.

     

    In that same vein, Illustrator 10.0.3 and InDesign 2.0.2 suit me just fine. 

     
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  • joey.v1985
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    11. joey.v1985,
    Sep 12, 2012 12:26 PM   in reply to conroy
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    I think thats the most helpful answer conroy. I wasnt aware i could open PSD in illustrator. I will try that soon and hope it fits my bill.

     

    I just want to avoid Illustrator where possible really. Not that i plan on never learning though, because i will!

     
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  • SRiegel
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    12. SRiegel,
    Sep 12, 2012 12:38 PM   in reply to conroy
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    conroy

    I didn't know you could do that. I'll file that away--could be useful down the road.

     
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  • conroy
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    13. conroy,
    Sep 12, 2012 3:48 PM   in reply to SRiegel
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    Not every Shape will be faithfully maintained when a PSD is opened into Illustrator.

     

    Type and solid-colour filled Shapes, like the OP's logo, will be safe.

     

    Gradient-filled Shapes come into Illustrator as images.

     

    Don't expect the new stroke attribute of Shapes in CS6 to be maintained by Illustrator, except perhaps by the latest version. If a PSD is saved with Maximum Compatibility then a raster image of a stroked Shape will appear in Illustrator. If the PSD is saved without Max Compat, a vector shape without the stroke will appear.

     
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  • JJMack
    3,413 posts
    Jan 9, 2006
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    14. JJMack,
    Sep 12, 2012 9:34 PM   in reply to joey.v1985
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    I created a quick logo somthing like yours. See if its anything like your trying to do.  I used the text tool to create a "jpmedia" text layer.  I positioned it thec converted it to a shape. I then copied the pathe and draged out a bunch og guide lines.  I used the direct select tool to reposition the dot on the i below the i.   I the uset the pen tool to creat the whatever in front of the jpmedia and the elipse too ro remove the circle.  I the use the Path to create a white and a black shape laye. Delete the orifinat text pathe sace this psd file. Its onle 580KB http://www.mouseprints.net/old/dpr/jpmedia.psd

     

    jpmedia.jpg

     
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  • joey.v1985
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    15. joey.v1985,
    Sep 13, 2012 2:28 AM   in reply to JJMack
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    Wow, thankyou so much JJMack. Never would have expected someone to put in all that effort.

     

    I actually decided to take it on the chin, and use Illustrator fearlessly, without giving up. I found things alot nicer to use once i realised the whole right hand side panel was actually hidden.. i never knew it existed. So simple things like changing colors is now easy! With abit of headache around changing text into an object and making overlapping paths cut out the paths underneath i finally cracked it...

     

    If uploading pictures wasn't broken on my PC or browser, id upload it.

     

    But for now, just accept my thanks whoever helped :-) Mainly it was just a nudge in the right direction, that Illustrator HAD to be used

     
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  • conroy
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    16. conroy,
    Sep 13, 2012 4:03 AM   in reply to joey.v1985
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    joey.v1985 wrote:

     

    Illustrator HAD to be used

     

    That's not correct. Illustrator could read a Photoshop document containing JJ's vector logo. The vector logo could also be saved from Photoshop as a PDF for Illustrator.

     
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