Can't export AI file to PSD with layers

[nasaya mafaridik]

can someone please help me, i'm in a tight deadline and i'm not familiar with adobe illustrator.

i usually work (drawing and illustrating) in photoshop but the client sent me an illustrator file. we're working on a packaging design and i have to draw on it. i want to make all the layers from adobe illustrator to be exported to photoshop but sadly (and very frustrating) it's always came out as flattened. i've tried many times and watched many tutorials but no help. please, someone help me.

[Monika Gause]

Can you please tell us exactly how you are exporting it?

It might be a better idea to draw in Photoshop and then re-import that drawing without a background into the Illustrator packaging file.

[nasaya mafaridik]

i export it after following tutorials: ungroup everything, releasing clipping mask. then export as psd. but it's still have that "some containers will flatten" pop-up warning in illustrator.

the problem is my drawing will have some layers overlapping to each other (to the original file).

the original file kind of have a template and i want to draw beneath the template and above the templat (continuous illustration) but i don't know how to work this out if the layers are not separated in photoshop.

does this makes sense to you?

[Monika Gause]

Most probably certain objects in the Illustrator file are set to overprinting.

Or transparency. Or both.

If that is the case then the artwork will be flattened when exporting to Photoshop. Same will happen when you copy/paste.

Without a lot of knowledge about Illustrator I wouldn't dare to just continue editing that file in Photoshop.

Create your content and then place it in Illustrator into the original file.

[Bobby Henderson]

How is the final packaging design going to be output/printed? Is it going to be printed from a Photoshop file? Does it have to be printed from a Photoshop file?

Certain types of graphic elements work far better as vector-based objects than pixel-based elements in a Photoshop PSD layout. Logos, lettering and other hard edged graphical elements will print infinitely sharp if they are maintained as vector-based elements. It's possible to use elements from a layered Photoshop file within Adobe Illustrator or Adobe InDesign. Pixel-based photographs and other images from Photoshop can be mixed with vector-based logos, text blocks and other objects.

It is possible to paste objects from Illustrator into Photoshop. You can paste vector-based elements as smart objects. Or you can paste raw AICB paths into Photoshop. They will show up in Photoshop's paths palette as a "work path." Double-click on it to save the path as a named path so it doesn't get over-written by another work path later. AICB paths can be turned into selections to create fills or do other things. Illustrator has been able to paste vector paths into Photoshop before Photoshop supported layers (this is going back to the early 1990's, back when RAM cost $40 per megabyte).

Whenever I have to do multiple passes of copying/pasting elements from Illustrator into a Photoshop layout I'll usually do so by organzing the elements on an artboard or in a box the same size as the target Photoshop layout to keep registration intact. The Paths palette in Photoshop can hold a bunch of different path groups in their own boxed entries. The Free Transform tool in Photoshop can scale the Illustrator objects to snap to the edges of the Photoshop layout.