Colors Change

[eyemaze]

Hi,

When I drag my Photoshop file into Illustrator all the colors change. How do I get the original colors or is there another way to turn my Photoshop file into a vector format?

Thanks

[jane-e]

What happens when you choose File > Place?

[Monika Gause]

Do the colors in the Photoshop file change or the colors in the Illustrator document (the latter would be highly unlikely and would point to some more serious issues)

Most likely is different color modes: your Illustrator document is CMYK, your Photoshop file is RGB. And you may have overprint preview on or the like.

What do you know about color modes?

[eyemaze]

File > Place doesn't work, the same thing happened.

The colors in Illustrator document change from how they looked in Photoshop.

I think your right about CMYK and RGB.

I don't know anything about color modes. I am a newbie.

What can I do now because I made about 40 t-shirt designs in photoshop and I need them to be vector.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

You will need to re-crete them in Illustrator anyway. Importing the PSD into Illustrator is not enough.

Depending on how they will be printed, the color in your file might not matter at all. Will that be plotted out of foil? Or printed directly onto the shirt? screen printing?

Talk to the printer about the colors.

[jdanek]

"I don't know anything about color modes. I am a newbie."

Get Adobe's Print Publishing Guide.  You'll find it if you do a search on their site.  It's a reference book that spells out color modes, print processes, and terminology.  Very good read to get you started.

"What can I do now because I made about 40 t-shirt designs in photoshop and I need them to be vector."

Not sure where you are with your designs, but like Monika suggests, you have to nail down how you want the shirts printed before you can get into file preparations.  T-shirt printing is pretty complex.  You may want to find someone who can help you.  You've pretty much jumped into a snake pit.  If you could let us know what print method ( silkscreen, inkjet, dye sub, etc. ) you will be using, then we can try to help.

[eyemaze]

I will definitely check out Adobe's Print Publish Guide. Thanks for the tip.

I am in the snake pit aren't I?

I am doing some direct to garmet printing as well as screen printing.

Am I screwed?

[eyemaze]

and do you have a link to Adobe's Print Publish Guide? I can find it on Amazon, but not through the Adobe site.

THANK YOU!!!!

[Monika Gause]

Try this: Printing Guide for Creative Suite CS6, Acrobat « Caveat Lector

[jdanek]

Thank you Monika, I forgot they changed the name of vol. 3. 

"I am doing some direct to garmet printing as well as screen printing."

Yes, two very different processes and different file types.  I take it you are working with vendors already?  Have they seen your Photoshop files?

"Am I screwed?"

I don't know, how much time do you have to ramp-up?  You will not be able to pull it off by yourself.  Work with the print vendors and be honest.  If the can't help you, perhaps they can point you to someone who can.

[jdanek]

Actually, you can still purchase Adobe's Print Publishing Guide, Vol. 2...

Official Adobe Print Publishing Guide, Second Edition: The Essential Resource for Design, Production...

if that link does not work, just google "Adobe Print Publishing Guide" and it will be one of the first listed.

The "Print Publishing Guide" is different than the CS6 Print Guide which is application specific, typical scenarios encountered when setting up application files.

The Print Publishing Guide gets into areas such as spot colors,separations, trapping, resolution ( image vs. output ), etc., etc.