Import Layered Photshop file into Illustrator

[Kuttyjoe]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I just assumed that if I dragged and dropped a photoshop file into Illustrator that it would bring in all of it's layers as a minimum, and layer effects intact as a bonus.  But what I get is a flattened image, no layers, no effects.  Here is where it gets crazy.  I open the same Illustrator file in Affinity Designer. Then I drag and drop the same Photoshop file into the open Illustrator file and the whole thing comes in, layers and all, and the fx are are still live as well as layer multiply, pass through folders etc.  Am I to understand that Affinity Designer which I paid $49.00 for can handle a Photoshop file better than Adobe Illustrator?  I've been an Adobe user for like 30 years!  I was certain that this was possible but I hope at this point I'm just missing something. But if I am, it is still a failure that whatever I'm missing is not as simple as it is with Affinity Designer.  Well, there's 1 extra step in Affinity Designer.  It drags in like a linked file. Double click and it expands the whole thing into a separate document.  At first, I didn't understand what had happened other than I was looking at all of the layers and stuff. Then I copied all of it and pasted it into the illustrator file and that was it.  I had everything I needed.

[Bobby Henderson]

You have to use the File>Open or File>Place command to bring layered Photoshop artwork into Illustrator as layered objects rather than a flattened image. The file import options setting must be checked when opening or placing the artwork. That will bring up the dialog box that allows the image to be imported either as layered objects or one flattened image. When using the Place command the "Link" button has to be unchecked in order for the PSD imagery to import as separate layered objects.

I disagree with the notion Affinity Designer can handle Photoshop PSD files better than Illustrator. Affinity Designer has a number of serious limitations. I find it especially annoying the application still does not support OpenType Variable fonts (or OpenType-SVG fonts either).

[Kuttyjoe]

I tried everything. File/open. File place.  Drag and drop.  I get the dialog with options to convert layers to objects but it still comes in as flat image. Link button checked/unchecked makes no difference.  If checked, you still have the opportunity to embed it, and when you do it asks to convert to layers or flatten layers.  The result is flat image no matter what I choose.

 I agree that Affinity Designer has lots of limitations compared to Illustrator, but this particular situation it's making Adobe look ridiculous, and I'm feeling ridiculous.   This is not the only situation where Affinity Designer is better than Adobe.  AD can open webp images, no problem. Adobe can't.  AD can copy/paste transparent images from a web browser.  Adobe can't.  Those are things I can remember quickly because I'm dealing with them daily and pitifully using AD to "help out Adobe".  Another thing.  Affinity Designer can open pdf documents without utterly destroying all of the text.  Illustrator can't.  AD also doesn't have a problem with missing linked images.  It opens them as if they're not missing.  Still I can name a hundred things that Illustrator has better than AD, but for what I pay for Adobe software I truly expect it to be better at dealing with it's own formats.  Not being able to import this layered psd file into Illustrator is kind of unforgiveable. One more thing.  Illustrator is really bad at opening SVG files.  So bad that I use AD as my default application for opening SVG files.

[Kuttyjoe]

I just tried something.  I made a photoshop file with 5 layers. They're basically empty layers except I colored each layer a different color.  I dragged and dropped it into Illustrator and it created the layers.  This proves that Affinity Designer is better at this because Illustrator can not open the more complex layered Photoshop file which has effects, etc.  Affinity Designer brings all of that stuff in live.

[Bobby Henderson]

I don't know what's going on with your installation of Adobe Illustrator. I can get layered PSD files to open or place into Illustrator just fine using the steps I described. Every time. Dragging and dropping PSD files into the Illustrator window will only yield a flattened image. But I don't see that as much of a limitation.

Regarding PDF files, those things aren't really meant to be edited. The content is supposed to be viewed or printed. Illustrator-saved PDFs with Illustrator editing capability left intact are the only kinds of PDFs that can open cleanly. I can easily create PDFs that Affinity Designer would be unable to import accurately. Much of it comes down to the application generating the PDF and the features or effects going into it. Unlike Illustrator, Affinity Designer has no extensible architecture for plugins. I don't like having to fool around harvesting art elements out of PDF files, but Astute Graphics' Vector First Aid plugin for Illustrator makes the task far less of a headache.

[Kuttyjoe]

I think the reall take home message here is that Illustrator is capable of opening a simple file without a problem.  It open via placing, drag/drop, or file/open.  All 3 ways work fine with the very simple photoshop file I created.  But, the more complex Photoshop file can only open in Illustrator as a flat image.  Look at these screen shots.  This is an even more complex layered photoshop file.  In Affinity Designer it opens beautifully with everything live in the layers.  In Illustrator, it's a flat image regardless of how I try to import it.  It's stunning to be honest.  Even if Affinity Designer is nowhere near as capable as Adobe Illustrator, it is far superiro at opening Photoshop files.  It's so much better that it looks like I'm making a joke here, but this is a poster template I downloaded from freepik so you could try it yourself.

  

[Monika Gause]

I'm seeing effects on basically every layer of that PSD file. That can't work in Illustrator.

Affinity has an architecture where basically the files of all the apps can be opened in each of them interchangably. Affinity Photo can be opened in Affinity Designer and so can PSD. This architecture limits Designer and Publisher also considerably for the more complex publishing stuff.  

[Kuttyjoe]

Regarding the pdf documents, in my line of work I don't get to pick and choose the condition that they arrive on my desk.  Either way, if a $49.00 program can do it then certainly one that costs me $23.00 every month should be able to do it.  Especially considering that it is Adobe's own format.   We have to be realistic.  This is not a good look for Adobe.

[Bobby Henderson]

I have the current version of Affinity Designer. I've also used CorelDRAW for a really long time. When it comes to repairing customer provided artwork in the form of PDF files I'd much rather use Illustrator for the task. The Vector First Aid plugin pays for itself with the amount of time I save. If I have to hand-trace new vectors over the top of a pixel-based graphic I strongly prefer using Illustrator for that. The keyboard shortcuts for the Pen Tool, zooming in/out and hand panning the view of the artwork and quite a few other things just blow away the rivals. I can accurately hand trace clean paths over sketched artwork must faster in Illustrator than I can any other vector drawing program. The only exception is CorelDRAW for certain technical drawing tasks. Its simple keyboard shortcuts for aligning and distributing objects is extremely convenient.

Affinity Designer is good for a lot of basic vector design tasks. I've recommended it to people who are amateur/hobbyist users that want to do some creative work on a modest budget. I would certainly prefer dealing with a customer provided .afdesign file than handling these terrible SVG and PDF files generated by Canva that I've been getting lately.

In my line of work I have to deal with customer provided artwork with an astonishing wide range of quality. Sometimes the files are clean, professional and ready to go into production. Most of the time the artwork has problems. The list of problems just seems to only grow as people find more D-I-Y Design alternatives.

But here's the thing: we do not repair or re-create customer provided files for free. We'll let them know what's wrong with the art and how much time we'll need to spend to fix the issues (and how much that time will cost). It's not our problem if they get their noses bent out of joint because we can't simply roll with the first JPEG image of a "logo" they found on their computer. Some art files are just un-usable garbage. Unfortunately many customers don't know any difference. They just think a computer file is a computer file and therefore "perfect." But when they see the bill-able design time situation most will usually make some calls or talk to some colleagues and get us proper artwork. There is no point in us wasting time re-creating their company logo in vector format if they already have such a file sitting around somewhere.

[Kuttyjoe]

I agree with you 100% about the big picture. I also do the vast majority of my work in Illustrator, but I end up using these other applications as helper apps. And sometimes it's just shameful.  Why is Illustrator so bad with opening SVG files.  Why is Illustrator so bad at opening photoshop files when a cheap program does such a good job?  That's really all I'm saying.  And you mentioned Astute Graphics. I also use Astute Graphics plugins and sometimes I find myself thinking, Illustrator really should be doing some of this stuff natively.  One thing I do many times a day is batch crop a bunch of images.  The method that Illustrator implemented for cropping images is so slow that I debate with myself all the time whether or not I should just mask it to save time instead of fiddling with it.  But Astute Graphics plugin can grab 20 images and crop them all together with a single click.  I think Illustrator should be able to do that.  The crop feature in Illustrator is really inadequate.

[Bobby Henderson]

Regarding how bad Illustrator is at opening SVG files, some of that has to do with the app creating the SVG file (hence one of my complaints about Canva). It seems like every app that can generate SVG files puts their own spin on it. Even Inkscape does it. I feel like SVG is the new PDF: a format that can display vector graphics but isn't edit-friendly. SVG also has the glaring RGB-only limitation.

As far as cropping images goes, I'd rather use Photoshop for that. I'll place images into Illustrator layouts and do things like stick them into clipping mask containers. But I don't do anything "destructive" to the images.

[Kuttyjoe]

If the problem is a poorly formed SVG, yet it's not a problem for Affinity Designer, then why would I make excuses for Illustrator which costs exponentially more than Affinity Designer?

For cropping images, doing it non-destructively is an option, but I'm talking specifically about the destructive kind.  Illustrator has a way of doing it that is slow, clunky, and can only be done on a single image at a time so it's not production friendly.  Astute Graphics allows me to select however many images at the same time, and it doesn't matter if my selection includes other objects such as text and vectors.  It will only operate on the images.  With a single click it crops every image.  I don't even have to carefully pick out images from among all of the other objects.  I can actually just do Control/A and select everything.  It saves a ton of time.  Illustrator should do that natively.

[Bobby Henderson]

Adobe Illustrator is not a pixel-based image editing application. Apps like Photoshop and Lightroom are for that. Using Illustrator to crop images is like using a dinner fork to do gardening work. It's not the right tool for the job.

Illustrator is primarily a vector graphics editor. Of all the improvements and new features Illustrator needs, more of those needs are in the vector realm. I think Illustrator has enough duplicate features from Photoshop as it is. I don't think Illustrator needs a bunch of 3D features either. I would prefer it if they put more work into Adobe Dimension, including making it easy to bring existing 2D vector artwork from Illustrator into Dimension to then manipulate in 3D space. That's a pain in the neck currently.

Some people want a single application to "do it all," be an image editor, vector graphics editor, do multi-page layout, do 3D, etc -just so they don't have to switch between applications. I have no problem clicking Alt+Tab to jump between Illustrator, Photoshop or whatever else I have open. I think it's much better to have separate applications that focus on specific things. An app that supposedly does it all would be Jack of all Trades, King of None. Plus the developers would be having to manage a far more bloated pile of code more prone to bugs and harder to fix.

[Kuttyjoe]

"Using Illustrator to crop images is like using a dinner fork to do gardening work."

Adobe has had some basic image editing features for decades. If you disagree, then you should let Adobe know that. Furthermore, EVERY vector software has some basic image editing tools.  Your comment is like saying that a pickup truck shouldn't be used for carrying groceries.  Adobe recognizes the way that people actually work and that is why they've added those tools.

"I think Illustrator has enough duplicate features from Photoshop as it is. "

Well, Adobe disagrees with you in general about the image editing tools in Illustrator.  I just think that if you're going to add a tool like that, then it should be properly fleshed out.  It's an interesting opinion you have there though.  If a person is working in Illustrator and needed to crop 30 images, it's better to take 30 time longer to do it in Photoshop, than to do it with a single click in Illustrator. 

"Some people want a single application to "do it all," be an image editor, vector graphics editor, do multi-page layout, do 3D, etc -just so they don't have to switch between applications."..."Jack of all Trades, King of None."..

Well there it goes...  I kind of figured you would go off the deep end eventually. I talked about a crop tool that could crop more than 1 image.  And I guess you just want a good argument about something else.

[Bobby Henderson]

"Adobe has had some basic image editing features for decades."

If you're talking about Illustrator, that's wrong. Illustrator has come from some very primitive beginnings. The main purpose for modern versions of Illustrator having some Photoshop-like functions is to provide some inter-operability with Photoshop-based content. Illustrator is not, and should never ever be, a replacement for Photoshop.

"Well, Adobe disagrees with you in general about the image editing tools in Illustrator."

Are you an Adobe employee, or executive? How do you speak for Adobe?

"Well there it goes... I kind of figured you would go off the deep end eventually. I talked about a crop tool that could crop more than 1 image. And I guess you just want a good argument about something else."

You're wanting Illustrator to do destructive editing to pixel based images. Illustrator is a lousy choice for doing that. Photoshop is faster and better at doing that. You can run actions to crop entire folders worth of images using Photoshop. But you don't want to switch apps. That's why I "went off the deep end." describing the very common request from people (usually newer users) to have one graphics app do everthing. While we're being blunt, I think the only purpose of this thread is to troll and sell Affinity Designer.

[Kuttyjoe]

"The main purpose for modern versions of Illustrator is...."

Finish that sentence with..."for me".   Nothing more.

'Illustrator is not, and should never ever be, a replacement for Photoshop."

Again, off the deep end.  Who said it should be a replacement for Illustrator?  I actually used words like "basic image editing", which has been a part of Illustrator for as long as I can remember, but you're still talking about "replacement for Photoshop".

"Are you an Adobe employee, or executive? How do you speak for Adobe?"

The features you're railing against are already in Illustrator. That would seem to suggest that Adobe disagrees with you but who knows, maybe Adobe regrets their choices.

"You're wanting Illustrator to do destructive editing to pixel based images."

It already does!  What part of that is troubling you?  It already has quite a bit of destructive image editing tools and frankly I like those tools a lot.  I talked about the crop tool specifically and simply wishing it were able to crop more than one image at a time, and you jumped off the deep end about Illustrator replacing Photoshop.

"You can run actions to crop entire folders worth of images using Photoshop."

Why would I waste time CREATING a fold full of images?  Make it make sense.  Why would anybody who understands the value of time export images out of illustrator into a folder, then use a batch action in Photoshop to crop them all, then bring them all back into Illustrator???   The only reason to do that is if you had no other choice.  Not because it make sense!  But with Astute Graphics plugin, I can select all of those images right there where they are in Illustrator and click a single button and crop them all at one.  Even with the wonderful batch editing of Photoshop, it is still a huge waste of time compared to a single click.  Didn't you mention that you use Astute Graphics plugins?  That feature is a part of their plugins so I'm guessing that you are refusing to use it because, "Illustrator is not supposed to do destructive image editing?"

I would bet money that if Adobe found somebody using Illustrator in a way that even Adobe had not thought of, they would happily feature that person in their promotions.  And I guess you would send them a message railing against the proper and improper ways of using their software.

"But you don't want to switch apps. "

I don't want to waste time.   If switching apps wastes time, then you are correct, I don't want to do it.  In the real world, the work that people do in Illustrator involves images quite often.  I know it sounds crazy but it's true.  Having recognized that, Adobe saw fit to add a smattering of image editing tools directly into Illustrator.  That was good.   Adobe did the same thing with vector tool in Photoshop, and again with Indesign.  I agree with Adobe.  You mentioned Coreldraw.  Coreldraw has a whole lot more image editing features than Illustrator, plus their own full blown photo editor.  I never hear Coreldraw users saying that the image editing tools are wrong and shouldn't be there.  They love those tools and I used them too when I was a Coreldraw user. 

[TheHetster]

I am having the same problem, and my file is not complex at all!. Yes, I got many leyers, but they have no effects, they are simply square colored flat leyers. I have tried everything and lost days investigating and trying over and over, no matter what, I still got a flat image in AI. 

[Monika Gause]

PLease show the Layers panel in Photohop.

[TheHetster]

 

[Monika Gause]

Your rectangles are inside a group. What happens if they are not?

[TheHetster]

It worked. Thanks Monika