Modifying Illustrator File in Photoshop

[Geobop]

I downloaded an EPS vector and placed it in an Illustrator 2021 document.  I want to get rid of the portion of the file that protrudes form the artboard. I've spent the last few hours exploring tutorials on how to use the eraser, lasso, knife, scissors, and Object > Path > Divide Objects Below. Nothing works.

I thought the problem might be the fact that the image is linked to the original. So I looked for tutorials on how to unembed, but they never match version 2021, and Illusrator > Help has no listing for Unembed, Embed, Unlink or Delink. I deleted the original, but that didn't help, either.

I can easily open the EPS file in Photoshop and trim it as needed. Is there some way I can save it in a format that I can then import back into Illustrator without losing the vector thing? In other words, I want the end produce to be a vector image that I can save as a SVG file.

Thanks.

[Mylenium]

I'm not clear what you are asking. Have you actually opened the file onj its own in AI just to check? From the sound of it it already contains pixel data, hence why it us so uncooperative. You may be tryxing to solve an issue that is unavoidable and then converting it to SVG would not even make sense. eitehr way, without more specific info and things such as screenshots nobody can tel lfor certain.

Mylenium

[Geobop]

Good tip. I'm not familar with the various formats yet, so maybe this image isn't actually a vector. I'll try some of the tips offered below and see if I can figure it out. Thanks.

[Alexandre Luypaert]

If I understand you correctly , you want to use a downloaded file and keep it vectorised ? 

Most of the time the EPS / SVG files you find online are huge amount of vectors which are grouped. 

You can always try to ungroup first. 

Otherwise if it's easy to select, i would suggest you use the "WHITE POINTER" ( Shortcutkey :  "A" ). 

With this  you can select all the unnecessary parts in that file and delete them . The white cursor isn't group bounded in countrary of the black one.

If this sufficiant , you can always expand the appearance . You can do this by going to : " OBJECT - EXPAND APPEARANCE "

And last of all , if it's more like a image , you can always use " IMAGE TRACE "

[Alexandre Luypaert]

And then you can save this file as an asset to use it in other Adobe software ofc 🙂 

[Monika Gause]

Can you please show a screenshot?

EPS files aren't necessarily vector files.

[Test Screen Name]

Short answer: you absolutely can't use Photoshop on a vector file, then save it back so Illustrator still has all the vectors. You probably need to focus on help with the "nothing works" thing you said, you need to solve this in Illustrator.

[Test Screen Name · Accepted solution]

I wonder if it's worth saying, you may be making a lot of unnecessary difficulty for yourself. In general people don't try to delete all the parts of oversized graphics. There are cases where it is absolutely impossible, or can't be done without quality loss or design change. What people normally do is simply put a mask or path around the graphics. In Indesign every graphic is in a box which automatically cuts off. The only time people fuss about deleting is if there is sensitive info, or massive wasted file size.