Any tricks for photoshop vector to Illustrator vector??

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
July 11, 2023
3 replies
2301 views

Omg, I stupidly built a whole (huge) file in Photoshop with all vector files, assuming I could export this file as a vector-based pdf. But now I am reading that photoshop can't export to vector. I could remake the whole thing in Illustrator, but that will take AGES. Does anyone have a trick for me to get this file to export as a vector-based pdf or to more quickly get all of the imagery into Illustrator in the same positioning as it was in Photoshop?

macOS

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D Fosse

Community Expert

Outputting a smart object will always rasterize it. Don't use smart objects.

Photoshop is a pixel-based raster editor, not a vector editor! It is possible to output vector elements from Photoshop, but only under special circumstances and you need to watch everything all the way to avoid rasterizing. Photoshop will always "want" to rasterize everything.

In short - use Illustrator for this.

sarahpellerAuthor

Known Participant

Yes, I of course have always known that you use Illustrator for vector editing and use Photoshop for pixel-based editing. However, I thought that if you placed a vector file and did not edit it, it would stay a vector. But it seems that as soon as I placed that vector file into Photoshop, it automatically rasterizes it. That's my question. Does Photoshop always automatically rasterize ever vector placed into a Photoshop file? I'm not even talking about exporting or saving. Just wondering if upon placing the file into a photoshop file, if it automatically rasterizes at that moment.

D Fosse

Community Expert

It doesn't rasterize the smart object content when you place it - but the point is that the smart object will always be rasterized on any kind of output. A smart object is a container that cannot be output as-is, it has to be rasterized. So at the moment of output, anything inside that smart object is flattened and output as pixels.

c.pfaffenbichler

Community Expert

But now I am reading that photoshop can't export to vector.

That seems like a flat out falsehood.

Shape Layers and Type Layers (without faux-styles at least) should be able to output just fine as vector and type data in pdf (and eps).

And have you tried simply opening the psd file with Illustrator with »Convert Layers to Objects«?

Could you please post screenshots with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Paths, Options Bar, …) visible?

sarahpellerAuthor

Known Participant

@c.pfaffenbichler @Kevin Stohlmeyer I did try these methods, but I am messing something up along the process, if indeed you can output to vector in photoshop...

I made a video to explain a couple more things: https://www.dropbox.com/s/r1dtzaor9lxof55/what%20am%20I%20doing%20wrong%3F.mov?dl=0

Thank you sooo much for your words of wisdom! Hopefully when you see this video you'll catch where I am going wrong. Thanks!