Scaling

[Joseph342635309sty]

Hello, this is my first post and I looked for answers all over the internet but was not able to find anyone to help with my question. My question,  how do i correctley size a picture I have taken and properly scale in Photoshop so I can import to Illustrator to create an image to trace to produce a pattern. Im sure there has to be some math involved. I was curious on if anyone might have some insight and able to point or guide me in the right direction. Thank you for any help you might be able to provide.

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

@Joseph342635309sty my question is why do you need to scale the image? Is it too small or large when you bring it into Illustrator? Too large isn't an issue - you can resize in AI for Image Trace.

[Joseph342635309sty]

My concern is if I am taking a picture of a vehicle hood, i want to be able to import to illustrator to create a graphic that will fit close to exact. I know depending on the material I use I may have to go back and edit the ai.

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Why not just scale the image in Illustrator to fit your artwork? Since the end results is an Image Trace, there shouldn't be an issue unless you are drastically upscaling.

[Joseph342635309sty]

So my question would be this, and thank you for taking the time to answer my noob questions,  if I take a picture of the hood and in true dimensions its say 60in long by 48in wide, would I need to have to do anything in photoshop to properly adjust or scale prior to importing to illustrator?  I was concerned if there was a 'script' i needed to use.  Also, the other item that has me wondering is the distance the camera is from the hood. 

[Lumigraphics]

Measure the hood and use rulers and guides in Illustrator to get the correct size. Illustrator is designed for precise work and you would scale there. I'd recommend setting up a test image, print it on a wide format printer, and slap it on the car to see if it fits.

[Joseph342635309sty]

Thank you for your help. The reason I was asking if there was anything i needed to do in photoshop is that I have used a scanner to typically do the initail trace in illustrator but wanted to try something more accurate if possible. Didnt know if using a camera at a specific distance from the object then running through photoshop could create a scaled jpg I could drag into illustrator and trace and come out with a near to true sizing design

[Lumigraphics]

No, that's not going to work. Rulers are 100% accurate.

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

@Joseph342635309sty normally you don't design at full scale 60" x 48" will be a very large sized image.

There is no scripting involved. You should do some research with your vendor to see what scale they want the final artwork done in.

[davescm]

Bear in mind that many camera lenses will introduce some image distortion and even where that is not the case, a car hood (bonnet here in the UK) is usually curved not flat, so an image design that exactly fits the photograph may not exactly fit the hood. I would take some measurements.

Dave