Take Vector Paths from Photoshop into Illustrator
Many times in the past I had found that I wanted to take a vector path from Photoshop (CS) and somehow get it to Illustrator for further use. There are lots of great and free Photoshop custom shapes out there, many of which might be more useful to you in Illustrator, if that’s what you prefer. That’s what Illustrator is for, right? Vectors.
Photoshop custom shapes come in vector format, just like drawing with the rectangle tool. Unfortunately, there aren’t as many custom shapes available for Illustrator, in the form of symbols. (at least not that I have encountered) I want to show you an easy way to get a vector path from Photoshop into Illustrator so you can take advantage of all those free custom shapes available out there, and possibly save you some time drawing.
Overview:
I’m using Photoshop CS
Photoshop has a nifty option to export a vector path for use in Illustrator (basically, save a path from your Phtotshop file as an AI). For the longest time I thought that I either had a buggy version of Photoshop, or I just wasn’t doing something right. Everytime I opened the Illustrator file that Photoshop output, I saw a blank canvas. Turns out that the path was there, it just had no stroke or fill, rendering it transparent.
There are lots of reasons you might want to do this, and It’s a shame you can’t just drag a layer between the 2 apps. (Maybe you can in CS2 I’m not sure, but not CS and earlier) There are also lots of ways to create vectors in Photoshop, but I want to show you the handy Custom Shape tool, because let’s face it. If you were going to actually draw a vector shape to use in Illustrator, you’d just draw it in Illustrator. We’re doing this to save time.
The fact is there are lots more free resources out there available for Photoshop, custom shapes included. A Photoshop custom shape is a vector shape similar to a symbol in illustrator, but you can draw them instantly by selecting which shape you want, not unlike a brush. (using Photoshop’s Custom Shape tool) You can also find and download Custom Shapes and install them in your Photoshop presets, just like you would a brush set.
There are lots of free Custom Shapes at deviantArt, but make sure you read the usage terms given by the authors.
Try it:
Open a new Photoshop document and select the “Custom Shape Tool.” (under the rectangle tool popout menu)
Select which custom shape you want to create:
If you don’t see a shape you are looking for, you can load more of Photoshops Default Custom Shape Libraries, and look around. Or you can download and install your own, like I mentioned earlier.
The Custom Shape Tool has a few handy options that might help you draw more precisely.
Once you have your shape selected, draw it on the Photoshop canvas.
Almost done. Now, make sure your vector mask is selected by checking your layers palette. . .
and go to File > Export > Paths to Illustrator.
Photoshop is going to save your vector as its own Illustrator file. SO, select a filename, location, and verify that you have the right vector mask from the dropdown. Click save.
Now go over to Illustrator and open your AI file that you just saved from Photoshop. You will probably notice that it looks like a blank artboard, but do a quick select all (command + A Mac, Control + A PC) and you will notice that your shape is there, just without a fill or stroke. Photoshop did exactly what it said it would. It exported the path and nothing more.
There you go! If you find interesting Custom Shapes for Photoshop, don’t worry, you can still use them in Illustrator too. It’s just a little harder. Still way faster than drawing them by hand. Now you can start to manipulate your shape and use it in your Illustrator designs.
In closing, I personally havent had much luck exporting more than one path at a time. Tips are welcome, because this is by no means a refined method.
Download the finished file if you like it
Includes: - AI (2) EPS (1) SVG (1)
Related Posts:
- Illustrator 101: One Gradient Across Multiple Paths
- Get More-Natural Adjustments with the Illustrator “Reshape” Tool
- The Power (and ease) of Patterns in Illustrator
- How to Make a Custom Illustrator Brush
- Improve Your Illustrator Workflow with Layer Masking
- 17 Tips that will save you time in Illustrator
Excellent tutorial as always! This is really handy, I have often wondered how to make nice shapes in Illustrator, now I just can use the embedded ones in Photoshop…
Thanks :D
I always drag and drop from PS to Illustrator. Both are CS versions.
Just open a new Illustrator document.
Make the vector shape in PS.
Use the path selection tool and drag the shape from PS to the new document in Illustrator.
It will then ask you if you want to be able to change your vectors or not. (don’t know the exact text. am translating from a Dutch version)
CS2 lets you copy and paste easily between photoshop and Illustrator, as well as vice versa.
I have CS2 and I use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy and paste paths from PS to AI.
I am using the paths of PS CS2 effectively, but after reading your handy techniques regarding Adobe Illustrator, i have started to use AI for vectorial applications.
NIce post as always. Very informative and instructional. I love how u take the time to get the screen shots in too!
Question:
Why is it Bittbox, that a lot of the making logo tutorials I see are for Photoshop?
Why would you make a logo in Photoshop? Shouldn’t you make it in Illustrator?
Maybe a lot of folks are doing this for the web and that’s why they are using PS but personally woudln’t you want a logo that could be scaled to any size?
Confused?
Lawton
I would definitely make a logo in Illustrator first. If you need to schnazz it up a little more, you can do it later, but as per my experience, a vector logo is the way to go in the beginning.
Don’t forget that PS has vectors too, and It also has more powerful effects. That could be another reason.
Definitely more web logos that are psd’s than other companies I think.
as usual, THE BEST! Thank You
can u tell me web addresses that I can download (nice) custom shapes? devian arts and other search engine results are not kinda junkies.
beautiful work, once again!
I am looking forward to using those in my future work, thanks a bunch!
Awesome! Thank you.
I had no idea…..glad i found out
Is there a way to do the same thing with Photoshop brushes? Is there any quick, easy way to create a work path for brushes?
Just realised that this was posted on my birthday…….hows about them apples….Oh yeah and this is for Arun…….the quickest way I found to creat work paths on brushes is to make a brush stroke on a blank sheet. (shift + W) Magic wand the backround. (Shift + command +I)Select invers. Go into your paths palette click the carrot and click make work path. Name your path. Click the carrot again and click clipping path. Make sue that ur path is highlighted in blue before you save it. And I suggest saving as a EPS if you plan on bringing it into illustrator. Then live trace from there. Save a new brush. And you should be set.
Im sure there is many other ways as well………
This is great, i have been wanting to do this for ages, thanks :)
@BittBox - thanx a lot again man! (/woman! ;)
@ BBdesignCo & Arun:
(Basically the same BBdesignCo, cut a few corners ;)
1. Create blank transparent doc in PS
2. Select the Brush, single click to put it on the canvas
3. Ctrl+Click the layer thumbnail to select the brush-shape on the canvas
4. Goto the Paths palette and click the button (below) ‘Make work path from selection’
5. Press ‘A’ for the black-arrow and drag around the brush-shape to totally select it
6 Drag it to an Illustrator document
I wish all lots of creative flows! :)
[...] haupts?chlich mit Illustrator. So ein Weblog wurde hier ?fters schon gesucht. Beitr?ge wie Paths from Photoshop into Illustrator verbinden dann beide [...]
[...] haupts?chlich mit Illustrator. So ein Weblog wurde hier ja ?fters schon gesucht. Beitr?ge wie Paths from Photoshop into Illustrator verbinden dann beide [...]
If I have a complex vector drawing in photoshop, is there a way to export it all to illustrator? i.e. I’m vectorizing a photograph but for some reason I am doing it in photoshop. But now, for some reason, I’d like to bring all the shapes into illustrator and work on it from there. Is there an easy way to do this?
I’m an idiot. Forgot you can just open a psd file in illustrator and import the layers as objects. For those of you who were wondering how to do this same thing.. welp, there’s your answer haha.
Nice tip.
I didn’t know how to do it.
thanks, this is exactly what i was looking for. this saved me a lot of time from having to draw a huge vector all over again.
nice tutorial…it is just a save as command for exporting the path…..so a simple one too…thanks…
Hi Guys, am new to illustator. I have got a new programme called pro animator…brilliant!!! but only except vector paths in illustrator. so trying to get my head around it. my main question is…da,da,daaaa
I can easily create a vector path with teh already made symbold in PS….but when i try to make my own shapes and give it a vector path it just does not want to appear in illustrator even when I select all. i a know I am doing something wrong, just cant put my finger on it. Any tips would be very much appreaciated. Thanks.
Very Interesting, thanks!
hey, thanks! it help me a lot….
how can I made the opposite direction -
I mean importing vectors from illustrator to photoshop and saving the vector shape as one of the Custom Shapes of the photoshop?
Great. Another useful tip. Any ideas on how to get rid of the crop marks around the artboard once you’ve opened up in Illustrator? Really bugging me…
thanks for this. I tried dragging from CS to CS3 and it didn’t work, so I used this tutorial. thanks a lot