Graphic Design 7: Photoshop to Illustrator

Converting Photoshop pixel files into an Illustrator vector file.

Have you ever created a logo or had an object in photoshop that you wanted to convert into a vector file? Well, here is one simple way to achieve this. Now keep in mind that considering how complexity of your design, will determine how much clean up you will need to do later in Illustrator. I find that this technique works more efficient with designs that are not so complex. Its great with logos, one color process t-shirt designs, etc.

Step 1: Open the file you want to convert in photoshop. Use the magic wand tool to highlight the object. The object should show the marching ants around it as shown below in Figure 7:1.

Figure 7:1.

Step 2: Next you will click on the path tab that is located on the layers box. Click on the path icon located at the bottom to change the marching ants into a working path. See below in Figure 7:2.

Figure 7:2.

Step 3: After completing the first two steps, click back on the layers tab and turn the eye off on the object layer so you can view the path as seen below in Figure 7:3.

Figure 7:3.

Step 4: We are almost finished! In the top menu bar, click on file, export, paths to illustrator as shown below in Figure 7:4. Save and name the object as an illustrator file to your destop or folder of your choice.

Figure 7:4.

Step 5: This is the final step! Open the new object file in illustrator. You can now change the colors, clean up the graphic and resize it the way you please as a vector format. See below in Figure 7:5.

Figure 7:5.

Hope this helps!

Peace and God Bless!

Graphic Design 4: How to Remove Red Eye

Removing red eye from a photo.

If you are not already farmilar with this, here we go!

1. Open the image.

2. Go to Image – Duplicate.

3. In Photoshop 6 or earlier, go to View – New View. In Photoshop 7 go to Window – Documents – New Window. This will open a duplicate window of the same image.

4. Zoom one of the windows so that you can see the eyes as large as possible. Set the other window view to 100%.

5. Arrange the two windows so you can see both the zoomed view and the 100% view at the same time.

6. Create a new layer.

7. Use the eyedropper to pick up a color from the iris of the eye. It should be a fairly gray tint with a small portion of the eye color.

8. Paint over the red part of the eye on the new layer, being careful not to paint over the eyelids.

9. Go to Filters – Blur – Gaussian and give it about a 1 pixel blur to soften the edges.

10. Set the layer blend mode to Saturation. This will take the red out without removing the highlights, but in many cases it leaves the eyes too gray and hollow looking.

*Below is where the drop-down menu is located to get to the saturation. It is on the layers tab.

11. If that’s the case, duplicate the saturation layer and change the blend mode to Hue. That should put some color back in while still preserving the highlights.

12. If the color is too strong after adding a Hue layer, lower the opacity of the Hue layer.

13. When you’re happy with the results you can merge the extra layers down.

This should only take you about 5 minutes. If anyone know of a super duper faster way to do this, please comment.

Peace!

Graphic Design 3

Using the Color Range Tool

When the selection you need to make can be identified by its color, the Color Range selection tool provides a pretty cool alternative to the Magic Wand. The magic wand is cool but a less effective way of altering color ranges. To see the Color Range tool in action, choose Select then Color Range in the drop-down window. From the Select drop-down list, choose what you want to select. Use the Sampled Colors option to select a color by clicking with the eyedropper on the image. Alternatively, you can choose to make a selection of all the reds, yellows, greens, cyans, blues, or magentas in the image. Further options include the ability to select the highlights, midtones, or shadows.

To make a selection of colors you sample yourself, set the Select Option to Sampled Colors and click with the eyedropper on a color in the image. The areas that match the color under the eyedropper will be selected and will appear as white or light gray in the preview image in the Color Range dialog box. To add colors to the selection, click the Add to Sample tool (the eyedropper with a plus sign) and click again on other colors in the image until you’ve selected everything you want to select. Use the Subtract from Sample eyedropper to remove colors from the selection. The Fuzziness slider enables you to select more or fewer colors—adjust the slider until you’re satisfied with the selection, as shown below. I hope this is all making sense so far. 🙂

Sample:
The Color Range tool lets you make a selection based on color. Use the Fuzziness slider to adjust the amount of color selected.

To preview the selection on the image, choose an option from the Selection Preview menu:
Grayscale, Black Matte, White Matte, or Quick Mask. These options show you the area you’ve selected. When you’re satisfied with the selection, click OK and the selection marquee will appear on your image.

The Color Range tool is particularly useful for selecting highlights, midtones, and shadows when you need to adjust these settings separately in an image. It’s a cool alternative to the Magic Wand because it gives you more options for making color-based selections, including the ability to preview the selection before you have to commit to it.

Peace!