Make Illustrator Object in Photoshop Shape

How do I take an Illustrator object and make it a shape in Photoshop 6.0?

Thanks.

after saving your "illustrator eps"

open photoshop

> File > Import

select your .ai file

it will come into photoshop with a bounding box around it... just hit enter to place the image.

The short answer is.... You can, like Torn said, but they'll be rasterized. :(

You can take shapes created in photoshop and use them in Illustrator as vector objects, but it doesn't work the other way around for photoshop. Any vector file that isn't a native .PSD, including a file exported as a .PSD from Illustrator will be rasterized. So be prepared for that.

Sounds like I ought to create the shape in Photoshop and go from there in order to get a vector shape.

Yup. You can definitely do that. Saving files from photoshop as .PSDs or .PDFs and opening them in Illustrator will allow you to edit them as vectors.

Once you do that though, you won't be able to re-open those vectors back in Photoshop without rasterization. And you'll probably have to save your newly edited file in .AI or .EPS format. I have no idea why Adobe put those restrictions on their graphics programs, but they exist.

Solid advice MrB...

The little tip you just handed out is, my lifes blood... I use it almost daily.

Wait, wait wait....hold the phone....am I missing something in this conversation?

As I understand it, Jruiseco is asking whether he can create a vector object in Illustrator, then turn it into a Custom Shape in Photoshop 6.x...right?

And you guys are jumping him, and yourselves, through hoops, rasterisation and different file formats, and still leaving the poor sod (and yourselves) empty?

This is a technique I discovered in the first hour I had Photoshop 6.

•Select your desired object in Illustrator and copy it to the clipboard.
•Open a new document in Photoshop...perhaps making it a little larger than the clipboard item (the dimensions should already be entered in the "New Document" dialogue box.).
•Paste your copied Illustrator object into the new Photoshop document. Choose "As Paths" when given the choice.
•Using the Direct Selection Arrow (A), select the entire object with all the anchor point displayed as solid little boxes.
•Pull down the Edit menu, scroll down to "Define Custom Shape..."
•Name it, and you're done. It will now be immediately available for use in your "Custom Shapes" menu that will drop from the Options Bar.

Or am I totally misunderstanding what you're after here? Vectors is vectors...I move 'em back and forth between PS and AI at will.

EDIT: Clarified, by adding step 4, above.

Well, even though I've used PS and AI for a while, that doesn't mean I know all the tricks such as that.

That is again, one of those things which isn't exactly that intuitive with these graphics programs.

Since I usually don't have to do such importing/exporting of paths back and forth, it hasn't been obstructing my creative output any, but that is a good set of instructions to use, Utopian23. I'll definitely be doin' that.

Hey, Utopian is back.... and he brought knowledge with him.

I just popped in for a minute late last night....I haven't been posting here much over the past couple of months. When I saw the question, then read the responses, I thought that at least one of you guys would have outlined the technique, similar to what I wrote out. When I didn't see the answer I immediately had for the question, I thought I was misinterpreting the question. I went back and read the entire thread 3 or 4 times to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious, or that the answer I had was somehow fogged in and wrong.

It wasn't long after getting Photoshop 6 that I had created a bunch of "Snowflakey"-type Custom Shapes that I'm sure I offerred to visitors....but perhaps I never offerred them for D/L here at TPS. I surely did at DBM and elsewhere.

Illustrator-created stars....



And some I made from Dingbats....


That's the beauty of cruising informational forums like this....I often run into obvious solutions after I thought I had tried everything. I'm usually brilliant at figuring things out on my own, but evry once in a while, I get hit between the eyes with a giant "EUREKA!!!!"

I love it when that happens!