Ps ---> Ill

Hello, Im sortof a beginner when it comes to working with PS and Illustrator together. Im doing my first site where I plan on using both and need some help. I have everything I need done in PS, now I just wanna work with my site in Illustrator to insert logos, text, and a few little things here and there that I was particularily sharp. So what is the best way to go about doing this? Should I import my entire .psd file into Illustrator, add everything, and save it as a gif out of Illustrator? Im not sure what works the best, so could everyone help me out please? Also, is there any need for using ImageReady? Im writing my rollover scripts, slicing my site, and everything by hand. Does Imageready improve image quality when saving or anything?

Thanks a lot, much appreciated

Adam

?????? why go back to Illustrator? Photoshop has the same 'save for web' feature.

I only use Ill to build logos, then I take them into Pshop for color manipulations, special effects and ultimately web optimization.

If you're writing all the code by hand, you really don't need ImageReady, I guess, but I like it alot...

Well the reason I wanna save it from Illustrator is when I put my images from Ill to PS, I loose some quality and I want my logo and text to be as sharp as in Ill. Make any sense? I guess I could do it all in PS, slice it up, then just work on the slices I want to in Ill and save only those in Ill. Would that work?

Well the reason I wanna save it from Illustrator is when I put my images from Ill to PS, I loose some quality and I want my logo and text to be as sharp as in Ill. Make any sense?

Nope...doesn't make any sense.

If this is going to be going on a website, it'll all be rendered as pixels anyway. Since it seems you're not too keen on working between Illustrator and Photoshop seamlessly, you might get more efficient return from your efforts by working in Photoshop only. I'm guessing there are enough vector-handling capabilities in Photoshop (including text) that you can do everything you need to do....and crisply-clean and sharp, too. If you need to import a logo from Illustrator, just save it out as an EPS and place that in Photoshop. If you're stuff isn't crisp enough for you, you've got other issues to address.

You should be doing the main content text via HTML anyway, so your dilemma is rendered pretty much moot.

are you using an old version of photoshop or something? get to v6 or v7 if at all possible -

I'm with Utopian - save your files you are wanting to work with in Illustrator as .eps files, then use photoshop the rest of the way. BTW- the vector tools in Photoshop are as good as Illustrator's, when using them for web work, just not printed work, IMO.

G.G....

I can't agree with your assessment about vector functionality parity between Photoshop and Illustrator.

Photoshop is good, but Illustrator offers sooooo much more.

Adam,

You talk of "Saving everything out as GIF"...that's a little to broad a brush for every image you might want to put on your site. It's OK for broad flat areas of websafe color, but for anything with continuous tone (gradients, drop shadows, smooth bevels, lighting effects, etc) or Photographic quality, you'lll want to use JPEG compression.

And no, ImageReady doesn't do anything to actually IMPROVE image quality, but it does offer more tools and control than Photoshop's "Save For Web" plugin. One of the nice things about an application like ImageReady is that you can use different compression techniques for each slice, depending on what sort of color (Flat and websafe, or con-tone and photographic) those slicing guides surround in the underlying image.

How you generate and manage the coding is up to you (ImageReady's exported HTML code is generally pretty bloated), but it might behoove you to have a look at how ImageReady can butt differently-compressed slices right up against eachother.

Thanks Utopian, your information was a learning experience. Everything on my site is pretty much flat, I only have a slice or two that contain a gradiant. Thats why I said I only wanted .gif. Thanks for all the helpful info :D

for the record...

I realize Illustrator is a bad, bad man - I use it alot. What I meant was - If you had artwork born in Illustrator, saved as .eps, one could open it in Photoshop, save for web, slice it, create rollovers, etc. and it would still be quite impressive.

Photoshop's vector art is, in comparison to Ill, quite lame. I know that! But, if one were to use basic shapes, basic text and no filters, these tools would work just fine for *web* usage. What I mean is - it all gets rasterized in the end 'Save for Web' process, unless you are using flash, or some other web vector format. If we're talking *printed* vector work - Illustrator is king, undisputed.

As far as ImageReady - what he said... give it a shot, you might like it. The code is bloated, but you can copy/paste the good stuff into your existing code sometimes.

good luck adam, post a link to your finished work so we can see what's up!
gg

Thanks a lot graphics guy, I hope to have TDOT DESIGNS up and running in a few days here. I just finished my design today. The reason I was being so critical of fine quality is my site is somewhat a pixel art type of site (similar to robouk in a way) and I was wanting a few objects that have curves in them to have clean outlines to match everything else thats clean and Photoshop wasnt making things the smoothest. But all in all, I got everything working okay and I appreciate everyones help in this post. I would look for my site to be in the Showcase section sometime next week. Thanks again!

Adam