4 replies to this topic

[frax]

Hi ladies and gents,

I would like to ramp up my workflow in terms of Photoshop and Illy playing together. Up to this point I have always handled raster/vector transparency stuff in Illy, which is supposed to be handled better in P-shop, with more control (right?).

So, let's say I have this situation:
* shaded relief background (grayscale image of some kind)
* vector polygons (let's say land cover)
and I want to overlay them so that the polygons are partially transparent.

How would I go about this with Photoshop and Illy playing together, the best? I would really try to avoid (re-)aligning things too much. Should I just try to make sure that both are clipped to the same area, and open them in Photoshop to start with?

[Hans van der Maarel]

If you have MAPublisher, you can open up GIS vector files and georeferenced raster files both in Illustrator and automatically combine them (note: MAPublisher can reproject the vector data, but not the raster data). Transparent polygons on top of raster images is no problem, unless you use Pantone colors and want to export to PDF.

If you want to combine the whole lot in Photoshop, it would help if you have 'helper' objects. I.e. a reference framework in every file so you can make sure all files have the same size and you can easily position them in the correct place.

[Mike H]

I prefer to keep the project in illy - the transparency controls work fine, and of course you retain all vector capabilities. If you have a registered image placed in illy, you can easily use the link pallette to edit it in photoshop, and not have to re-register or re-import it. This works in regular Illy, and also should work in MapPub illy, although I'm not that experienced in MapPub (but we just got that yesterday, actually)

part of the question depends on your final use needs - alot of my work is exported as PDF, or delivered a jpg, so it's easy to keep all the design work in Illy and use photoshop as the final raster processing.

m.

[frax]

Maybe I should just continue doing it all in illustrator, that would actualyl be the simplest. I had the impression that the overlay/transparency thing would be best if it was done in photoshop (pholly?)

[Matthew Hampton]

I think you are right in sticking with either PS of AI for the aforementioned (simple) job. I think it is when things get more complex that you want to link a (PS) raster in AI then add annotation and other linework that is best to keep as vector.

I use PS to create more complex hillshading (using textured bump-mapping, etc.) that I link into AI. It works nice to keep the complex rastery things raster and the complex vectory things as vectors.