Moving Vectors from Illustrator to Photoshop But pure vector effects, such as blends, warps, distortions, multiple fills, and multiple strokes get converted as if you had expanded the artwork in Illustrator. Opacity settings are lost, even if the resulting objects would be vectors. Going from Illustrator into InDesign, you lose all pixel effects like drop shadows, glows, and any of the Photoshop effects in the Effects menu. See the section “Moving Vectors from InDesign into Illustrator.” What you lose going from Illustrator into InDesign (There is no “Cancel” button.) If you do embed the artwork into InDesign, and then want it out, you’ll have to copy and paste. If you get the message that your artwork will be embedded into InDesign, my suggestion is to click OK, and then undo the command. This is worse than if you had just placed the artwork as an Illustrator file, which can at least be modified back in Illustrator. Instead it embeds the objects as EPS art. For instance, if the Illustrator artwork contains too many points or too many objects, InDesign throws up its figurative hands and protests that it can’t handle that many items. There are times when you won’t be able to move vectors from Illustrator into InDesign. Once the paths are in InDesign, they behave exactly like paths that you create in InDesign. The paths plop down on the InDesign page. Or, if you’ve got loads of screen real estate, drag the paths over the edges between the two applications. It’s easy to get paths from Illustrator into InDesign. Or you may just want the convenience of changing colors as part of InDesign’s object styles. You may want to insert images inside the vector shape. For instance, if you want text on a path, you’ll find it easier to make changes to the text or typeface if the path is in InDesign. So, why not do everything in Illustrator, and then just place the file as a linked image? Because it’s easier to work with those shapes if they are actual paths inside your InDesign layout instead of placed images from Illustrator. And much clip art comes in EPS (vector) format. Illustrator’s live effects make it easy to warp simple objects into special shapes. Illustrator has the tools to create shapes such as spirals and arcs that would be difficult to do in InDesign. So why do so many people use Illustrator as their primary vector-drawing program? Isn’t the Pen tool in both programs the same? Well, yes, but there are so many effects or techniques that InDesign just can’t do.

(I do know one famous InDesign expert who uses a page layout program, such as InDesign, as his primary drawing program, but he did the same when he used QuarkXPress.) When it comes to working with vectors, your primary vector drawing program is most likely Illustrator. Moving vectors between Illustrator and InDesign That’s where the ability to move vectors becomes important. Someday you may find that you need the vector shapes created in one program in another. But there are vector tools in InDesign and Photoshop as well. Most designers use Illustrator to create their vector graphics. Unlike pixel art that can look lousy when scaled beyond a certain point, vectors are mathematical objects that can be scaled up and down with no loss of information. Vectors (aka paths) are very powerful items.

Photoshop vectorize