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Everything in Photoshop CS6 gets pixelated


thebestcpu

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I thought a placed vector object would be a real vector object like in Illustrator. Am I wrong about that?

Normal placement as a Smart Ojbect or rasterized Layer will be pixelated.

There is at least one way to import vectors and have them stay as vectors/paths. The one with which I am slightly familiar with is bringing it in as a Shape Layer. Unfortunately I have not used that enough to feel confident in guiding you through that properly step by step and maybe another forum member has that expertise.
 

ALB68

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To bring it into PS from Ai, simply COPY it in Ai and then Paste in PS and you will be given the options to paste as a Smart Object, Path, Pixels or Shape Layer. The shape layer is a vector as is the path. I assume the Smart Object is but I do know you can't manipulate the SO with the direct selection tool, you can with the Shape Layer.
 

ALB68

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A question..is it possible that the importation of the Autocad (DXF-DWG) file could possibly be all or part of this issue? Were the import settings correct etc. Are you the creator of the autocad file?
I opened your #1 file in CS6 and did not get any pixelation like you got in your other test. I did notice that the #1 file is larger than the #4 file. This is a sceenshot of the #1 file in 300ppi canvas 6" x 6" and zoomed to 400%
tva.PNG
 
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Micky_N

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Normal placement as a Smart Ojbect or rasterized Layer will be pixelated.

There is at least one way to import vectors and have them stay as vectors/paths. The one with which I am slightly familiar with is bringing it in as a Shape Layer. Unfortunately I have not used that enough to feel confident in guiding you through that properly step by step and maybe another forum member has that expertise.
What do you mean by "normal placement" as a smart object?
I have tried "place" and "open as smart object" under "file" in PS as well as simply using ctrl+C in Illustrator and then ctrl+V in PS and then choosing smart object in the dialogue box.
 

Micky_N

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A question..is it possible that the importation of the Autocad (DXF-DWG) file could possibly be all or part of this issue? Were the import settings correct etc. Are you the creator of the autocad file?
I opened your #1 file in CS6 and did not get any pixelation like you got in your other test. I did notice that the #1 file is larger than the #4 file. This is a sceenshot of the #1 file in 300ppi canvas 6" x 6" and zoomed to 400%
View attachment 51977
Yes, I am the creator of the file but I don't think it has to do with autocad. When the DWG-file is opened in Illustrator it is clear and smooth even at maximum zoom it is when I place/open it in PS the problems occur. I have also tried just drawing some lines across each other in Illustrator (in a new blank file) and copy them into PS and the same problem with pixelation happened.

I'm confused about the second part of your message. You say that the #1 file was NOT pixelated in CS6 PS but the screenshot that you also say is #1 is clearly pixelated.
Also I only posted 3 pics so I don't know which one #4 is. If you mean any of #2 or #3 I think you are right. They do appear to have a slightly different size than the first one. Is it because my canvas was too small when I placed it?
 

ALB68

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Yes, I am the creator of the file but I don't think it has to do with autocad. When the DWG-file is opened in Illustrator it is clear and smooth even at maximum zoom it is when I place/open it in PS the problems occur. I have also tried just drawing some lines across each other in Illustrator (in a new blank file) and copy them into PS and the same problem with pixelation happened.

I'm confused about the second part of your message. You say that the #1 file was NOT pixelated in CS6 PS but the screenshot that you also say is #1 is clearly pixelated.
Also I only posted 3 pics so I don't know which one #4 is. If you mean any of #2 or #3 I think you are right. They do appear to have a slightly different size than the first one. Is it because my canvas was too small when I placed it?

Anything is going to show some pixelation at 400 x zoom. When that file is printed you would never perceive any pixelation.
 

Micky_N

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Anything is going to show some pixelation at 400 x zoom. When that file is printed you would never perceive any pixelation.
But in Illustrator I can zoom in to 6400% and it's still super clear. In PS there is pixelation even at 200% for placed smart objects. Is that just how it's suppose to be and I should give up trying?
 

thebestcpu

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What do you mean by "normal placement" as a smart object?
I have tried "place" and "open as smart object" under "file" in PS as well as simply using ctrl+C in Illustrator and then ctrl+V in PS and then choosing smart object in the dialogue box.

Hi Micky
Sorry for any confusion.

If you bring in the file as a Smart Ojbect by copy and paste or by File > Place etc, the vectors will be retained within the Smart Ojbect.

That is if you open the Smart Ojbect, if will go back to the original editor and show you the vectors.

The Smart Ojbect itself, takes what is within the Smart Ojbect and creates a rasterized version for viewing in the main document where you see the Smart Ojbect in the Layer Stack. That rasterized version of what you see is a proxy for what is in the Smart Ojbect. That transformation from what is within the Smart Ojbect to this proxy image will rasterized to the main documents resolution, color space, etc etc. So viewing the Smart Ojbect in the main PS document is a rasterized version of what is inside the Smart Ojbect.

Note that you will need to click on the thumbnails below for better visibility.

If you want to see the vector paths in the main PS document, you need to bring it in as vectors/paths or as a Shape Layer. Those are both options shown when you copy and paste form AI as per:

Screen Shot 2015-01-03 at 9.08.17 AM.png

What I did below is open your original PDF file in AI, select all of the vectors, paste in PS, selected the Paths option, and then transformed the paths to stretch up to the full 4000x4000 canvas:

Screen Shot 2015-01-03 at 9.09.55 AM.png

Now I will zoom in to the chair in the middle that is at a 45 degree angle. As you see when I have brought you image in as vectors you continue to see the fine vector lines in PS:

Screen Shot 2015-01-03 at 9.11.50 AM.png

However, if I stroke the path to convert it to pixels, then you will see the rasterization once I do this conversion. So yes you can bring in paths for use in PS yet at some point they need to be converted to pixels.

Screen Shot 2015-01-03 at 9.14.29 AM.png

I left the path visible underneath the pixels at even higher zoom below at the very lowest part of the chair. The vectors are still very smooth yet if you have rasterized, then it is real rough:

Screen Shot 2015-01-03 at 9.19.58 AM.png

In the case of your original images, you had a an underlying canvas with only a couple hundred pixels for this area instead of the number I had so it looked even more pixelated.

So I hope this shows you how to bring in and use vectors/paths directly in PS and of course realized that you will get pixelated one it is converted via Smart Ojbect, or stroking a path that you bring in.


The other approach that you can take is pasting as a Shape Layer. I will leave that for you to try. The paths/vectors are still there already filled/stroked in PS CC so will also look rasterized.

I hope this helps some.
 
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Micky_N

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Thank you for this very thorough description!

So basicly a smart object can't really be brought in to PS without pixelating the version in PS, right?

If I bring the file in as a path in PS can I work with it as in using the lines as a foundation for using the magic wand-tool because I can't seem to click in it at all?

Should you use a bigger canvas-size overall when using smart objects/paths?
 

thebestcpu

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Thank you for this very thorough description!

So basicly a smart object can't really be brought in to PS without pixelating the version in PS, right?

If I bring the file in as a path in PS can I work with it as in using the lines as a foundation for using the magic wand-tool because I can't seem to click in it at all?

Should you use a bigger canvas-size overall when using smart objects/paths?

Hi Mickey
First, I think of Smart Ojects slightly differently that help me understand them. PS can bring in all sorts of things from various programs through the Smart Object process. In your case:
- The vectors are selected in AI
- Those vectors "are" brought into PS
- PS encapsulates those vectors into a PS Smart Object. PS represents the enclosed vectors in the Smart Object as pixels
- At any point you can open up the Smart Ojbect and it typically goes back to the originating program for editing. Once saved, it is saved back in the encapsulated PS Smart Object and a new proxy set of pixels is generated (Smart Object is updated)

So yes, the vectors are there within the Smart Ojbect, yes you can interact with them by opening the Smart Object, no you cannot access the vectors in the PS main document.

You second question is a little tougher as far as interacting with the magic wand tool. It also would help to give more targeted suggestion if I new exactly what you were trying to do with your vectors in PS and with the magic wand tool.

In general, the magic wand tool only works with pixels as most of the other PS tools (exception being the Path/Vector tools such as Pen tool etc.

There is good news and bad news

The Good News
Yes you can use the magic wand tool to make selections with vectors as the proxy basis for the selection.
You turn the paths into a Vector Mask on a Layer and do the selections with the magic tool on the image Layer with the Sample All Layers checked.

The Bad News
The vectors that you bring in from AI may or may not come in as complete Closed Paths (beyond my expertise to provide more info on "when"). When I took your PDF file into AI, and cut and paste as paths into PS, they came in as segments that were not all closed paths (some were such as the complete circles). Therefore, depending on what you need to do, those segments can from within PS be joined to be a complete Path, then used as a Vector Mask and selections made with the magic wand tool.

Note that the Magic Wand tool is not really selecting from the vectors. The vectors cause a pixel boundary to be created as effectively as a pixel mask to the Layers below the one with the Vector Mask. Therefore the selection that comes up will not be a vector selection, yet a selection that follows pixel boundaries (and if anti-alias is selected it will be a soft boundary).

Personally, if you have heavy duty vector lifting to do and are adept in AI, doing all you work in AI is the best place to be as it is more flexible with more capabilities for vectors.

So that leaves it to what you are specifically trying to do with the vectors in PS. There may be some easy workarounds to meet your needs in PS yet that just depends on the specifics. If you supply those then you might get some suggestions from Forum members.
 

ALB68

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"If I bring the file in as a path in PS can I work with it as in using the lines as a foundation for using the magic wand-tool because I can't seem to click in it at all?"

Paths in Photoshop are manipulated by using the Path Selection tools in the flyout.
direct select.PNG
 

Micky_N

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Thank you all for responding and for your time.
I've learned a lot about PS and smart objects. They don't seem to be as "smart" as I thought but at least I know that now!
 

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