As a designer, you may find yourself in need of a vector file but only have a Photoshop file. While Photoshop is a great program, it isn’t made for creating vectors.
However, with a little work, you can make a vector in Photoshop. Here’s how:
1. Open your Photoshop file. 2. Go to the “Layer” menu and select “Duplicate Layer.” 3. A dialogue box will appear. In the “Name” field, rename the layer “Vector.” Click “OK.”
4. With the “Vector” layer selected, go to the “Edit” menu and select “Free Transform.” 5. A bounding box will appear around your image. At the top of the bounding box, you’ll see a small icon. This is the Free Transform tool. Click and drag one of the corner anchors to resize your image. Hold down the “Shift” key as you do this to keep your image from becoming skewed.
6. Once you have your image sized correctly, go to the “Filter” menu and select “Pixelate.” 7. In the Pixelate dialogue box, enter a value of 3 for the Pixel Dimensions. This will turn your image into a series of small squares, which is what we want for our vector. Click “OK.”
8. Now go to the “Edit” menu and select “Define Pattern.” 9. In the Pattern Name dialogue box that appears, name your pattern and click “OK.”
10. Go to the File menu and select “New.” In the New dialog box, set your width and height to 6 inches (or whatever size you need your vector to be). Set your Resolution to 300 pixels/inch and click “OK.”
11. Go to the Edit menu and select “Fill.” In the Fill dialog box that appears, select Pattern from the Use drop-down menu and choose your new pattern from the Custom Pattern drop-down menu next to it. Click OK to fill your new document with your vector pattern
