Convert to Vector in Photoshop: a step-by-step guide

When you use Adobe Photoshop to create graphics for your business and its clients, your imagery consists of pixels, tiny square elements that make up the gridded mosaic underlying bitmapped images. Photoshop also supports vector, or path-based, elements, including live type and other forms of imagery. When you want to convert a bitmapped element to vector paths, you can use several techniques to create elements more reminiscent of a drawing program like Adobe Illustrator than of an image editor like Photoshop.

Press "P" to select the Pen tool. Open the "Window" menu and choose "Paths" to reveal the Paths panel. In the Options bar, choose the standard version of the Pen tool to draw Bezier curves and precise straight lines, the Freeform version to create a loosely drawn result reminiscent of pen on paper, or the Magnetic Pen to draw following the sharp transitions of color or brightness in your image. Draw your vector paths so they represent a traced conversion of the elements of your image. Press "Enter" to signal the end of a path, open or closed, or click on the opening anchor point to complete your path where it started.

Make a selection using any combination of the Marquee, Magic Wand, Lasso and other selection tools. To turn your selection into a path, open the flyout menu at the top right corner of the Paths panel and choose "Make Work Path," or click on the corresponding button at the bottom of the panel. Set a tolerance value to govern how tightly or loosely your path follows your original selection's boundaries. At 0.5 pixels, your path preserves subtle shifts in your selection, whereas at 10 pixels, your path uses few anchor points and displays smooth transitions.

Double-click on the Work Path that appears in the Paths panel when you first draw with the Pen tool or convert a selection to a path. Name your path or accept the default "Path [X]," where "[X]" represents a number. Unless you convert your Work Path to a named path, the next action you take that creates a path will replace the vector drawing on your existing Work Path with new vector output.

Export a path from your Photoshop document in Adobe Illustrator AI format to use in other programs. Open the "File" menu, locate its "Export" submenu and choose "Paths to Illustrator." The resulting file contains paths with no strokes or fills.

TIPS

• Shape layers consist of a fill with a vector mask that defines the perimeter of the shape. If you select the Pen tool and click on the "Shape Layers" button in the Options bar, the resulting vector drawing forms the mask for a shape.
• When you convert a selection to a path, any partially transparent edges become hard-edged transitions.
• You can transform a path the same way you would transform a fully or partially selected image layer. Use the "Path Selection" tool to select all or part of the vector element you want to transform. Open the "Edit" menu, locate its "Transform Path" submenu and choose the transformation you want to apply, including Free Transform or any of its component transformations, such as Warp or Rotate.
• 
  

WARNING

• Although you can make a path from a selection, you can't make a selection from an open path.