How to Create a Photoshop Shape From Illustrator
Photoshop and Illustrator are complementary components of Adobe's Creative Suite software system. When you are able to use the strong points of both programs in your design process you will be able to unlock the full power of the software. As with many processes in graphic design, there is more than one way to create a Photoshop shape from an object that was built in Illustrator. The two basic methods essentially come down to "paste" or "place." Either way, we begin in Illustrator.
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Instructions
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Paste or Place
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Create a new Illustrator document by selecting "New" from the File menu, or with the Ctrl + N keyboard shortcut. For this demonstration, set your document to 600 pixels wide by 400 pixels high and use the RGB color mode.
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Select the Pen Tool, either by clicking its icon in the toolbar, or by simply pressing P on your keyboard. Click somewhere near the left side of your stage to create an initial anchor point, then work your way around the stage clockwise, clicking in different places to draw a random shape. When you return to your starting point, click the initial anchor to close the shape.
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Select "Save As" from the File menu and save the file with a distinctive name like random_shape.ai. Before you exit Illustrator, select your object by choosing "All" from the Select menu, or with the Ctrl + A keyboard shortcut. Then copy your object to the clipboard by selecting "Copy" from the Edit menu, or with the Ctrl + C keyboard shortcut.
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Switch to Photoshop. Create a new document by choosing "New" from the File menu. Photoshop will offer you the option of using the Clipboard as a preset. Choose OK. Now paste your object from the clipboard onto your canvas by choosing "Paste" from the Edit menu, or with the Ctrl + V keyboard shortcut. Photoshop will present you with several paste options. Select Smart Object and choose OK. Your Illustrator object appears on the canvas with a big X through it.
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Press Enter to initially place your Smart Object; this makes the X go away. Your placed object may now be edited. You can move it around the canvas and resize it with the Move tool. You will have to rasterize the Smart Object to fill it with the Paint Bucket tool or to apply filters. But you can retain its vector properties and still change its appearance by right-clicking (Option + click) the Smart Object's layer in the Layers palette, and selecting Blending Options from the context menu.
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Create another new document. Make this one 600 pixels wide by 400 pixels high at a 72 pixels-per-inch resolution and using the RGB color mode.
From the File menu, select "Place." Navigate to the location where you saved your file named random_shape.ai and select it. A dialog appears asking which page or image you want to place. There is only one image in the document you are placing, so select Page 1, and under Options, "Crop to Bounding Box." Click OK.
This method automatically creates a Smart Object which can be moved or resized with the Move Tool. As before, a Smart Object may have layer styles applied to it, but it must be rasterized before certain other tools can be used on it.
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Save your Photoshop document as random_shape.psd.
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Tips & Warnings
Depending on your hardware configuration, your software may run faster if you close Illustrator before opening Photoshop.
