One of the advantages of using a vector smart object is that you can edit the original artwork in Illustrator. Remember, you can change these settings at any time. In the dialog that appears, we chose Multiply from the Mode menu then dragged the Opacity slider left to lower it to 40%. In the Layers panel, double-click the Blending Options icon to the right of the Polar Coordinates Smart Filter to try different settings. In our example, we’ll to try the Polar Coordinates filter, using the Polar to Rectangular option: With the Vector Smart Object layer active, go to Filter>Distort>Polar Coordinates, click on the Polar to Rectangular option, and click OK. A new layer called Vector Smart Object appears in the Layers panel.īecause the layer is a vector smart object, we can apply smart filters in Photoshop, which gives us tons of room to experiment with different settings or multiple filters. If necessary, Shift-Option-click (PC: Shift-Alt-click) a corner of the bounding box and drag it to resize the shapes proportionately from the center, and press Return (PC: Enter). Select Edit>Paste and in the dialog, click on the Paste As: Smart Object. Press Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C) to Copy the two objects from Illustrator and then switch to Photoshop. Note: If you don’t see your strokes widening when you release the mouse button you’re probably in Outline viewing mode press Command-Y (PC: Ctrl-Y) to change your viewing mode to Preview so you can see what’s going on.
The advantage of this tool is that it’s a “live” effect, which means that you can edit the widths at any time.
Using the Width tool (Shift-W), click-and-drag on the anchor points (or any portion of a path) to interactively change the width of the lines. Shift-click the first object to select both objects, click on the Fill swatch, then click the None (/) icon below to remove the fill colors. Using the Selection tool (V), select the other object, and apply the same color for its Stroke. Now choose a slightly darker version of this color (here C6761E) and click OK. Back in Illustrator, double-click the Color Stroke and in the Color Picker, click on the # symbol to select the hexadecimal value, then select Edit>Paste. In Photoshop, click on the Background color swatch, click-and-drag the hexadecimal number (F7941D in our example), choose Edit>Copy, then click Cancel. Go to View>Perspective Grid>Hide Grid when finished to view the objects against a blank background. In this case we’ll create two separate objects, which will ultimately give us more options. Select the Perspective Grid tool (Shift-P) to see a grid in the background of your document, then use the Pen tool (P) to create a couple of shapes. Open Illustrator CS5 and create a new document (File>New). Of course, it could be filled with a gradient or have some texture, but for this example we’ll stick with a solid color. Fill your background with this color by pressing Command-Delete (PC: Ctrl-Backspace). Create a new document (File>New) in the size you need and then click on the Background color swatch and choose a color (we used R:247, G:148, B:29). Let’s imagine that we need to make an interesting background in Photoshop CS5.
Here’s an idea on how to use Adobe Illustrator CS5 and Adobe Photoshop CS5 to experiment with the goal of getting your own happy accident, although not quite so accidentally. They’re anticipating a certain reliable outcome but end up with something cooler than the original plan. Many people use the term “happy accident” to describe an unexpected result they come across while working towards an unrelated end goal.