Photoshop Vector resolution issue for logo design

A
Posted By
Archy08
Aug 15, 2008
Views
499
Replies
10
Status
Closed
HI guys,

Im having trouble getting my head around this issue and wondered if anyone can help and maybe provide a solution to the issue.

I always use to design logo’s in Illustrator, safe in the knowledge that whatever the logo is going to be used for, the upsacaling and downscaling of the vector image will give me no problems.

However i recently started using Photoshop (CS3) alot more to add simple drop shadows, bevel effects to my logos, and have found that dispite the objects still being called Vector in photoshop, i have issues with scale…. mainly downscaling.

What i am doing is creating a vector logo shape/design in Illustrator, then dropping it into Photoshop, clicking the effects icon and adding the desired effect. The logo size at this stage would be around 4-5 inches on an A4 300 dpi canvas. I may add a few more variations to the canvas while im working.
The problem is when i downsize the logo… i.e. drag it onto a smaller size canvas for say business cards, the edge of the logo looks terrible… almost as if it a low res rasterized bitmap.

I don’t understand what is happening here, as the smaller canvas i move it to is still 300dpi… but it seems that the physical size of the logo is reducing the shapes own resolution… this doesn’t happen in Illustrator and is surely the whole reason for needing to use vector shapes to begin with?

A friend of mine said to me that the logo cannot be a vector… but by simply moving the logo to a large canvas say A4 and blowing it up to fit the page, the edges suddenly become pin sharp.. like an Iluustrator vector would look.

I hope someone can shed some light on this subject.
I am currently doing some business cards for a client and the logo looks awful in a small size… blurry and bitmapped… im thinkiing at this point i may have to save a larger scale copy as a Tiff or PDF and simply scale that down for the cards instead of using the PSD… but this doesn’t seem right to me.

Thankyou.
Related Tags
design issue logo resolution vector

How to Improve Photoshop Performance

Learn how to optimize Photoshop for maximum speed, troubleshoot common issues, and keep your projects organized so that you can work faster than ever before!

A
Archy08
Aug 15, 2008
…. just to add.. I do realise that the amount of pixels the business card canvas has is less and therefore may be changing the logo’s resolution?… but if this is so, can the logo’s resolution not be constrained in any way? *confused*
F
Freeagent
Aug 15, 2008
There’s been a couple of threads lately regarding vector import in Photoshop, all describing a "jagged" look, as if resolution is wrong or anti-aliasing doesn’t work. This seems to be another variety of the same.

The best bet so far seems to be to reset Photoshop preferences (see FAQ), but watch these two and see if something comes up:

<http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b62603/2>

and this one from the Mac forum

<http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b5dfd3/10>
P
Phosphor
Aug 15, 2008
What version of Illustrator do you have?

What are you doing in Photoshop that you can’t do in Illustrator?

Logos—if you plan to reuse them at various sizes—are almost always better if you keep them fully vector. Stay out of Photoshop if at all possible.

Sounds like you might want to ignore your friend’s advice for a while until you get this sorted out.
A
Archy08
Aug 15, 2008
Well, its a long story but basically i have designed a logo in Illustrator that needs to be given a 3D treatment which i can only achieve in Photoshop.
The logo i designed is for production purposes and is to be embossed onto the product, so the client wanted the same embossed look thoughout his branding… like on his letterheads and bus cards.

I am using the CS3 suit so PS and Illy are the same verions.

The logo can be enlarged (as long as the effects are scaled too) and it will keep its vector apperance… however its just when the size is reduced the resolution goes bad. Almost like the amount of pixels it has available to it is causing it to degrade in quility.. but i thought that that would go against the whole point of trying to keep an image a vector, like PS says it is.

Thanks for the replies.
P
Phosphor
Aug 15, 2008
You speak of a "3D" treatment, but that’s too broad and generic of a description. Still, from the rest of your last post I can guess at what the boss wants, and I’m 99% sure it can all be done in Illustrator.

But what you have to remember is that some effects just will not work well when a logo is scaled down to fit on a business card or a small advert.

This is why most folks work to develop logos that work well—even in flat black—and don’t rely on "effects" to prompt immediate recognition from viewers. In fact, the definition of "logo" is generally accepted to an identifying mark that will print in one color.

Still, if one must use "effects" keeping everything vector until the actual RIP for print is the best way to go.
A
Archy08
Aug 15, 2008
Ok, but there must be a logical explination for this, a reason why PS can’t downscale an image like Illustrator can… and this is regardless of effects.

I have just done a test (which you can try) which simplifies what i am trying to explain is happening to the vector.

In Illustrator, type anything ‘Hello’ will do… drop it into PS on an A4 page… upscale it as big as you want to go.. the ‘vector smart’ object will render itself when you have finished scaling it… and it looks fine. (does what a vector is suppose to do).
Now, chnage the scale again (im using edit>transform>scale btw) this time make it really small on the A4 page… zoom in… looks terrible, almost bitmapped… so the question is, why does this happen in PS with a ‘vector’ and not in a proper vector package like Illustrator?

The fact that i cannot reduce a logo (text, image, whatever) to a scale suitable for small ads etc in PS is what is bothering me… why can’t it render it correctly?
JJ
John Joslin
Aug 15, 2008
Browse through this lot and see if you spot many with effects out of the hundreds of well-known logos.

<http://www.logoorange.com/logodesign-A.php>

Then have a word with your boss.
A
Archy08
Aug 15, 2008
Thanks but that isn’t answering my question… and besides you said there isn’t ‘many’.. but there is a few… the latest Apple logo for example. There are exceptions and the logo i have discribed is one of those exceptions. I do not design logo’s with PS effects on a daily basis.

Just forget for one second that i even mentioned the word logo… do the quick test i mentioned above if you do not understand what im talking about, and then see if you know the answer to why photoshop reacts this way to a ‘vector smart’ object.
S
Silkrooster
Aug 16, 2008
I could be way off here, especially without see the logo. However I believe whats happening is you are importing a vector logo into photoshop and applying raster effects to it causing the logo to look horrible at small sizes.
A
Archy08
Aug 16, 2008
Just for future info, if anyone has a similar issue, i have found a way around my problem.

Instead of using vector smart objects i am now using shape layers which you can get to by copy and pasting from illy to PS.
These shape layers may look similar to the vector smart when you zoom in, but the difference is i can now output to a high rez PDF and it renders the edges properly.
For whatever reason the vector smart objects weren’t ‘smart enough’ to render properly when exported in a PDF.. they just looked like Bitmaps… but PS can render shape layers as they are a part of the creating vector process in PS itself.

So it seems using shape layers is the way forward for me. Thanks for your time and input guys.

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections