Opening Photoshop files in IllustratorWhen opening a Photoshop file in Illustrator, you can preserve masks, blending modes, and transparency, and convert layers to separate Illustrator objects. When exporting an Illustrator file to Photoshop format, you can preserve layers, opacity masks, transparency (including blending modes), slices, image maps, compound shapes, and editable type. (See Exporting artwork in Photoshop format.) Illustrator does not support some Photoshop features such as adjustment layers and layer effects. To maintain the effects in Illustrator, select Convert Photoshop Layers to Objects in the Photoshop Import dialog box, or flatten individual layers in Photoshop to embed the effects before importing the file into Illustrator. ![]() Layer mask in Photoshop (top) converts to opacity mask in Illustrator (bottom), with preserved blending mode and transparency. To open a file created by Photoshop:
When you use the Convert Photoshop Layers to Objects option, Illustrator uses an automatic selective merging (of layers) feature to maintain appearance. If you don't require access to layers and objects, you can choose the Flatten Photoshop Layers to a Single Image option instead. |