large .psd raster to vector?

[haynbrian]

Hi everyone.

I have a large .psd file, that includes text and a logo. The text is white and the logo is a simple one color oval. The .psd file is approximately 2800 px wide by 400 px high. I need to transform the file size to approximately 150 px wide by ~ < 50 px high. The image will need to be transparent, so the only formats that I can work with outside of Photoshop are .gif and .png.

So here is my problem....

I have tried to "free transform" the image in Photoshop first, then alt-dragging it to a new smaller file, but that looks really ugly. I've made sure that I'm in RGB format for both images, so I know that shouldn't be the issue. I've also tried to just "save for web" at the current large size, and resize it in Macromedia Flash (since that is where the final resized image will go anyway). That also looks like crap.

The only other thing that comes to my mind is converting it to a vector image. I've tried to save the file as a .gif and then going into Illustrator to free transform it, but for some reason the color of the oval (red) shows up purple?? My color palette in Photoshop shows red when I "save for web" though. When I try with the .png file in Illustrator, it doesn't transform correctly, as it just jumbles the image.


Any suggestions?

-B

[ajimenez]

Have you tried simply resizing your image through Image > Resize Image in Photoshop? How did that turn out?

[haynbrian]

Gave it a try. Looks about the same as when I shrink it with free transform.


Thanks.

B

[ajimenez]

Your gif image might be showing up a different color in illustrator because illustrator may not convert indexed colors properly. If you left the image in RGB mode it may show up fine.

In my opinion there would be no point in trying to convert your razterised image into vector unless you're already using vector shapes/art in photoshop. And the end result will be rasterized image anyway.

Why don't you post your image so we can't get a better idea of what you're trying to achieve.

[haynbrian]

Thanks again for you reply!

I ended up tracing the image in Illustrator with the Pen tool, and shrinking it down then worked out better.

Thanks again!

Brian