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Hi im saving tiff files for fading in photoshop and then sending them to ai . What kind of compression should i save with and why?
none, lzw or zip
thanks Andy
in photoshop then taking in it in to illustrator what benefit would a tiff have over using a jpeg bitmpap in live trace pixel for pixel as there is only black and white pixels, there isnt really any loss to have in defintion and the tiff file size is larger?
2.whats the benefits of having 600dpi fades when ive read a few times on here that to burn to a screen its pointless having anything over 300 dpi as the screen/ink when printed wont pick it up?
3. finally whats the benefit of linking the file and not embedding it? isnt this just more complex and fiddley , thanks a lot
LZW is what I use for Tiff's. Image quality is better with tiffs over jpegs even at the same dpi, I think so that is. I'm not sure if it really matters for use with the live trace tool. Illustrator makes much larger files when incorperaiting tiffs. I would run a quick test using a LZW tiff and a jpeg. Check file size/handleing and quality. Just an idea...
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Fred,
if i have a tshirt i want to work on in vectors then import to photoshop for some bitmapping worn/texture effects over the top, is this the correct way to go about it?
Create in ai the vectors , take the ai file in to photoshop to experiment with fading and texturising the diffent vector elements. Then save the layers of texturing as individual bitmapped tiffs. then reopen the bitmap tiffs individually with original ai artwork in illustrator and place accordingly in layers over the top. Do I then save the layered tiffs and ai file as an ai file?? thanks a lot ,Andy
sorry forgot to add this at the end. are the psd photoshop files bette to use than tiffs? can the same methodology be used with them as well?why would you use a tiff ahead of a psd as they can both be layered?
PSDs can include vektordata, tiffs can not. Using PSD (plus copy and paste) is the only way you can move vektor between PS and AI. PSDs are proprietary Adobe, and only Adobe can use the vektor data from PSDs
Some ways layers in tiff are used are not standard. But this should not be a big problem (don't ask me details about this).
I always recomend linking your bitmap .tifs. It makes any changes to the placed .tifs in illustrator a breeze (you can just re-link the changed .tif instead of re-doing the whole graphic). Obviously, this only makes sense if you are combining multiple bitmaps in an .ai file.
-Just remember to send the linked .tiffs along with the .ai layout if you send this to another printer!
can i open a tiff file of my transparent fading in illustrator and then copy and paste it over my a.i. image vector artwork that needs fading, then save it as a.i? i dont see the point in linking the artwork that needs fading to the tiff? im still confused over this point. if its not linked and instead pasted over the top does this mean it wont show up properly in the rip as good as it would if it was its own sperate tiff file being linked? thanks
No, there is no gradient object you can copy, only pixels with a gradient.
You can copy selections from single layers or from all layers, but only pixels.
From the moment you made the gradient, Photoshop knows nothing (except in the undo/redo buffer for some time) about how the pixels came there.
PSDs can include vektordata, tiffs can not. Using PSD (plus copy and paste) is the only way you can move vektor between PS and AI. PSDs are proprietary Adobe, and only Adobe can use the vektor data from PSDs
Some ways layers in tiff are used are not standard. But this should not be a big problem (don't ask me details about this).
The problem will happen when someone opens a layered tiff in some program other than Photoshop and that program ignores all the layer data and doesn't bother to warn the user. In my opinion, layered tiffs should be avoided unless every photo editing application could understand Photoshop's layers and also the layer masks etc.
what compression for tiff 
