Vector & Raster Layers Basics

Lesson Info

Vector & Raster Layers Basics

And we're gonna go ahead and move on to rasterized versus pixel-based layers. Now, at this point we've looked at a lot of things that are pixel-based. Everything we saw in those composites were pixel-based layers and not necessarily things that were raster-based. These names will show up a lot in the future, so when we talk about smart objects and we talk about text, we'll talk a lot about vector-based images when we're doing smart objects, text, and shapes. But it's important to understand this at the layer understanding level now to understand the difference between a vector-based layer and a rasterized layer. So if I press V for my move tool, and I click on this vector-based layer here. I'll press Control click, now with the move tool, you see this thing here that says Auto Select? I like to have that turned off. I like to be able to select my own layers, and to do that I press the Command or Control key. If you have this auto select here when you click on a layer, it's going to ass...

ume that the layer that you're clicking on, if that layer has a lot of content in it, that's above it but's also transparent, if it's set to auto select, it may not select the layer that you want it to select. So I make sure that that auto select is turned off so that I make the decision on what is selected, and by doing that, I press the Control or Command key, and notice, it switched from the background, Control click, it now clicks on the vector shape. So now if I Command or Control click on this vector shape, I now have that shape selected without having to go into my layers palette. So if I press Command or Control T, this will allow me to transform this. And we're gonna talk about transforming in the future here, but if I press and hold Shift and Alt, and move that up as I do that, that is a vector-based image. Notice how it started out very small, very small, but as I moved it up, we got to see all the stuff that's happening within that vector-based shape. If I Command or Control click on this rastered layer here, press Control T, Shift and Alt and move this up, those shapes were the exact same thing. So what I did when I built this diagram was I built this diagram from a vector shape, copied that vector shape on both sides, and then rasterized the one layer. And what you see from this is that the vector shape maintained the stroke path, whereas because that rasterized layer was so small, when we blew it up, we were basically interpolating all the pixels, just like you would if you were blowing up the image size of a canvas. The difference between a vector shape and a rasterized shape is a rasterized shape is made up of individual pixels. So when you increase the size of those individual pixels, you're telling Photoshop to insert information where information doesn't exist, so you get all that blurriness that's happening with the photos. But notice over on the vector-based shape, the vector-based shape was actually a shape made of a stroke path and not a full fill of red color. So what happens there is as we blow that up, it's doing all the calculations of the line work and all the calculations of the shape, so that no matter what size that vector is, when you make it small or large, it's gonna be the exact same thing. So this, I say typically the vector and raster thing comes in when you're talking about shapes and text versus pixel-based image editing that you would do from a photo that you get from your camera. Our cameras do not shoot vector-based images. Wouldn't that be beautiful if our cameras just shot vectors, because then any picture we took could be the size of a thumbnail or the size of a billboard, with absolutely no problems. I don't know when or if that technology will ever exist, but we right now are shooting in pixel-based form. That's why if you take a five-megapixel image and try to blow it up to a 24 by 36 canvas, it's not gonna look right. It's gonna be blurry because the pixels are interpolating or information is being added there. Making things smaller on a raster image is typically no problem, so if we started with this vector larger and made it smaller, it wouldn't have a problem getting much smaller but getting bigger is the problem. Whereas vectors, they are line and shape calculations that happen as they grow and expand and contract. Where we can see that is if we were to just go into a regular pixel-based image. This is a pixel-based image. Anything that we pull in from our camera is a pixel-based image, so this is just a background layer that we would get from say, we go in from Adobe CameraRoll and we come into Photoshop defaults to a background layer. This is a pixel-based layer. So if you're trying to wrap your head around this whole pixel and vector-based thing, just think of a pixel-based layer as any layer that comes in from Adobe CameraRoll that you're pulling into Photoshop as that background layer. You will know when you're in the vector world, you will. Because it'll typically be a shape or it'll be a text layer.

Class Description

Lessons

1. Bootcamp Introduction
2. The Bridge Interface
3. Setting up Bridge
4. Overview of Bridge
5. Practical Application of Bridge
6. Introduction to Raw Editing
7. Setting up ACR Preferences & Interface
8. Global Tools Part 1
9. Global Tools Part 2
10. Local Tools
11. Introduction to the Photoshop Interface
12. Toolbars, Menus and Windows
13. Setup and Interface
14. Adobe Libraries
15. Saving Files
16. Introduction to Cropping
17. Cropping for Composition in ACR
18. Cropping for Composition in Photoshop
19. Cropping for the Subject in Post
20. Cropping for Print
21. Perspective Cropping in Photoshop
22. Introduction to Layers
23. Vector & Raster Layers Basics
24. Adjustment Layers in Photoshop
25. Organizing and Managing Layers
26. Introduction to Layer Tools and Blend Modes
27. Screen and Multiply and Overlay
28. Soft Light Blend Mode
29. Color and Luminosity Blend Modes
30. Color Burn and Color Dodge Blend Modes
31. Introduction to Layer Styles
32. Practical Application: Layer Tools
33. Introduction to Masks and Brushes
34. Brush Basics
35. Custom Brushes
36. Brush Mask: Vignettes
37. Brush Mask: Curves Dodge & Burn
38. Brush Mask: Hue & Saturation
39. Mask Groups
40. Clipping Masks
41. Masking in Adobe Camera Raw
42. Practical Applications: Masks
43. Introduction to Selections
44. Basic Selection Tools
45. The Pen Tool
46. Masks from Selections
47. Selecting Subjects and Masking
48. Color Range Mask
49. Luminosity Masks Basics
50. Introduction to Cleanup Tools
51. Adobe Camera Raw
52. Healing and Spot Healing Brush
53. The Clone Stamp Tool
54. The Patch Tool
55. Content Aware Move Tool
56. Content Aware Fill
57. Custom Cleanup Selections
58. Introduction to Shapes and Text
59. Text Basics
60. Shape Basics
61. Adding Text to Pictures
62. Custom Water Marks
63. Introduction to Smart Objects
64. Smart Object Basics
65. Smart Objects and Filters
66. Smart Objects and Image Transformation
67. Smart Objects and Album Layouts
68. Smart Objects and Composites
69. Introduction to Image Transforming
70. ACR and Lens Correction
71. Photoshop and Lens Correction
72. The Warp Tool
73. Perspective Transformations
74. Introduction to Actions in Photoshop
75. Introduction to the Actions Panel Interface
76. Making Your First Action
77. Modifying Actions After You Record Them
78. Adding Stops to Actions
79. Conditional Actions
80. Actions that Communicate
81. Introduction to Filters
82. ACR as a Filter
83. Helpful Artistic Filters
84. Helpful Practical Filters
85. Sharpening with Filters
86. Rendering Trees
87. The Oil Paint and Add Noise Filters
88. Introduction to Editing Video
89. Timeline for Video
90. Cropping Video
91. Adjustment Layers and Video
92. Building Lookup Tables
93. Layers, Masking Video & Working with Type
94. ACR to Edit Video
95. Animated Gifs
96. Introduction to Creative Effects
97. Black, White, and Monochrome
98. Matte and Cinematic Effects
99. Gradient Maps and Solid Color Grades
100. Gradients
101. Glow and Haze
102. Introduction to Natural Retouching
103. Brightening Teeth
104. Clean Up with the Clone Stamp Tool
105. Cleaning and Brightening Eyes
106. Advanced Clean Up Techniques
107. Introduction to Portrait Workflow & Bridge Organization
108. ACR for Portraits Pre-Edits
109. Portrait Workflow Techniques
110. Introduction to Landscape Workflow & Bridge Organization
111. Landscape Workflow Techniques
112. Introduction to Compositing & Bridge
113. Composite Workflow Techniques
114. Landscape Composite Projects
115. Bonus: Rothko and Workspace
116. Bonus: Adding Textures to Photos
117. Bonus: The Mask (Extras)
118. Bonus: The Color Range Mask in ACR