How to Question

[froggerman]

I am trying to learn how to produce vector images from jpegs in Illustrator 9.0. I am trying to produce the attached shading effect but I am having no luck. Could one of you experienced Illustrator users please have a look and let me know how to do this?

[mahuti]

The only way to reproduce that effect is with the gradient mesh tool, or with careful application of gradient blocks & transparency.

If you find it difficult working with Illustrator, you will find it moreso, trying to create gradient effects like that. I would be surprised if that part of the marquee had originally been built in illustrator. It can be done, but it would be much easier to do the same thing with photoshop filters & effects.

[froggerman]

If this effect is done in Photoshop, can the vector properties still be kept? Or is this something that would be applied after the vector image is imported into Photoshop?

[mahuti]

This would be applied after bringing it into Photoshop.

You could do this part in Photoshop & then place the art in Illlustrator. This piece would be raster, but you could work with other vector pieces easily, without drastically increasing file size & cpu usage.

[froggerman]

I will give that a try. Thanks for the help