JPG into EPS

[clint]

I edited a jpg in photoshop and transfered it to Illustrator for text and line work.
Sent it to the sticker company and the pic is still a jpg an looks pixely. I thought if I automatically transfered the photoshop file to Illustrator it would smooth out the lines.

Any help on how to do this?

Also another problem. When I try to paint/erase a picture in illustrator it wont let me...I have no clue why?

[PrintDriver]

first off, you shouldn't be sending jpg's for print.
tif or eps is standard.
If the image you bring into Illustrator is a crappy image to begin with, there is no magic button in Illustrator that will make it better. Any vector work you do in Illustrator will be sharp and clean in print but the jpg is still a jpg. If you exported the file from Illustrator as a jpg then ALL of the vector work will be jaggy too because it has been rasterized.
Check out the Resources section and read 'An Explanation of Raster vs Vector' and 'DPI and Resizing'

You are gonna need to explain your second problem a little more and tell us what version of Illy you are using and on what platform.

PrintDriver is a large format digital print dude. His advice/opinions may not apply to the 4color/offset/web world of printing

[clint]

When I import an image into illy and try to trace around the edges or erase somthing I dont like, it wont work.
I will highlight the pic and then choose the erase tool and trace over what Im wanting to get rid of and it wont erase it.

With the paint brush, I will select it and bring it over to the image and it will have a circle with a slash through it. Therefore not letting me paint...

Hope this explains a little better...

[ylaenna]

It sounds like you're trying to use Illustrator as a photo editing program, which it isn't.

THINGS GO WELL AH MAHT BE SHOWIN HER MAH OH FACE...

[Eggles]

Clint - Illustrator isn't Photoshop. Its tools work in a completely different way, and what you create is not pixel-based, but vectors. You can draw lines and curves to which you can add colour, and then if the lines/curves meet up to form a 'closed' shape, you can fill the shape with colour. This is the only way to 'paint' - by filling shapes with colour. You can only erase by deleting the nodes created when you draw lines and curves.

[Eggles]

Forgot to add....

>>I edited a jpg in photoshop <<

You are aware that editing and then saving a JPG as a JPG further degrades the quality? Pixels are thrown out - never to return - when you use this workflow. Save the JPG as a TIF and all the pixels are kept.

[snypa]

...why dont you erase the parts of the picture in photoshop? why do you want to do it in illustrator?

I'm not a real graphic designer, but I do play one on tv

[Jason Fraker]

If you want to trace a Jpeg image in Illy in order to convert it to vector art, why don't you put the jpeg on its own locked layer and trace on a new layer. That may help you, but I second what everyone else is saying, especially PD's suggestion that you visit the vector vs raster thread in resources.

Good luck,
Jason

The clothes do make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society at large.