Photoshop Paths --> Illustrator: Problems...HELP

[Silence04]

i designed a product label compin photoshop that got Ok'ed for print.... now i just have to set it up in illutrator...
i made a grungy-looking graphic in photoshop thats going to be printed with Metallic Ink, but i think this graphic would turn out much better if it were vector... so i took the graphic, up'ed the DPI from 300 to 2400 then converted the raster graphic to a single path then exported the path to illustrator...
path looks great, just as grungy as the raster version but, only problem isthegraphic nowhas well over 1000 different paths that its made up by.
and because of that it will take almost 10 minutes to do acolor change... a progress bar will pop up and either say Reading Illustrator Format, Writing Illustrator Format, Applying Subtraction Filter...

my question is, is there a way i can just combine all of these paths into one object so it doesn't take Forever to do a simple task (just like it was in photoshop)?
or should i just send the Metalic layer to the printer as a raster image?

THANKS!!!




<SUP>www.jdcgraphics.net (http://www.jdcgraphics.net/)<SUP>- currentlyunder construction
http://www.jdcgraphics.net/banner.gif


Post Edited (Silence04) : 9/17/2004 4:01:21 PM GMT

[Silence04]

BUMP! :)

<SUP>www.jdcgraphics.net (http://www.jdcgraphics.net/)<SUP>- currentlyunder construction
http://www.jdcgraphics.net/banner.gif

[D-Frag]

im not sure this is going to help, but have you tried doind a simplify to the path in illy? how about a clean up stray points? thats my 2 cents.

http://www.pillargraphicdesign.com/dfrag/sig.jpg


digitalcamwhore (http://digitalcamwhore.deviantart.com/gallery/)

[PrintDriver]

How intense is it?
By paths I'm assuming you mean a bunch of closed shapes.
Have you tried selecting a bunch then using the pathfinder>Unite (combine or whatever). If the Expand button lights up after you do that, hit the Expand button and some of the paths should become one shape.
Don't try to do them all at once. You may crash or get a truncation. Illustrator really can handle only a finite amount of points and if your tolerance was too tight in Photoshop you may have too many to combine all at once. I've seen some nasty 8000 point paths happen. After you get the shapes down to a dull roar, try using Simplify to remove some of the points but again be careful you don't lose the integrity of the design.

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