Modern and grunge site designs often use vector textures or brushes to add details and depth.
Knowing how to create your own custom vector textures can set a designer apart and create the opportunity for more custom designs.
In this video tutorial, I will show you how to create a high quality vector texture from a stock photograph using both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator CS4.
To begin, I will show you how to open an image in Photoshop to begin its texture transformation. I found an image of a brushstroke on a worn table on Stock.xchng that I will be using for this tutorial.
With the image open, I will show you how to de-saturate it and use the Levels tool to remove all mid-tone values. Once the image has been reduced to only black and white, I will show you how to soften the edges around the image using a soft brush and the Levels tool.
After finishing up the image modifications in Photoshop, I will show you how to bring the image into Illustrator and convert it to a slick vector texture by using the Live Trace tool’s Lettering option.
By the end of this tutorial, you should have a better idea of how to convert a photograph into a high quality vector texture.
