Importing

Introduction to Importing

It is a common practice to create more complicated projects using simple designs or images as building blocks. For example, you can create a vector pattern and place it as a decoration in a greeting card design. Or, you can import a raster image in order to create the background from it. Adding graphics from an external source can be done by importing.

Imported graphics preserves many of its properties, such as raster or vector format, or color model. You should remember this because it may be impossible to change those features once an image is imported. This means that you may need to prepare graphics before importing.

Importing graphics can also influence your work or the final design in a way that you may not originally expect. For example, you may have a design in which all colors used belong to the CMYK color model. If you then import an RGB image, you will no longer have a pure CMYK document. As another example, you may import a photo to serve as a texture or background in a completely vector design. This can limit the ability to scale up your design without quality loss because that photo will become pixelated at certain large scales.