Machine Wash Filters in Illustrator
May 1st, 2008The Machine Wash filters from Mister Retro really add some incredible aged and distressed effects on my Photoshop files. Deborah Mori, one of my favorite designers, asked if these can only be used in Photoshop. She has some Illustrator files that could use a good washing.
The Machine Wash filters from Mister Retro can be used in Illustrator with just a few extra steps. I open the PDF filter directly in Illustrator do a live trace using the “Black and White Logo” preset (often times I’ll increase the threshold to allow for more distressing to appear). Then, I’ll remove the white area and distress the vector image the remaining black section.
I have a few of these saved on my computer that I use fairly often.
Mister Retro offers a little more detail and a few more steps:
The Machine Wash filters can be used in Adobe Illustrator, but you’ll need to manually follow a simple step-by-step process that in the end will open up a whole new range of usability for distressing your vector artwork as described below…
FOR MACHINE WASH 2.0 - ‘PLUG-IN’ VERSION:
Step One: Choose the filter you’d like to apply to your vector artwork by using the Machine Wash Filters within Adobe Photoshop. This will serve as a visual reference for placement, etc, sort of like a mock-up for a client.
Step Two: Once you know what filter you plan to use, create a new greyscale document in Photoshop that is approx. an inch bigger on each side than your final Adobe Illustrator design size. Fill the background layer black, and create a new layer and fill that white. Apply your effect of choice to the white layer, effectively punching through to black. Flatten the image.
Step Three: Go to the Photoshop Menubar and choose Image > Mode > Bitmap. Set the output resolution up manually to 600dpi, and choose Diffusion Dither. Save the resulting file as a .TIF file.
Step Four: Open up your vector artwork in Adobe Illustrator, click File > Place > and locate the .TIF you just created and click ‘OK’. It will import as a Transparent Bitmap file, where only the black art in the placed file will be visible, and can now be colorized to white or any background dropout color you choose.
FOR MACHINE WASH 1.0 - ‘ACTIONS’ VERSION:
Step One: Choose the filter you’d like to apply to your vector artwork by using the Machine Wash Filters within Adobe Photoshop. This will serve as a visual reference for placement, etc, sort of like a mock-up for a client.
Step Two: Once you know what filter you plan to use, open up the .PDF filter file directly off the Machine Wash CD from the Filters folder inside Adobe Photoshop. Starting with the size of your final design in Illustrator, scale the 18″ x 18″ .PDF file proportionally to an inch larger than the final Adobe Illustrator design size.
Step Three: Go to the Photoshop Menubar and choose Image > Mode > Bitmap. Set the output resolution up manually to 600dpi, and choose Diffusion Dither. Save the resulting file as a .TIF file.
Step Four: Open up your vector artwork in Adobe Illustrator, click File > Place > and locate the .TIF you just created and click ‘OK’. It will import as a Transparent Bitmap file, where only the black art in the placed file will be visible, and can now be colorized to white or any background dropout color you choose.
IMPORTANT NOTES FOR EITHER METHOD:
Illustrator will likely show a kind of cruddy looking preview of the high resolution bitmap but if you run a test output, you’ll see the effect is indeed smooth. Outputting the .TIF as a bitmap from Photoshop at 600dpi like you did will create such a fine dither, it will mimic greyscale, but have the transparency you need to apply the effect in Illustrator. Prescaling your distress before outputting the bitmap will avoid possible moire or pixel bunching that could happen if you scale the bitmap after the fact in Illustrator.
In the end, make sure when you setup your seperations, or send the artwork to a seperator, that you make sure NOT to seperate whatever color you have chosen for the distress pattern that lays over the design.









