Trimming vectors in Photoshop

Question

Is there any way to erase or trim the hidden portions of a vector in Photoshop?

It's easy to do with raster graphics - select the layer, select the part of the image outside of the canvas, and delete it. But I'd like to do something similar for vectors (smart objects) in an effort to reduce file size and make my projects easier to work with.

Anyone know?

Thanks!

Answer 1

From what I understand by your question is that you wan't to delete a path from your vector shape layer. You can do the following.

1. Suppose this is your vector.
2. Select the Path Selection Tool and click on your vector layer.
3. Select whichever shape you want to delete.
4. Hit the delete Button.
5. Done.

I hope this is what you were looking for. If not, let me know :)

Answer 2

From what I know you can't actually delete objects from a Smart Object using only Photoshop the same as you would in Illustrator.

But you could keep your Illustrator open and double click on the Smart Object you want to edit. This will cause it to open in Illustrator, do what you wanna' do and then save inside Illustrator (Ctrl+S) and look at your Photoshop file, it will start to Update the Smart Object with the edits you made inside Illustrator.

This would be the best (that I know) of doing it.

Best of luck!