Illustrator questions

[fredrich]

Just wondering about some things in Illustrator.

1. When you want to align an object to the center, you can do it two ways; relative to another object or relative to the canvas. But when you select two objects and align center, both moves. Is it possible to make object A align to center of object B without object B moving from it's original placement?

2. Do TIFF have support for transparency? I've tried to place a TIFF inside a document in Illustrator, but there seems to be no transparency, just a white canvas where the transparency is supposed to be.

And when placing a .psd with transparency, is it possible to see the transparency without having to embed the image into the document?

3. When applying a clipping mask to a raster image, is it possible to make the align-commands apply to the "new" selection, and not the original canvas? For example if I want to make a clipping mask of the left part of an image, and afterwards center this part. The align would use the original image-size and therefore place it to the left, and not center like I wanted the new selection to.

[Broacher]

1> Yes. Once you've selected your objects, Cmnd (Ctrl) clk on the object you want to 'stay' and the other object will align to the 'stuck' object.
2> Not as far as I can see. I'm in CS1 though. And PSD as 'linked' works. Are you sure you don't have a background layer turned on?
2> NO! And it's one of the biggest beefs I have about the way AI handles this. Even when you rasterize the clipping group with transparency it will still use the transparent area as the boundary. I don't get this 'non-standard' behaviour. Especially when it's unique to AI-- ID has it right.

[fredrich]

1> Yes. Once you've selected your objects, Cmnd (Ctrl) clk on the object you want to 'stay' and the other object will align to the 'stuck' object.
2> Not as far as I can see. I'm in CS1 though. And PSD as 'linked' works. Are you sure you don't have a background layer turned on?
2> NO! And it's one of the biggest beefs I have about the way AI handles this. Even when you rasterize the clipping group with transparency it will still use the transparent area as the boundary. I don't get this 'non-standard' behaviour. Especially when it's unique to AI-- ID has it right.

Thanks.

1. It worked, only it wasn't Ctrl, but Alt
2. I saved a .PSD from Corel Paint Shop Pro and the background was white until I embedded the image into the document. It worked fine with a linked .PSD from Photoshop. Kinda irritating, as I like to use PSP for photo editing. But I can open the .PSD in Photoshop and save it again.
3. Annoying as f**k. They didn't think of this or is it some hidden command that makes it possible?

I'll add another question to my list:

4. Can you draw point-to-point (like the polygonal lasso tool in Photoshop) in Illustrator?

[urstwile]

To answer your question number 4, yes, if you're using the pen tool.

[fredrich]

To answer your question number 4, yes, if you're using the pen tool.

How exactly do you do this? Can't see any options for it.

[Ned]

You don't need options. This is the natural way the pen tool works. Just click and click and click.

As far as TIFF transparency and layered TIFFs, avoid them! The support for them is not widespread. You'll get better results and cross-application support (as long as you stay within Adobe) wtih layered PSD, or if you use a TIFF, make sure it's an image you can make flat with a clipping path.

[fredrich]

You don't need options. This is the natural way the pen tool works. Just click and click and click.

Doesn't work here. I can draw with it by holding the mouse button down, but nothing appears when I click point to point.

Another thing: is it possible to use the reflect option to make the object reflect around it's own axe, and not shifting to the other side when reflecting? (I've noticed this with left or right aligned text)

Just for general information, I run Illustrator CS2 on PCs.

[BJMRGTIVR6]

OK, just looking it over again. Pen tool is third on left in teh Tool Palete (set up with two columns). You should be able to click repeatedly and get a line (if there is a color for the stroke.) Also, click, drag release and click will let the line curve between points (can curve later too). also, when creating a shape and not just a line, to click on teh starting point, it will show a tiny circle near the tip to connect the lines.

[fredrich]

OK, just looking it over again. Pen tool is third on left in teh Tool Palete (set up with two columns). You should be able to click repeatedly and get a line (if there is a color for the stroke.) Also, click, drag release and click will let the line curve between points (can curve later too). also, when creating a shape and not just a line, to click on teh starting point, it will show a tiny circle near the tip to connect the lines.

Sorry, just me not paying attention. I was using the pen tool, not the pencil.
Thanks for the explanation anyway.

[urstwile]

You'll get a continuous line using the pen tool, Fredrich, it's probably the case that you didn't have a color assigned to your stroke. So you wouldn't see anything as you were clicking until you assigned the color. You can test this by switching to outline mode (Command or Control Y), and you'll see that the pen is creating a continuous line between each point that you click.

[fredrich]

Figured it out on the last post, but I switched the words. I was using the pencil in the beginning, the pen worked fine for point to point-drawing. ;)

[urstwile]

Ah, okay! Glad you figured it out. :)

[fredrich]

One more thing; is it possible to make an offset path (in vector) around a raster image with a clipping mask or as a .psd with transparent background?
An illustration:

http://fredrich.monror.com/bilder/tester/illu_clpout.jpg

This is an image with clipping mask. I want to outset the path around it;

http://fredrich.monror.com/bilder/tester/illu_clpout2.jpg

What I've done here is making a copy of the object that made the clipping mask and paste it afterwards, outsetting that one, but when the image is more complex, like of a person, I don't want to be spending time making a clipping mask around the person if the .psd placed already has a transparent layer.

Is this possible in any way?

[Ned]

First, make your clipping path in Photoshop by holding CMD/CTRL and clicking on the thumbnail of that layer, to create a selection of all opaque pixels on that layer, then turn that selection into a path by clicking on the Selection to Path button on the bottom of the Palette layer. Double click on the word Work Path to make the path permanent, then press A to access your selection tool. Click on the path, and drag it into Illustrator (application to application).

With the path selected in Illy, double-click on the Scale tool in the toolbox, and increase the path (by percentage) to the size you want your offset to be (ie, 110% will add 10% offset).

Next, save the image as a Tiff without layers out of Photoshop, and Place that into Illy. Place the path overtop the image in Illy, SHIFT-select both, and press CMD/CTRL-7 to make the clipping path.

[fredrich]

First, make your clipping path in Photoshop by holding CMD/CTRL and clicking on the thumbnail of that layer, to create a selection of all opaque pixels on that layer, then turn that selection into a path by clicking on the Selection to Path button on the bottom of the Palette layer. Double click on the word Work Path to make the path permanent, then press A to access your selection tool. Click on the path, and drag it into Illustrator (application to application).

With the path selected in Illy, double-click on the Scale tool in the toolbox, and increase the path (by percentage) to the size you want your offset to be (ie, 110% will add 10% offset).

Next, save the image as a Tiff without layers out of Photoshop, and Place that into Illy. Place the path overtop the image in Illy, SHIFT-select both, and press CMD/CTRL-7 to make the clipping path.

The scale tool does not work well for outsetting a path correctly like I want it, but thank you for the rest of the explanation. It worked.

[fredrich]

Well, since I always seem to come up with new questions regarding Illustrator, I'll just post them in this thread instead of making new ones every time.

I was wondering about if anybody got a good method of getting this effect:

http://fredrich.monror.com/bilder/tester/roterendeswirl.gif

I want something to "swirl" itself around an object like say a snake, and I just thought of one method I could do this, at least visually OK enough. My method goes like this:

Draw the "swirl" over the object you want it to surround. Divide the "swirl" at suiting spots with the knife tool, and send the parts that would disappear behind the green thingy to the back.

The thing is, I'm just wondering; Can divided paths like this (on the right is the outline preview) cause trouble at a printer?

If yes (which is what I think is the answer), is there a better method of doing this?

[SpugNothuson]

From what I've seen there shouldn't be any problems in printing the work with divided paths.

The only other way I could think of getting the same effect would be for the black swirl be be one solid object and the green blob in the middle to be 5 individual objects placed in the relevant positions, be a lot of messing around with the Pathfinder tool though.

As I said though, I see no issue in printing the idea that you said origianlly.

[hewligan]

That's certainly how I've done it in the past, and never had any trouble printing it.

[2kxtreme]

ok i'm having an issue...

i just got a macbook in late january. i installed cs2 suite and i've been having an issue with illy. for example, if i type some text, convert them to outlines and then combine them, the program crashes. everytime i do it!! i've reinstalled it probably 3 different times and it still happens.

can anyone have any insight on this issue?

[jessicam]

Probably a very silly question, but I have googled and I can't seem to figure it out. When I bring an image into Illustrator (PSD, TIFF, JPG, PNG, whatever) how can I tell what it's resolution is? And, am I risking a poor outcome if I do the photo manipulation work in PS and then bring those 300dpi images into Illustrator to finish something, like a magazine ad? Also, will my results differ if I embed vs link images?

Thanks so much!

[urstwile]

To answer your first question, you can see the printed resolution of an image in Illustrator by bringing up the Document Info palette. Select your image, and depending on whether or not you've linked or embedded it, click the flyout triangle in the Document Info palette, and select Linked Images or Embedded Images. It will tell you what the resolution is.

In terms of outcome, you should have no problem doing the photo manipulation in Photoshop and then bringing that into Illustrator.

In terms of linking vs. embedding, I prefer to link, rather than embed, that way if you make any changes to the image in Photoshop after you've placed it, they will be reflected in the Illustrator document if it's a linked file. If it's embedded, any changes you make to the image after the fact will not be reflected, and you'll need to reimport it.