Importing Tiff as transparent

[Braggy]

I am trying to import a Tiff file that is black and white and make it transparent to remove the white background. I was able to do this in macromedia Freehand 10 but can't figure how to do it in Illustrator.
-Mark

[BobHill]

Braggy,

Make your B/W image background layer into a standard layer (double click, then click OK), make the area outside your selection area (Control Shift I) transparent and save the image as a PSD. Place the PSD into Illustrator 10 and the background will be transparent without any further work.

Bob

[John Kallios]

Using opacity mask will make all of the white in the image transparent. Make fill with black the same size as the image placed directly in back of the image. Select both and make inverted clipped opacity mask.

This also has an added benefit where you can colourize the image to any swatch colour.

John

[Braggy]

How are 1-bit Tiff files made? I have some black/white 1-bit tiff files and you can place them in Illustrator and their backgrounds are transparent. When I try to scan black and white graphics and save them they are 8-bit and grey scale.

-Mark

[BobHill]

Braggy,

In PhotoShop, you first Image, Mode and make your image into a shades of gray, then Image, Mode and Bitmap to make it one bit monocolor. Now save as a TIFF.

Bob