CS2 Photoshop -> Illustrator. How to access alpha channel data as transparency?

[deano]

Posting here because specific forums are either full of spam or
desolate!

Not used my CS2 for quite a while, but can't get this "simple"
procedure down.
Looked everywhere but to no avail!

Photoshop CS2 file (psd and tiff tried) masking saved as an alpha
channel (RGB and CMYK tried).
Place into Illustrator CS2 but I can't get the alpha mask to function
and remove the background to show as transparent areas in Illustrator!

I need to import several cutouts of people (with hair) over each other
and arrange layout with text and vector graphics in Illustrator, so I
want to use the softer masking of an alpha channel rather than a
photoshop clipping path.

Thought I'd be able to find this info out in a jiffy... even if its
not possible but the search has thrown up no real clue for me.

Can u help?

many thanks,
d.

[j]

deano <d.heig...@btinternet.com> wrote:

> Photoshop CS2 file (psd and tiff tried) masking saved as an alpha
> channel (RGB and CMYK tried).
> Place into Illustrator CS2 but I can't get the alpha mask to function
> and remove the background to show as transparent areas in Illustrator!

Have you tried converting the saved alpha channel to a layer mask? Then
save as psd or tiff.

[deano]

On 15 Feb, 14:51, nospam53...@invalid.invalid (j) wrote:

No, I don't think so... not heard of that! How does it work?
Would it retain the transparency through to Illustrator?

I have to bring about 20 people pics (with hair) into Illustrator and
lay them over each other so a way of retaining the soft edges and semi
transparent hair strands is going to be really important to me to put
the artwork together!

I'll have a look at layer masks...

[j]

deano <d.heig...@btinternet.com> wrote:

> I have to bring about 20 people pics (with hair) into Illustrator and
> lay them over each other so a way of retaining the soft edges and semi
> transparent hair strands is going to be really important to me to put
> the artwork together!

Getting a good selection is the key to this sort of job. It's much
easier if the hair is against a uniform background. Creating an accurate
selection using Color Range (Select menu) can often work well.

When you have a good selection, save it as a layer mask (use the icon at
the bottom of the Layers pallette). Invert the selection if necessary.
The aim is to get a psd file where the pic of the person is against the
transparent chequerboard background. Save the file in psd format which
can then be placed into an Illustrator document with the transparency
preserved.

Beware of any 'spill' of background colour into the selection around the
hair edge. One technique to get rid of this is to make sure Preserve
Transparency is selected in the layers pallette (click the 'lock' icon
with the chequered background) then clone hair pixels into the border.
Experiment with feathered border selections, and change the cloned
pixels' blend mode to lighten or darken depending on the background.

[deano]

On 18 Feb, 13:03, nospam53...@invalid.invalid (j) wrote:

Thanks for the info j... the layer mask worked a treat (have used
these in the past but completely forgot about them... much better as
well because I am able to do a quick and dirty mask for layout design
and then can improve upon them later because the background is
retained in the document! Saving as a PSD file worked perfectly in
Illustrator and gave me more import options... can't believe this
isn't more clearly documented in Adobe help!

Also, I appreciate your advice and techniques on producing the layer
mask accurately, fortunately the images are all studio shots on a
white backdrop, so this should make my task a little easier.

Thanks again.
deano.