TechNote (Archived)

Create transparency in Photoshop images for use in Illustrator (CS, 10)

What's covered

Opening or placing Photoshop files directly into Illustrator

Using Photoshop clipping paths and Illustrator masks

Transparent areas of an Adobe Photoshop image allow items beneath it (such as text or color) to show through when the image is placed in a page layout, illustration, or Web-authoring application. Transparency is determined by a file's format and its contents (for example, whether it contains a clipping path or alpha channel). This document explains how to retain transparency in Photoshop images that you use in Illustrator documents.

Opening or placing Photoshop files directly into Illustrator

Transparency in a Photoshop file remains intact if you open, link, or embed the file into Illustrator, which reads the alpha channel information from the file to retain the transparency.

To create a transparent background in a new file in Photoshop:

1. Choose File > New.

2. Enter the desired width and height.

3. Select Transparent for the Background Contents, (Photoshop CS), and then click OK.

4. Create the image, leaving the checkerboard visible in all areas that you want to remain transparent.

To create a transparency background in an existing file in Photoshop:

1. Open the file in Photoshop.

2. In the Layers palette, double-click the italicized layer, which is usually named "Background." If the file doesn't include any italicized layers, it already has a transparent background: Skip to step 4.

3. In the New Layer dialog box, rename the layer, and then click OK. The file's background is now transparent.

4. Using the selection tools, select and delete areas of the file to create transparency. The checkerboard indicates transparent areas of the image.

For more information about creating Photoshop files, see the Photoshop user guide.

Using Photoshop clipping paths and Illustrator masks

Because Illustrator is a vector-based application, you can use clipping paths in Photoshop files to create transparency in Illustrator documents. A clipping path is a vector path that masks an area of an image. The pixels outside the clipping path are treated as transparent, and the areas inside the clipping path are treated as opaque.

You can also import a Photoshop raster image and its clipping path separately, and then create a mask for the raster image in Illustrator using the clipping path. Using clipping masks in Photoshop gives you greater control of the transparent areas because you can edit the vector mask in Illustrator. For information on creating clipping paths in Photoshop, see Photoshop Help.

Note: You can create clipping paths in PSD, EPS, and TIFF files, although Illustrator cannot read clipping path information in TIFF files.

There are two methods for creating editable masks in Illustrator using Photoshop paths:

-- Embed an EPS, a PSD, or an Adobe PDF file that contains a clipping path into an Illustrator document. Illustrator then creates an internal copy of the high-resolution raster image and uses the clipping path as a mask. The file size of the Illustrator document increases by the file size of the embedded image.

-- Export the image and the path as separate files from Photoshop, and place the files into an Illustrator document. You can then use the path to mask the image in Illustrator.

To embed an EPS, a PSD, or an Adobe PDF file:

Deselect Link in the Place dialog box before placing the image.

To export the image and the path as separate files and place them into Illustrator:

1. Open the image in Photoshop.

2. Choose File > Export > Paths To Illustrator.

3. Choose All Paths or the name of the clipping path from the Paths pop-up menu, type a name for the file, and then click OK.

4. From the Photoshop image that you want to save, choose File > Save As, and choose Photoshop EPS, Photoshop PSD, PDF, JPEG, or TIFF from the Save As pop-up menu, and then click Save.

5. In Illustrator, open the file that you saved in step 3.

6. Choose File > Place, select the file you saved in step 4, deselect Link, and then click Place.

7. Select the pathyou want to use as the mask, and place it on top of the image you placed in step 6.

8. Select the placed image and the path, and then choose Object > Clipping Mask > Make.

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